Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Where Does Fat Go?

Dear Matthew: I just lost about 100 pounds. Where exactly did all that fat go? -- Skinny Sheree, via email

Wow! Good thing you didn’t have to haul it all out in garbage bags. Lucky that nature has a way of getting rid of all that fat in its own magical way.

So, back in the day, when you were snacking on cinnamon buns and a whole pizza for dinner, all the fatty acids were being stored as triglicerides in your body fat. The triglicerides were sitting there, alert to the first call from your muscles for energy. But, of course, it doesn’t take much energy to click the TV remote, so the fat just sat around. And around and around. But one day you perked up and decided that enough was enough. You ate smarter, exercised more. Your energy requirement went up, your fatty acid intake went down, so those triglicerides got the call and charged into action. Released into your bloodstream, they were taken up by the cells that need them. In the process, oxygen and enzymes convert the fatty acids into carbon dioxide, water, and something called adenosine triphosphate, ATP. That’s the stuff your body cells need for energy. So, the water and CO2? They leave your body in the form of breath, sweat, and pee. So, that’s where it all went and how it got there.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Hey, Matt: I left some toenail clippings in the sink, and when I got home later there was a stream of ants trying to carry them off. Usually they go for things like Popsicle sticks and honey. Why would they possibly want toenail clippings, and what were they planning to do with them? -- JB, San Diego

What a charming picture you paint of hygiene in your household. I’d say you were lucky the ants stopped by to help clean up. But since you asked, we dialed up the UCSD Cooperative Extension. They gave us a peek into the minds of your ants - likely the ubiquitous Argentine ants - about an eighth of an inch long and black. Usually they head for the Popsicle sticks, but all ants need sugar, grease, water, and protein to keep on truckin’. It’s likely they were out foraging for whatever was lying around, and they just happened upon your stack of toenails. They didn’t really have toenails on the shopping list. Nails are keratin, a protein, just the thing for chewing up and feeding to ant larvae. If you’d had a few dead animals around the house or a pile of flies, they would have liked that, too.

Hi, Matt: I’m confused. What’s the difference between an earthquake and an aftershock? Sometimes we have an earthquake only to be told later that it is an aftershock of an earthquake two years ago. How can they tell? -- Shaken, via email

Hey, you forgot foreshocks. Don’t leave them out. For us civilians with crockery falling on our heads, the difference is meaningless. But this is the kind of thing that keeps seismologists off the streets and out of trouble. So, here goes. Say we have a 4.5 (Richter) quake at a particular point on a particular fault. Earthquake, they call it. Time goes by, la-di-da. Nothing. Nothing. Then there’s a 5.4 quake at the same point on the same fault. Now our old 4.5 is reclassified as a foreshock to the 5.4 quake because it’s smaller than the most recent one. Time goes by, la-di-da. Then there’s a 3.0. Same point, same fault. That’s an aftershock to the 5.4 biggie because it’s smaller than the one preceding it. So, classifying earthquakes depends on where it happens, how big it is, and how it fits with the history of quakes from that location. Sometimes that requires relabeling an event. Got it? Hope so.

Heymatt: One of my family members is on the school board. Why is such a group called a “board”? Is it political? Social? -- PW, Poway

No, it’s furniture. The board in question is what they all sit at, in the o-o-o-olden days, probably a big, long piece of wood that served as a table. They might just as easily have been called the plank as the board. The guy who ran the meeting got to sit at the head of the table in a chair instead of a stool or bench. (Chairs were scarce in early Colonial America.) He, of course, became the chairman of the board.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

The danger of San Diego's hoarders

The $1 million Flash Comics #1
Next Article

WAV College Church reminds kids that time is short

College is a formational time for decisions about belief

Dear Matthew: I just lost about 100 pounds. Where exactly did all that fat go? -- Skinny Sheree, via email

Wow! Good thing you didn’t have to haul it all out in garbage bags. Lucky that nature has a way of getting rid of all that fat in its own magical way.

So, back in the day, when you were snacking on cinnamon buns and a whole pizza for dinner, all the fatty acids were being stored as triglicerides in your body fat. The triglicerides were sitting there, alert to the first call from your muscles for energy. But, of course, it doesn’t take much energy to click the TV remote, so the fat just sat around. And around and around. But one day you perked up and decided that enough was enough. You ate smarter, exercised more. Your energy requirement went up, your fatty acid intake went down, so those triglicerides got the call and charged into action. Released into your bloodstream, they were taken up by the cells that need them. In the process, oxygen and enzymes convert the fatty acids into carbon dioxide, water, and something called adenosine triphosphate, ATP. That’s the stuff your body cells need for energy. So, the water and CO2? They leave your body in the form of breath, sweat, and pee. So, that’s where it all went and how it got there.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Hey, Matt: I left some toenail clippings in the sink, and when I got home later there was a stream of ants trying to carry them off. Usually they go for things like Popsicle sticks and honey. Why would they possibly want toenail clippings, and what were they planning to do with them? -- JB, San Diego

What a charming picture you paint of hygiene in your household. I’d say you were lucky the ants stopped by to help clean up. But since you asked, we dialed up the UCSD Cooperative Extension. They gave us a peek into the minds of your ants - likely the ubiquitous Argentine ants - about an eighth of an inch long and black. Usually they head for the Popsicle sticks, but all ants need sugar, grease, water, and protein to keep on truckin’. It’s likely they were out foraging for whatever was lying around, and they just happened upon your stack of toenails. They didn’t really have toenails on the shopping list. Nails are keratin, a protein, just the thing for chewing up and feeding to ant larvae. If you’d had a few dead animals around the house or a pile of flies, they would have liked that, too.

Hi, Matt: I’m confused. What’s the difference between an earthquake and an aftershock? Sometimes we have an earthquake only to be told later that it is an aftershock of an earthquake two years ago. How can they tell? -- Shaken, via email

Hey, you forgot foreshocks. Don’t leave them out. For us civilians with crockery falling on our heads, the difference is meaningless. But this is the kind of thing that keeps seismologists off the streets and out of trouble. So, here goes. Say we have a 4.5 (Richter) quake at a particular point on a particular fault. Earthquake, they call it. Time goes by, la-di-da. Nothing. Nothing. Then there’s a 5.4 quake at the same point on the same fault. Now our old 4.5 is reclassified as a foreshock to the 5.4 quake because it’s smaller than the most recent one. Time goes by, la-di-da. Then there’s a 3.0. Same point, same fault. That’s an aftershock to the 5.4 biggie because it’s smaller than the one preceding it. So, classifying earthquakes depends on where it happens, how big it is, and how it fits with the history of quakes from that location. Sometimes that requires relabeling an event. Got it? Hope so.

Heymatt: One of my family members is on the school board. Why is such a group called a “board”? Is it political? Social? -- PW, Poway

No, it’s furniture. The board in question is what they all sit at, in the o-o-o-olden days, probably a big, long piece of wood that served as a table. They might just as easily have been called the plank as the board. The guy who ran the meeting got to sit at the head of the table in a chair instead of a stool or bench. (Chairs were scarce in early Colonial America.) He, of course, became the chairman of the board.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Why did Harrah's VP commit suicide last summer?

Did the fight the Rincon casino had with San Diego County over Covid play a part?
Next Article

Morricone Youth, Berkley Hart, Dark Entities, Black Heart Procession, Monsters Of Hip-Hop

Live movie soundtracks, birthdays and more in Balboa Park, Grantville, Oceanside, Little Italy
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader