the fat burning 'process' how does it work?

reason i ask is this. supposing one weighs in on very reliable scales at say 200lbs exactly, then walks away, eats exactly 2 pound of fruit and then stands on the scales. would/should the scales then almost certainly add those two pounds to show as 202 lbs? right, now after getting from the scales a second time one goes walking, and walks according to pedometer enough to burn off the calories contained in the 2lb of fruit. would the reading in theory return to 200lbs. i know this all sounds very simplistic but am trying to get a feel of how it works, in true laymans terms. geoffers, sizzling in sussex. bless u all

You would think that was the way how to think about it, but it is not. 3500 calories = 1 lb. I will provide an example in a moment.

As far as I can tell, it's more complicated than that.

Let's talk about 2 lbs. of fruit - Theoretically, yes, if you had a scale and started at exactly 200 and went and ate 2 lbs. of fruit, and excreetd or ate nothing else (No drinking, no sweating, no peeing) than you should weigh 202 lbs.

Now.. how much of that stays with you, though?
Well, fruit is very low on calories.. that means that most of the fruit is water, which will exrete when you pee, fiber, which will extrete when you poo.. and some fructose/other sugars, which your body will metabolise.

Processes such as.. Metabolism of food, breakup of fat to restore your body's uh.. power to full (Keep you moving at full capacity), etc. are time consuming.

If you did all of this through a tube... took in 2,000 calories through a tube and excreeted it before you weighed yourself again, than theoretically you might see the fat loss due to the fat your body had to burn to keep going instaneously.

But, in the realistic world where you get your calories from a combination of foods, and your body isn't regular and sometimes you hold water and/or poop more/more often than others, than you won't necessarily see the FAT loss without a trend line or just weighing yourself once every couple/few days or so.

But you might be able to MEASURE It through measurements of... waist circumference, chest circumference, etc.

Snicker Candy Bar

1 King Size Bar, 4 oz 541 calories

16 oz in a pound

So four bars would equal one pound but that is only 2165 calories

Yet, two pints of raspberries is over 624 grams (22 ounces) well over a pound of raspberries, but only 324 calories.

So to gain a pound from eating raspberries (over 3500 calories), you would have to consume approximately 22 pints of rasberries, almost 15 pounds of raspberries.

It's all in how your body processes it.  You body uses the energy (calories) from foods to function. It breaks down the foods and provides nutrients that your body needs and uses up.  Where does it all go?? I don't know. I just know that in the end, it related to the quality of food that you consume. The classic saying is, "You are what you eat".

thanks for those great responses one and all. we have just been debating this at workplace. little do they know that i have obtained expert info re this site. i will now baffle them with science

Whoa!! We're not experts, just amateurs with no credentials! Most is just assimilated knowledge. It?s kind of like the Borg.  ;) You are welcome though, perhaps you should make it a friendly bet with your co-workers. *wonders off to go find a lab coat to pretend to be a scientist*

I suggest you try the raspberry experiment on a willing victi... I mean volunteer. Get someone to eat 22 pints of raspberries (15 lbs) and then see how much weight they actually gained. Ahh.. perhaps it might be a good idea to be gentle... maybe half that, so 11 pints (7 lbs). Anyone can do that without getting sick. *wink* Conduct the experiment in the name of science!

the other thing that complicates it so much is the "basal metabolism rate."  your body is burning calories even while you "do" nothing.  your digestive tract muscles are nearly always contracting and relaxing.  your heart, of course, is always going,  and even your brain, even while you sleep.  those tiny little cells are burning minute amounts of energy.   

there's some other interesting information, if you look up the "energy density" values for food.   if you think about how much waterand fiber is in those raspberries, compared with the water in the candy bar--big difference!  so that will have an effect on how quickly it goes through your digestive tract relative to the candy bar.  but you are nearly correct in that your scales should register a pound higher after you eat a pound of anything.  that does not mean that you have stored a pound of fat, just as ix says.    you have to have 3500 excess calories to store that pound of fat.  the daily weight rises and falls according to the total grams you eat and drink and how much of it is expended and or excreted. that is absolutely true.   some mention of the amount of water excreted by breathing came up a while back, but i don't remember the numbers.     anyone????