Where does the Fat go?

[SKhan 5]

So i saw multiple gastric sleeve procedure youtube videos but none showed where the fat goes after the surgeon cuts it out from the stomach? They take out the cut-off/sleeved part of the stomach but does the fat just stays in?

Curious

[elforman 234]

Your body doesn't store fat in the stomach. Your stomach is essentially a bag of acids that digest your food. That bag is elastic to handle when you eat too much, but after years of overeating the bag is stretched so much that it takes a lot of food to feel full. That's why the gastric sleeve procedure removes 80% of that bag and forces you to eat less.

Body fat is stored everywhere in the body where there are fat cells: Your trunk, your limbs, your chin(s), etc. So there is no significant weight loss as a result of removal of the excess stomach from your body.

Think of the food you eat as energy for your body. When you eat more food than your body can burn off, it stores the excess energy as fat throughout your body. After the surgery, you simply won't be able to take in enough calories through food, so the body starts burning off the extra energy it's stored, and that's when the fat will start to melt away from your belly, legs, arms and chin(s).

Hope that clears things up.

[FluffyChix 17,409]

And to add to @elforman, fat is stored in cells or compartments. Think packages. When we convert the stored fat which is fuel and burn it for energy, we're left with empty packages all over over our body. For awhile, they try to fill up with extra Water floating around...before giving up and staying empty-ish.

FOREVS! Ever and ever. They are always there. So if we made eleventy billion fat cells while we overate to our energy needs, they will be there the day we die. The only way to get rid of them is either have them cut out with plastic surgery, or sucked out with liposuction.

And those containers do not lay quietly. They have inner workings/pieces called organelles. So they are living, breathing, functioning cells and some even power out hormones and signals that go all over our body including our brains. And they are hungry beasts, cuz they do not like being empty! So um, yeah. There's that.

[Creekimp13 5,837]

I think the OP might be talking about visceral internal belly fat in the Omentum.

The omentum is membrane in your abdomen that can store what looks like globs of fat...sometimes you see it in surgery videos.

OP probably saw great glistening globs of fat and wondered why the surgeon didn't pull it out, too.

The answer is that the omentum is very vascular...it could cause an unnecessary and dangerous bleed...and there's no point in removing the fat stored there. The fat will go away as you lose weight.

Also, you don't want to tear the omentum because it helps to keep your intestines in place so they don't twist and kink...and provides stability to the abdominal contents.

[SKhan 5]

wow great info - thanks everyone.

So to understand this further clearly, the 'yellow' fat thing the surgeons separate it from the stomach, just floats around inside and sort'a burns itself out?

Sorry for the extremely limited knowledge on science LOL

[Creekimp13 5,837]

No...the omentum is a functioning vascular membrane that certainly doesn't "float". Think of it more as Syan Wrap for your guts....but it has globs of "butter" squished between the layers of wrap. As you lose weight, fat will be metabolized out of it. In very thin people...it's just a membrane with very little fat.

Edited February 2, 2018 by Creekimp13

[FluffyChix 17,409]

It looks like this--sorta--this belongs to an animal. Google caul fat. We have a greater and lesser omentum. And as @Creekimp13 said, it's loaded with blood vessels.

Edited February 2, 2018 by FluffyChix

[Apple203 1,314]

OK, this is interesting! So what happens to omentum when you have a Tummy Tuck?

[Creekimp13 5,837]

34 minutes ago, Apple203 said:

OK, this is interesting! So what happens to omentum when you have a Tummy Tuck?

Nothing. Omentum is inside the muscle wall of your abdomen...inside your abdominal cavity. Tummy Tucks are superficial.

[kakatlady612 1,053]

Creekimp13 back in the old days say late 50s to early 60s somebody, I think,Alan Sherman was the name recorded a lttle ditty
You've got to have skin
All you really need is skin
It keeps the outsides out
And the inside in.
Thought you and everyone else needed a little humor.

Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app

[Little Green 582]

If you're asking about overall fat loss, like where does fat go when we lose weight? The super weird thing about fat loss is that you lose the majority of it through expiration - meaning you breathe it out. 84% ends up as CO2 and is exhaled. 16% is Water and you sweat or pee it out. It's so bizarre because we all have this image of fat "burning" or "melting." But nope... just breathe it out!

[Seahawks Fan 771]

I believe we live in a multiverse & somewhere there is a sun that runs on lost blubber (fat) keeping those who are less insulated warm. Must be nice to not be robbed on their monthly heating bill.

[kakatlady612 1,053]

My theory is
All the fat evaporates and floats thru the universe as fat globules looking for a likely body to attach to. And i have been the receiptant of lost fat for years and years. Its somebody else's fault, not mine.

Sent from my VS880PP using BariatricPal mobile app