You don't "melt" fat by sweating or getting hotter
ninerbuff
Posts: 48,988 Member
So the visual of watching lard or butter melt in a pan due to heat, has confused the crap out of people when some "gurus" tell you you need to workout harder and sweat to "melt" the fat in your body. It's PHYSICALLY impossible. Why? Well the melting point would be at about 180 degrees. If you're body got up that high, you'd be DEAD.
All the scams out there saying things like drinking a drink to "melt" fat or eating certain foods, or "fat burning" supplements are all just sales jargon. People WANT to believe that it's just that easy to get it done. I just had someone email me asking about a waist trimmer and lotion used to increase sweating to burn off fat.
How does fat burn off? Well I can't write out the whole process cause it's long so I'll post a link:
https://bnrc.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42269-019-0238-z
But the basic takeaway is the you need to be in a calorie deficit that is not to extreme (it will work at first, but plays havok with your hormones and will slow metabolic rate to a crawl) and be consistent. Fat gets "burned" off when you burn more than you consume in calories.
So don't fall for things like, laying a heating pad on your abs will help you burn more fat, or rubbing a lotion that makes you sweat more will increase fat loss. There aren't any OTC things that really affect the natural reduction of fat by being in calorie deficit.
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All the scams out there saying things like drinking a drink to "melt" fat or eating certain foods, or "fat burning" supplements are all just sales jargon. People WANT to believe that it's just that easy to get it done. I just had someone email me asking about a waist trimmer and lotion used to increase sweating to burn off fat.
How does fat burn off? Well I can't write out the whole process cause it's long so I'll post a link:
https://bnrc.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s42269-019-0238-z
But the basic takeaway is the you need to be in a calorie deficit that is not to extreme (it will work at first, but plays havok with your hormones and will slow metabolic rate to a crawl) and be consistent. Fat gets "burned" off when you burn more than you consume in calories.
So don't fall for things like, laying a heating pad on your abs will help you burn more fat, or rubbing a lotion that makes you sweat more will increase fat loss. There aren't any OTC things that really affect the natural reduction of fat by being in calorie deficit.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
13
Replies
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You don't "melt" fat by sweating or getting hotter
I only wish!
With the number of hot flashes I have, I'd weight what I did when I was 17.8 -
Well, if you try to render the fat on for example a duck breast, you'll need the heat of a stove or oven to do it. Not something I'd want to put my body through 😁1
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But I lost two pounds after an hour in the sauna!
Never mind how much I gained back after rehydrating.2 -
Lol, now you have people putting Vick's vapor rub then wrapping with Saran wrap fad on Pintrest. Crazy.
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Just the visual is making me chuckle. I render animal fat a few times a year in my slow cooker, and the idea of a person literally trying to cook themselves to lose weight....wow. That's something.0
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I'm so disappointed in these people who actually endorse it and have NO IDEA on how human physiology actually works. Yes there WAS reason to take a biology class and actually use it in real life, is in my mind when I think of them.alisdairsmommy wrote: »Just the visual is making me chuckle. I render animal fat a few times a year in my slow cooker, and the idea of a person literally trying to cook themselves to lose weight....wow. That's something.
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1 -
Hmmm, been reading about this, and various viewpoints, from which I gather that:
First off the wraps can be dangerous because the heat trapped by your body, and the stomach is a large heat distribution area
That there are some ingredients that may have some effect on reducing fat, albeit not directly, but indirectly having to with water loss and fat cells, etc
There are also articles that look into this and stuff, and don't find any benefit to some ingredients
Some of these systems use a combination of both a wrap and an ointment, at a pretty hefty price might I add.
