Sweating makes you lose weight: is it true or is it a false fitness myth?
Sweat is the mechanism by which our body regulates the temperature and is mainly composed of water. Spending hours in the sauna or going for a run in the hottest moments of the day with the intention of sweating as much as possible does not help to lose weight and in the article we will explain why. If you want to burn calories it is much better to do some fitness exercises, just like the ones for the abs explained in the video below!
Because it is wrong to think that sweating is enough to lose weight
There are those who go for a run at noon wearing a heavy fleece suit, those who do repeated saunas and Turkish baths, others, on the other hand, love to wear heavy girdles on the thighs and stomach: the goal, for everyone, is only one. That is to sweat as much as possible in the mistaken belief that this makes you lose weight more and faster. But why is it wrong to think so? To get the answer, just analyze what sweat is made of. Certainly not from fats, but mainly from liquids, that is, from water. Precisely that water that you just need to replenish by drinking a glass of any soft drink to see it accumulate again on the scale.
The grams we think we have thrown down because we weighed ourselves after a good sweat are, in reality, simply the fluids we lost during physical activity and which we will recover immediately after drinking.Sweat, in fact, is made up of water and electrolytes (ie mineral salts such as sodium, chlorine, potassium, magnesium) and is produced by the glands of our body as a defense mechanism against the increase in internal temperature following physical exercise or at a particularly high ambient temperature. This is why sweating is important, and even more important is to allow the body to expel this liquid without covering it with excessively heavy layers of clothing.
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Why sweating is good (but not weight loss)
The function of sweat is to keep the body temperature around 37 ° and thus avoid overheating. The mechanism that lowers the temperature, however, is not sweat itself, but its evaporation through a physical process called convection. This is why it is important that sweat can easily evaporate from our skin.
When we sweat the body is mainly expelling water and mineral salts (and not fat or sugar), so the belief that sweating burns more calories is wrong.
When you are sweating it is very important to replenish lost fluids by drinking water or a mineral-based drink: in this way you prevent the danger of being dehydrated.
As also reiterated by the "Istituto Superiore di Sanità", sweating causes you to lose only liquids and mineral salts, but not the fats stored in the adipose tissue: these, in fact, can only be eliminated by burning them through physical exercise and high-intensity aerobic sport.
Sweating, in fact, is a delicate body thermoregulation mechanism that allows the skin to disperse the heat accumulated through the evaporation of water. An excessive rise in body temperature is very dangerous because it can have serious consequences on the health of our body. This is why you shouldn't cover up too much while playing sports and it is advisable to wear fabrics that allow the skin to breathe. In addition, it is advisable to exercise during the cooler hours of the day.
So it is that it makes you lose weight
Sweating doesn't make you lose more weight or burn more calories quickly. In reality, what makes you lose weight is physical activity because it is only the energy expenditure determined by muscular and cardio vascular work that makes you consume energy and, consequently, lose weight. Our body is regulated by a delicate balance between incoming and outgoing calories but sweat, being only a liquid, has nothing to do with this mechanism. The idea that taking a sauna causes you to lose fat is completely unfounded, as sweating is a bodily function that does not come with weight loss.
Why sweat is so important to our body
Not allowing the skin of the body to sweat, covering it excessively, can be one of the causes that lead to dangerous heat stroke or a state of dehydration. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for this condition to occur even in moderately trained people who practice physical exercise. When the body loses too many fluids and these are not readily replenished with water or one of the isotonic drinks on the market, we are no longer able to produce sweat and, consequently, to regulate our body temperature. Sports training practiced during the hottest hours of the day is another reason that leads to dehydration. This condition is very dangerous because it can compromise the functioning of the mechanisms that regulate internal organs.
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