Water and fat burning

[thenewaveragebear1983]

I wondered if someone could help me please.

On our long running BSD thread

Blood sugar diet and Fast800 thread 15 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3593022-blood-sugar-diet-and-fast800-thread-15

we have been discussing the need for water when dieting. I have found multiple articles about water being essential when dieting, but often the advice is because: it fills you up, you can be dehydrated when actually you feel it as hunger, good for your skin etc etc. But I am struggling to find any evidence to support the idea that water is an essential part of the chemical process that turns stored fat into energy (ie. the actual diet/calorie reduction/weightloss cycle)

My 15 year old science GCSE knowledge is telling me that water is essential but I want to know why.

Can anyone help me out?? ^
^

Ok, further to my original post, I have done some revision!

I understand this process
Glucose+oxygen = carbon dioxide + water

I suppose what I want to know is if
when we follow a low carb diet, we are often glycogen depleted, and rely on fat stores for energy which is why it works so effectively for weight loss; so what is the process involved in using stored body fat as energy and does this involve water (or more water than 'normal') to complete?

It's anecdotal but well recognised that not drinking enough will stall weightloss, so I'm really interested to learnt more about this.

Lipolysis is the name for the process where the body breaks down fat for energy. In lipolysis, fats are hydrolysed into glycerol and fatty acids.

Hydrolysis is the term for a chemical being broken down due to a water with water. So yes, water does play a part in fat breakdown.

That was meant to say... *due to a reaction with water.

Interesting thought process, I can see big differences in my two DDs, one can go all day and not drink like my DH and has no problem with appetite control. My other DD (like me) thinks about food all the time, requires a lot of fluid through out the day and has limited appetite control - she would just keep eating if given a bigger portion. They have had these traits since very young children. I too drink a lot but really struggle to shift fat, my DH can drop fat really easily and does seem to need half the fluid i do to function? Hmmm pondering how this knowledge could help me and my DD keep healthy. Drink even more? I’d be peeing all day! Maybe our bodies just store fat or fluid differently?

Hi tri

Yes, I wonder. I'm definitely in your camp, I can eat and eat and eat- do you think that's the running though?

wilted, thanks I will research those terms. Gcse science stops at that very simple 'glucose + oxygen' equation but it must be an additional chemical reaction to get that glucose from stored fat or from glycogen in the first place.

Yes, the next part is gluconeogenesis. So stored fat is first broken down into fatty acids and glycerol. This is a reaction with water and the enzyme lipase.

The fatty acids and glycerol are then converted to glucose by gluconeogenesis.

There’s other factors at play regarding appetite and fat loss besides the biochemical reactions. Hormones such as ghrelin, leptin and cortisol are involved in appetite regulation. Also sleep plays a role, it’s been shown lack of sleep can lead to changes in these hormone levels which regulate appetite.

Leptin, for example, inhibits hunger. It’s produced in the bodies fat stores, so more stored fat means more leptin and you feel less hungry. All good right? Except the body can become resistant to it, this reduced sensitivity which makes you feel hungry even though you’ve got enough energy already. It’s also reduced by lack of sleep so less sleep means feeling more hungry.

Wilted you're officially the thread expert now! So, specifically with regards to water: the glucogeogenisis

Stored fat needs water to begin the process to actually make it useable by the body (ie to covert it back to glucose which can be used by the cells for fuel?) So if we're dehydrated, that process is slowed or inhibited? Conversely if we drink lots of water, can that process be sped up? Is that what could produce the slight increase in metabolism after drinking water (I have read an article, I can dredge it up and cite it if necessary)

have I understood this correctly? If so, That would make sense, thanks for your input.

Thanks for starting this thread @thenewaveragebear1983
Embarrassed to say I have been taught all this ( 30 years ago) but can only remember various words like gluconeogenesis, but couldn’t extrapolate if I was paid. So it’s good to read it all well laid out.

I remember reading an experiment about leptin. Some rats were Bred or modified to produce no leptin, and basically they spent their whole lives sitting by the food bowl eating till they were too obese to function. Even danger, pain or the promise of sex would not get them to budge from the food dish.
The main cause of leptin resistance seems to be raised leptin levels in the blood. As the whole thing is a feedback mechanism - leptin’s main role being to tell the brain that we are full and don’t need to eat- it’s easy to see how it’s the main factor in weight gain.
Not laziness and lack of control...,,