So, I am not ready to discount every part of it, some natural remedies can have certain effects, but certain aspects would definitely stay away from, especially when they charge a lot of money, which may be questionable0 -
What ingredients are you referring to?Sportertje354 wrote: »Hmmm, been reading about this, and various viewpoints, from which I gather that:
First off the wraps can be dangerous because the heat trapped by your body, and the stomach is a large heat distribution area
That there are some ingredients that may have some effect on reducing fat, albeit not directly, but indirectly having to with water loss and fat cells, etc
There are also articles that look into this and stuff, and don't find any benefit to some ingredients
Some of these systems use a combination of both a wrap and an ointment, at a pretty hefty price might I add.
So, I am not ready to discount every part of it, some natural remedies can have certain effects, but certain aspects would definitely stay away from, especially when they charge a lot of money, which may be questionable
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Are you telling me I can't put my belly on the stove and get thin? 😢1
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NorthCascades wrote: »Are you telling me I can't put my belly on the stove and get thin? 😢
I used to be able to lift it up and put it on the counter. Ewwwwwww. TMI, I know.
But think of the possibilities if this really were a thing.
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You take everything so literally. When people talk of melting fat, that's not what they mean (unless they are talking about duck breast or similar).3
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You take everything so literally. When people talk of melting fat, that's not what they mean (unless they are talking about duck breast or similar).
People actually do show up here and argue that sweating means you're burning fat, literally, and that if you don't sweat, you don't burn fat.
It's a minority, yes . . . but it happens. SMH.3 -
And you know that how? You've actually conversed with them? If "heat" is applied to animal fat in a pan, it melts. Controversially people do things like wear sauna suits, wrap neoprene waist wraps around their waists, put "heat raising" lotions on their bellies................why do they do that? Because they actually understand that fat DOESN'T actually melt?You take everything so literally. When people talk of melting fat, that's not what they mean (unless they are talking about duck breast or similar).
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition 2 -
You take everything so literally. When people talk of melting fat, that's not what they mean (unless they are talking about duck breast or similar).
People actually do show up here and argue that sweating means you're burning fat, literally, and that if you don't sweat, you don't burn fat.
It's a minority, yes . . . but it happens. SMH.
Sauna. Hot yoga. Burning lots of calories taking a bath. If you can combine that with the vibrate your belly thing and a shot of apple cider vinegar you get a triple word score.5 -
Sorry, hate to interject here, but two and a half years of data on my Apple Watch do show that hot classes burn 20% or more more calories than unheated.
I did about 50/50 up til covid and the difference was noticeable. When the studio reopened after covid, they had to use the big studio due to social distancing and couldn’t heat it as well. Limited hot classes have just restarted in the past month, and the calorie burn has shot back up during those classes.
Indirectly, the heat helps because it requires a lot more exertion, and it’s far more fatiguing. But it’s not because we are roasting in there and fat’s dripping off us like a rotisserie spit.2 -
What ingredients are you referring to?
I just posted an answer, but it dissapeared when I pressed post?
Let me just add these two links, instead of typing all over again:
https://www.instantknockout.com/ik/how-does-fat-loss-cream-work/
https://www.livestrong.com/article/13720252-sweet-sweat-gel-safe/
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springlering62 wrote: »Sorry, hate to interject here, but two and a half years of data on my Apple Watch do show that hot classes burn 20% or more more calories than unheated.
I did about 50/50 up til covid and the difference was noticeable. When the studio reopened after covid, they had to use the big studio due to social distancing and couldn’t heat it as well. Limited hot classes have just restarted in the past month, and the calorie burn has shot back up during those classes.
Indirectly, the heat helps because it requires a lot more exertion, and it’s far more fatiguing. But it’s not because we are roasting in there and fat’s dripping off us like a rotisserie spit.
What would worry me is applying a 'heat cream/wrap' when already in a hot room where your body is being stressed more.
Are you using a chest strap or just the watch? Wonder if the increased sweat can affect the measurement. Wrist based heart rate monitors can fluctuate their reading based on different circumstances.
How many more calories would one burn in a cold room? Since it takes energy for the body to heat itself. My guess is there are studies for that.
