If you want to lose belly fat, you'll have to do it the old-fashioned way, through diet and exercise. Infrared body wraps are a relatively recent entry in the body wrap treatment business. One company claims you might lose up to 8 lbs. and 6 to 20 inches per treatment. Another claims that you can drop a dress size with 10 treatments, which could cost you as much as $1,500 as of March 2011.
Infrared Body Wraps
Infrared wraps for belly fat are one of the latest treatments, as of 2011, that promise to melt pounds off your gut. The same types of promises are made by the manufacturers of neoprene body wraps such as the Belly Burner, heavily promoted on television. In theory, the heat of the infrared wrap penetrates deep into fat layers, turning fat into liquid that is sweated out of your body.
Procedure
One of the main players in the infrared treatment business is Thermojet. A typical treatment consists of the application of six wide, flexible, silicone bandages wrapped around targeted areas of the body. Unlike some body wrap treatments, which require you to exercise while your body is wrapped, you lie down for a Thermojet session.
Another treatment company, Sudatonic, uses four different creams containing seaweed and essential oils. After applying a cream or several creams, an operator puts an infrared wrap the area to "increase fat reduction and remove unwanted toxins from the body."
Research
There is no reliable evidence that infrared treatments work on belly fat or any other type of fat. As Gary Hunter, a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Nutrition, told the "Los Angeles Times," you will sweat if you use a neoprene or infrared body wrap. But he says such wraps could actually be counterproductive.
If you use a belly wrap, you muscles will relax and you won't burn as many calories or get as toned as you might without the wrap. Hunter notes that belly wraps are not as dangerous as full body wraps, which have led to fatal cases of dehydration and heat stroke, but they aren't entirely safe either.
Considerations
Instead of paying as much as $1,500 for infrared treatments in an attempt to lose a dress size, you would be better off using the money for a gym membership. The MayoClinic website says that visceral fat buried deep in the abdomen responds well to regular exercise and a healthy diet.
Targeted stomach exercises can firm muscles and flatten the belly. Daily exercise at a moderate intensity level is the best way to lose belly fat and the gut may be the area of your body that responds most quickly to healthy lifestyle changes. So there is a tried and true way to lose belly fat but no miracle cures such as infrared body wraps.
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