Calories burned in a Saunas

Mr_Bad_Example

How many calories do you burn in a sauna???????

A lot less than you would if you exercised.

knightreader

Bikram (hot) yoga burns a ton of calories, but the poses themselves are less challenging compared to regular yoga, which hardly burns any. So sitting in a sauna must burn a significant amount.

I've heard this too but maybe someone should wear an HRM to really find out.

i burn 1160 calories in my 90 minute hot yoga class...according to my polar ft4. and i skip two of the poses.

cwolfman13

How many calories do you burn in a sauna???????Different sources (mainly, sauna retailers and manufacturers) make a vast range of claims as to the calorie-burning effectiveness of sauna use, ranging from 50 to 900 calories burned in a half-hour-long session.I love setting in the sauna after working out and would love to know if you do burn calories and if so how many?If anyone knows please tell me.

If you burned 900 calories in a sauna, I'd be rail thin and would have never gotten obese to begin with...I could see maybe 50-100 possibly. I love a good session in a sauna, but I've never found it to be of much benefit to my weight loss en-devours. However, it is outstanding for riding the body of toxins and keeping water retention under control...I've also found it helps a bit with my hypertension. I have a difficult time working up a good sweat, even when I'm working out vigorously...I use the sauna to get my sweat on.

Blueleaf1

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alseed8

I agree with you. As my mom says, If you don't have anything nice to say then don't say anything at all!

bswithrebecca

Not true-depending on how much you weigh, just plain sitting burns 91 calories for someone weighing near 200# in an hour on the low end. I am searching for the exact answer myself

Markguns

Zero. It's just sitting.

That's just not accurate... You defiantly burn more that just sitting in ambient air... However it's not "exercise".
1 You are sweating it takes energy to do that
2 Your heart rate is elevated trying to keep your body cool, the blood vessels near the skin dilate and "cardiac output" increases.
3 My guess would be you burn what you would walking at a slow pace, like 2.0 mph

Summation: My HR is about 100 when I go in and slowly raises to about 120-130 in 30 mins.(depending on how much exertion I did prior to going into the sauna, I usually go after workout). I figure I burn at lest 100-200 cal but I do not count it. Saunas are for cleaning out your skin, flushing toxins, relieving stress, and relaxing your muscles. Take the few calories burned as a benefit but I wouldn't try to log any.

pannellkat

Some of the ignorance on this post is killen me slowly!

ninerbuff

Bikram (hot) yoga burns a ton of calories, but the poses themselves are less challenging compared to regular yoga, which hardly burns any. So sitting in a sauna must burn a significant amount.

Bikram yoga burns no more calories than room temp yoga. Sweating from hot external temperature doesn't equate to higher calorie burns. Yoga on average burns about 350-400 calories an hour.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

lizziebeth1028

How many calories do you burn in a sauna???????Different sources (mainly, sauna retailers and manufacturers) make a vast range of claims as to the calorie-burning effectiveness of sauna use, ranging from 50 to 900 calories burned in a half-hour-long session.I love setting in the sauna after working out and would love to know if you do burn calories and if so how many?If anyone knows please tell me.

I love saunas. But It's not exercise and it's not something I would ever log as a calorie burn. In my book it falls into the same category as 'light cleaning', knitting, food preparation and shopping. Not a significant enough calorie burn to count towards my fitness goal.

ninerbuff

3. I don't own a HRM but my heart rate DEFINITELY gets up there when I do bikram. In that respect it's probably equivalent to aerobics or running.

I don't do bikram, but I do wear my heart rate monitor while I do yoga (ashtanga/vinyasa, so similar pose styles as bikram minus the oppressive heat). The problem is that yes, your heart rate does go up when you do a pose, but it will immediately come back down as soon as you exit the pose. So during the class my maximum heart rate will get up to about 150-155, but my average heart rate over the entire class is only about 105-110. I burn about 250-300 cals in a 75 minute class - which is certainly nothing to sneeze at, but if I ran for 75 minutes I'd be burning about 700 cals because I would be *sustaining* that heart rate throughout the entire workout.