If there is one thing I've learned about sports, food, and weight is that there are a lot of different theories, and sometimes it's hard to pin down something definitively. I've caught myself on this too with this stuff, thinking something was right a certain way, only to learn later it was more nuanced, or just plain wrong. We live we learn
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You’d be out of your mind to apply a cream or lotion prior to a yoga class, particularly a hot class.
Grip is very important, otherwise you’ll slide out of position, knees slide off elbows, hands unable to grip for downward dog, or lose footing during a wide legged pose and risk a groin pull. Nothing is more irritating than being in a bound side angle and feeling your back foot slide back.
I’ve never tried a heart monitor, just my Apple Watch, however, I know it’s reliable and accurate enough for my purposes, and if sweat affected it, it would go haywire during a run in a humid Southern summer, but it doesn’t.0 -
Those are the claims, but peer reviewed evidence hasn't shown them to be any more effective than placebo. And no cream or lotion gets rid of fat cells. Since they are applied to the epidermis, to get to fat they would have to penetrate down to the dermis level and the epidermis is what protects that from happening to an extent. Honestly, you CAN directly exercise an area to lose fat in that area but the amount of exercise you would have to do would well outweigh the actual fat loss used.Sportertje354 wrote: »What ingredients are you referring to?
I just posted an answer, but it dissapeared when I pressed post?
Let me just add these two links, instead of typing all over again:
https://www.instantknockout.com/ik/how-does-fat-loss-cream-work/
https://www.livestrong.com/article/13720252-sweet-sweat-gel-safe/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23222084/
I couldn't imagine doing 960-1200 reps for one leg to get minimal fat reduction. At 20 reps in a minute, it would take you 48 minutes to complete 960 reps and of course much longer for 1200.
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A regular named Azdak did a thread on this with heart rate monitors. I'll see if I can find it.springlering62 wrote: »Sorry, hate to interject here, but two and a half years of data on my Apple Watch do show that hot classes burn 20% or more more calories than unheated.
I did about 50/50 up til covid and the difference was noticeable. When the studio reopened after covid, they had to use the big studio due to social distancing and couldn’t heat it as well. Limited hot classes have just restarted in the past month, and the calorie burn has shot back up during those classes.
Indirectly, the heat helps because it requires a lot more exertion, and it’s far more fatiguing. But it’s not because we are roasting in there and fat’s dripping off us like a rotisserie spit.
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@ninerbuff while you’re at it can you direct me to the thread you did in January about engaging and holding abs? If you remember that one?0
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springlering62 wrote: »@ninerbuff while you’re at it can you direct me to the thread you did in January about engaging and holding abs? If you remember that one?
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10824708/what-you-may-not-be-doing-to-get-a-flatter-stomach/p1
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springlering62 wrote: »Sorry, hate to interject here, but two and a half years of data on my Apple Watch do show that hot classes burn 20% or more more calories than unheated.
I did about 50/50 up til covid and the difference was noticeable. When the studio reopened after covid, they had to use the big studio due to social distancing and couldn’t heat it as well. Limited hot classes have just restarted in the past month, and the calorie burn has shot back up during those classes.
Indirectly, the heat helps because it requires a lot more exertion, and it’s far more fatiguing. But it’s not because we are roasting in there and fat’s dripping off us like a rotisserie spit.
Higher ambient heat increases heart rate at the same intensity of exercise, compared to lower ambient heat. I see this in rowing workouts (on water) on very hot days compared to quite cold ones, doing same distance/speed/duration. It doesn't mean that more calories are burned, because it's oxygen uptake that correlates more closely with calorie burn, and heartbeat correlates with oxygen uptake, but heart rate also increases for reasons having nothing to do with oxygen uptake, and that don't increase calorie burn.
This next I'm not sure of, but I've heard that the mechanism behind increased heart rate in heat has to do with blood consistency in higher ambient heat, so it takes more heartbeats to deliver same blood volume.
@ninerbuff, perhaps this was the Azdak blog you were thinking of?
