Sauna Belts To Lose Weight

Weight loss products continue to tempt customers frustrated by how hard it has been for them to lose weight. Sauna belts might look like a particularly friendly and low-key way to slim down because of their name's connection to saunas, which have a reputation for affecting weight. Saunas don't cause you to lose weight from fat, though -- only water.

What They Are

Sauna belts are basically specialized heating pads you place around any part of your body you think is overweight. The belt has a temperature control, and when you turn it on, the heat is supposed to make any fat disappear through sweat. Sauna belt advertising claims this relieves pain and aches, and causes you to relax at the same time.

Basis

This is supposedly based on the idea that when you sit in a real sauna, you're losing weight, so a miniature sauna-like heat device targeted at an area of your body should have a similar effect on that area -- or so manufacturers would want you to believe. The problem with this is that you don't really lose fat weight in a sauna; it's all water weight.

Water, Not Fat

The University of Alabama at Birmingham says the idea that fat will melt "just as solid fat used in cooking melts at higher temperatures" is a common misconception, and that you will regain any weight you lost in a sauna once you drink some water. Also keep in mind that no one has volunteered an explanation of how fat is supposed to turn into water when you use a sauna belt.

Considerations

Advertising for sauna belts likes to claim the belt is the key to weight loss, yet at least one manufacturer includes a diet plan with the belt. If the belt is supposed to melt away fat without you having to do anything, you have to ask yourself why the company would want you to follow a diet plan as well. Pictures of models using sauna belts show toned bodies and muscle, yet sauna belts do not come with exercise instructions and do not claim to strengthen your muscles during use.

Regulatory Inquiry

In fact, the pictures in advertisements were among the items that brought a major sauna belt manufacturer a regulatory inquiry from the National Advertising Review Council. The Electronic Retailing Association reports that several complaints were sent to the council's Electronic Retailing Self-Regulation Program. A group of before and after pictures allegedly had completely different people as the "after" people.