The sauna suit is one of those fitness garments in which its effectiveness in achieving some benefits for health and performance is debated. Those who use it assure that it is effective in improving weight loss and fat burning. Will it be a placebo?
In principle, sauna suits can be good for losing fat, although there are not many studies to support this claim. However, these sweat suits can improve fitness results by increasing the number of calories we burn and improving cardiorespiratory fitness. Keep in mind that it is a specific garment for when we exercise and sweat more. The suit is made of waterproof and hermetic materials such as neoprene, nylon or PVC.
The system of this suit is very simple: it will make us warmer by preventing sweat from evaporating, which could otherwise make us cold. This restriction in the evaporation of sweat will make the body's surface temperature warmer as it struggles to cool down, causing us to sweat even more.
Between 0,4 and 1,3 kilos less
Yes, you can lose weight in a sauna suit. When the sauna suit came out in the 60s, it was hailed as a must-have for people who wanted to lose weight. The problem was that most people who used it weren't fully aware that the vast majority of the weight they lost immediately was water weight.
With the sauna suit, we can lose a considerable amount of weight in a single exercise session. They can get lost between 0,4 and 1,3 kilos immediately after of working out in a sweat suit. But the problem is that most of it is liquid weight. This means that the weight loss does not last long enough to help us keep the weight off. The reason why we will regain the weight is that we will need to hydrate immediately after. We will want to stay hydrated because research has shown that hydration is important in achieving weight loss. When you are dehydrated, you get more fatigued and reduce your metabolism.
Only burns 23 more calories
Several studies have been done on this suit. For example, in one of them, the researchers tested a group of 45 overweight to obese adults ranging in age from 18 to 60. The participants were divided into groups and given the same exercise routine, but one wore a sauna suit and one did not. The sauna suit group had a 2,6% reduction in body weight, while the exercise-only group had a 0,9% reduction in body weight. Body fat percentage decreased 13,8% in the sauna suit group, while it decreased 8,3% in the exercise-alone group.
In other research, they found that training in a sauna suit during high-intensity interval exercise caused greater energy expenditure compared to not wearing a sauna suit. Still, it only resulted in an increase in 23 calorias. With such a negligible difference, this study shows that a sauna suit does not benefit weight loss.