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak?month=201003
Azdak has several blog posts on the foibles of heart rate monitors as calorie estimators, or for other uses. They're all very informative, IMO. Any aspects I've fact-checked have been sound (IMO), so I don't much bother to fact check him anymore, to be truthful.
ETA: Yes, exercising at X intensity in higher heat is more fatiguing, IME. I've never tried to figure out why, just assumed it had to do with hydration and body temperature effects.4 -
Yes Ann that's it! Thanks.springlering62 wrote: »Sorry, hate to interject here, but two and a half years of data on my Apple Watch do show that hot classes burn 20% or more more calories than unheated.
I did about 50/50 up til covid and the difference was noticeable. When the studio reopened after covid, they had to use the big studio due to social distancing and couldn’t heat it as well. Limited hot classes have just restarted in the past month, and the calorie burn has shot back up during those classes.
Indirectly, the heat helps because it requires a lot more exertion, and it’s far more fatiguing. But it’s not because we are roasting in there and fat’s dripping off us like a rotisserie spit.
Higher ambient heat increases heart rate at the same intensity of exercise, compared to lower ambient heat. I see this in rowing workouts (on water) on very hot days compared to quite cold ones, doing same distance/speed/duration. It doesn't mean that more calories are burned, because it's oxygen uptake that correlates more closely with calorie burn, and heartbeat correlates with oxygen uptake, but heart rate also increases for reasons having nothing to do with oxygen uptake, and that don't increase calorie burn.
This next I'm not sure of, but I've heard that the mechanism behind increased heart rate in heat has to do with blood consistency in higher ambient heat, so it takes more heartbeats to deliver same blood volume.
@ninerbuff, perhaps this was the Azdak blog you were thinking of?
https://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Azdak?month=201003
Azdak has several blog posts on the foibles of heart rate monitors as calorie estimators, or for other uses. They're all very informative, IMO. Any aspects I've fact-checked have been sound (IMO), so I don't much bother to fact check him anymore, to be truthful.
ETA: Yes, exercising at X intensity in higher heat is more fatiguing, IME. I've never tried to figure out why, just assumed it had to do with hydration and body temperature effects.
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1 -
Does make me wonder if ambient heat, and things such as breathing hotter air, is a different effect than a gel warming your body, in a colder environment
Because if you burn more calories being hotter, than that could give some validation to some of these creams maybe0 -
So... there’s no overweight people living in hot climates, right?
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RunsWithBees wrote: »So... there’s no overweight people living in hot climates, right?
👋🏻
But, when I was overweight, the last thing I was thinking of was exerting myself in the heat (or anywhere else, for that matter). My sole exercise for years was getting from the office AC to the car AC to the house AC.1 -
Sportertje354 wrote: »Does make me wonder if ambient heat, and things such as breathing hotter air, is a different effect than a gel warming your body, in a colder environment
Because if you burn more calories being hotter, than that could give some validation to some of these creams maybe
You don't burn materially more calories being hotter. In fact, it seems possible that we burn *slightly* more calories when we're colder (to maintain body temperature), but manipulating ambient temperature in either direction is not likely to be a particularly effective weight loss strategy.1 -
You've obviously never been to Samoa or Micronesia.Sportertje354 wrote: »Does make me wonder if ambient heat, and things such as breathing hotter air, is a different effect than a gel warming your body, in a colder environment
Because if you burn more calories being hotter, than that could give some validation to some of these creams maybe
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
2 -
Yup. It takes more energy to keep the body warm than it does to cool it. In fact "shivering" is an involuntary response for the body to move blood faster through the body to warm it.Sportertje354 wrote: »Does make me wonder if ambient heat, and things such as breathing hotter air, is a different effect than a gel warming your body, in a colder environment
Because if you burn more calories being hotter, than that could give some validation to some of these creams maybe
You don't burn materially more calories being hotter. In fact, it seems possible that we burn *slightly* more calories when we're colder (to maintain body temperature), but manipulating ambient temperature in either direction is not likely to be a particularly effective weight loss strategy.
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
2
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