That's my point-- when you're doing it in heat your heart rate is consistently much higher. Also, I don't know how you do it but we don't have any breaks between poses.

Scary movies keep heart rates up too.:laugh:

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

johnmn12

Maybe someone should sit in one wearing a heart rate monitor. I'm saying there are better ways to burn calories than sweating them out. I do enjoy relaxing in one for 10 to 15 minutes or so after a workout, but I don't expect to burn any more calories than if I were sitting on the couch.

viajera99

One more time: A HRM is NOT an energy expenditure measuring device, it is a HRM.

HR is an analog for energy expenditure only during steady state aerobic exercise. Wearing a HRM in a sauna (or sitting at a desk, for that matter) and expecting it to tell you how much energy you expended is a classic example of GIGO (garbage in, garbage out.)

Just because your HR has increased does not mean your caloric expenditure has increased. Sure thermal stress probably means you expended a couple more, but if your sitting around rate is 90 kcal/hr, you probably burned 100 kcal/hr in the sauna. Big woop.

TL;DR: DO NOT USE HRMs TO ESTIMATE CALORIES BURNED EXCEPT DURING STEADY STATE AEROBIC EXERCISE

ninerbuff

I just went to Bikram Yoga yesterday and wore my heart rate monitor. I burned on 571 calories in the 90 minute session. I have been doing bikram for about two months and trust me when I say that its one hell of a workout. I don't do it by itself for weight loss, but it has helped to tone my muscles and increase my flexibility.

HRM's aren't accurate at reading non cardio exercise routines. In retrospect, if you wore an HRM to a scary movie, you'd be shocked at how many calories it says you burned.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Sycoholic

It's ridiculous the denial and justification that lazy people will utilize to continue being lazy. I would have to RUN 7-8 miles to burn 900 calories. You REALLY think you could burn that SITTING in a sauna? C'mon...get real. You could maybe burn that much if you sat in a sauna for a full day and didn't ingest ANY calories. Have fun with that.

I love this post!!!! Next we'll be looking at calories burned taking a bath vs. a shower and sleeping on your back vs sleeping on your side.

brucekoblinski

Hi,
I know I'm a little late on this topic, however, what drew me to reply was the amount of negativity that is thrown about on this thread. I don't think people that use this tool to calculate their diet and caloric expenditure are actually lazy. Perhaps she wanted to be sure she wasn't burning too many calories. And there IS a boost to your metabolism when you force your body to adapt to different temperatures. You think your body doesn't have to work to dilate or constrict your blood vessels or carry out the functions it takes to cause the body to sweat?! Now, that being said, the calories burned isn't significant, but the calories burned by a leisurely walk seem to add up and be out into people's daily logs. I don't consider that exercise for myself, but others may. In sum, stop attacking each other for simple questions and curiosities. Everyone, at some point, asked a question that someone already knew the answer to, and I hope they didn't lash out, criticize, or make you feel silly for asking in the first place.

AdriannaGetsfit

To all of you who felt it necessary to put people down or disrespect them based on their questions or answers, YOU SUCK. Be nice, we should all be here to help on another. It was a fair question that deserved fair answers. If you have nothing nice to say, shut up.

dbmata

Aw, stupid necro thread. I hate that.

People who resurrect threads like this suck.

BelleVegan77

I tried the sauna thing. It did totally improve my skin and helped me to drink more water. I found it as relaxing as a day at the beach. I curled up with a good book sweat like a pig showered and felt like a whole new girl...but I didn't lose a darn thing and I did this every single day for way over the health and safety time limits and heat suggestions posted on the door.

sunman00

well, that was an entertaining 10 minutes reading, thanks everyone,

time for bed here now, hopefully any snoring I do will burn back one of the beers I had earlier,

night night :yawn: