Can You Lose Weight if You Use a Sauna Suit on a Treadmill?

Running on a treadmill to the point of exhaustion while dripping sweat in a sauna suit might seem like a practical approach to weight loss, but this common myth has serious health risks. High-intensity cardiovascular activity helps you burn stored energy, which promotes fat loss. Using a sauna suit in an attempt to shed unsightly body fat is shortsighted and dangerous. A sauna suit will increase your core temperature during exercise, forcing your body to expend water at a tremendous rate, which ultimately leads to severe dehydration.

Health Risks

Wearing a sauna suit during high-octane modes of exercise, like running on a treadmill, causes health risks such as dehydration, kidney damage due to extreme loss of electrolytes, overheating and overall exhaustion, according to Military Fitness. Furthermore, excessively sweating has no benefits to healthy weight loss. Sauna suits are sometimes used among gym sports, like boxing and wrestling, for competitors who need to drop a few pounds to make a weight class. However, weight is immediately regained after eating or drinking water.

Weight-Loss Strategy

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The best weight-loss strategy is to burn more calories than you need, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Regular exercise combined with eating a healthy, reduced-calorie diet will ultimately help you better control your weight. The Cleveland Clinic recommends getting at least 30 to 60 minutes of aerobic activity three times per week to properly execute weight loss through a moderately intense physical fitness program. Healthy weight loss also typically requires eating 500 fewer calories than you’re accustomed to on a daily basis, according to Mayo Clinic. A pound of fat is made up of 3,500 calories, which means you can lose one pound of fat each week simply by eating less and exercising at a steady pace.

High-Intensity Aerobic Exercise

Running in a sauna suit on a treadmill won’t slim down your waistline. Mayo Clinic asserts that a 200-pound person can burn 664 calories in one hour of high-intensity aerobic exercise. The total number of calories you burn during exercise is not altered when wearing a sauna suit. Your body’s ability to perform at a high level during exercise is actually diminished from the core-heating effect that sauna suits cause. The body needs water to function properly. A sauna suit forces the body to shed an unnatural amount of water, which can cause your muscles to shut down.

Benefits of Staying Hydrated

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Weight loss experienced from exercising in a sauna suit is temporary due to the effects of dehydration. Fat loss is not a direct outcome of forcing yourself to exhaustion by sweating profusely. The benefits of cardiovascular activity are enhanced when your body is sufficiently hydrated, however. The body needs water during exercise to supply working muscles with the nutrients needed to operate effectively. Running on a treadmill can boost your metabolism and build muscular endurance. A sauna suit is not required.