Calories burned in a Saunas

It's not exercise, you do not count it. All you do in a sauna is lose water that comes back as soon as you drink. It's good for ridding yourself of toxins and nothing else.

This.

I just want to say with the yoga.... It's not really the fact of the heat that is burning the calories it is the the muscle strength you are gaining from the yoga. Muscles burn 3x more calories after a strength workout. People who combine their strength training and cardio are more likely to burn more calories because they are building muscles and getting the heart rate which isn't necessarily good for calorie burning but is good for your over all health especially heart health (which is a big factor with obesity).

While sitting normally, like at my office chair, my HR is about 65-75. While sitting in the sauna (my dad has an infrared sauna in his basement that gets up to 150 degrees) I wear my HRM and my HR is consistently between 120-140. I'm certainly not saying that I use the sauna to lose weight but, to me, 120-140 is considered my fat burning zone and if my body is working constantly to "cool" itself while I am in this sauna, to me, it makes sense that I might be burning a little bit. Maybe. I've had good results with diet and exercise. I workout 5-6x a week and eat my 1200 cals plus exercise cals and I'm having success. *I also sit in the steam sauna while I'm at the gym and usually my HR is about 115-125. I like to sit in it after a good, long workout. It's relaxing and I like to sweat. I feel it's good for my skin. I have no evidence to support any of this, but it's just my two cents!

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.

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.

Calorie burn is actually a function of METs (Metabolic Equivalent of a Task) and is roughly correlated with heart rate, but heart rate can be artificially increased without a corresponding increase in METs at higher temperatures. Your BMR can increase with an increase in *internal temperature* - i.e. a fever, or prolonged heat exposure, but a hot yoga class isn't going to increase your internal temperature much because your body has compensating mechanisms like sweating. Your body will react much more slowly to an increase in temperature compared to a decrease in temperature, where you will actually increase your caloric burn immediately as your body generates additional heat to maintain your internal temperature. Think of it as opening a faucet (sweating, a passive mechanism, where most of the cooling effect comes from evaporation) versus a fireplace (that is actively burning fuel to generate heat). Same thing when you're sitting in a sauna - you'd increase your BMR if you sat in there for a lengthy period of time, but that's highly dangerous.

Also, I didn't say "breaks between poses" - but unless you're holding one pose for 75 minutes you are going to be transitioning and your heart rate will slow during the transition.

Here's the bikram sequence, 26 poses x 2: http://www.bikramyogaredmond.com/poses.aspx
Here's the ashtanga sequence, 72 poses after the opening rounds of surya namaskars plus vinyasas between many of the postures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/louisebest/5345895443/

A few comments on the bikram yoga:

1. No, I was not being sarcastic. I've searched high and low for calorie burn approximations online, and all the sources I've found claim a 90-minute session burns at least 750 calories (for someone of my size). 90 minutes of hatha yoga only burns 200. Even if the calorie counts for bikram are wildly exaggerated you can't deny that it still burns more. Furthermore, I can't say I've ever seen an overwieght person in my bikram classes-- most of the students are as skinny as a rail. Sure, it's possible that only skinny people are interested in bikram yoga, but I still maintain that being in a hot room leads to greater calorie burn.

2. Yes, you gain muscle strength from any kind of yoga, but the poses we do in bikram would not be very challenging if they were done at room temperature.

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.

Thankyou for posting. I'm tired of feeling like we are getting bashed, really wish this site was more uplifting. Yoga is hard. I have burned 200 cals in 30 minutes doing it so unless you've tried it...

Wow... Maybe you guys could help answering the question WITHOUT being total *kitten*?|

Twilighttabby, there are a lot of sources that differ about this subject. Research as much as you can... But if it comes down to it, maybe getting an HRM and finding out for yourself is the best way to go...? After all, calories burned is unique to the person, their weight, and their level of fitness.

To me, it doesn't seem like a very efficient way to burn, simply because it does nothing to really increase overall fitness... :happy:

Thankyou also for wording it that way...lol..this is what I was thinking. I really wish it could be more postive on this site instead of trying to...gosh i can't even find the right words. Just been ecouraging for goodness sakes.

A sauna heats the body, forcing it to work to cool itself. This engages the metabolism, increasing heart rate and circulation in much the same way as physical exercise.That much I know. I does burn calories just setting there,I just don't know how much.That info came from my doctor.

Oh come on. You're just being lazy and want to earn calories to eat based on sitting in a hot room. It's like the people who log cleaning their house. It's not exercise. Don't log it. Your body burns calories daily, but you need to burn EXTRA to lose weight.

Wow quite the responses you've had!I don't know the answer but you're question is a good one and I assume you're probably looking for different answers than before. As far as celery goes I was told by a nutritionist, that eating it helps because you burn more calories digesting and chewing than the celery itself is !

You're right you do burn some calories. It can't hurt and if you enjoy it than what the hell.
It's like youga when you just do plain yoga you burn less calories than hot yoga ( I've never done it myself)
However my cousin who is a stewardess swears by it and she has to stay n shape she's been doing yoga for over 10years and just started hot yoga about 1.5 years ago and notices the difference.

Don't let people discourage you just make exercise as enjoyable as you can.
Nice picture I wish I had the confidence to post one.

From what I've been told from some of my friends that are in MMA, it's mainly to shed more water weight. I believe it's also used to help relax the muscles after strenuous workouts.

Other than that, I wouldn't bother trying to track how many calories are burned off sitting in there. But if you feel the need to, use a HRM. Although some people might look at you weird... :huh:

^Just my 2 shillings :bigsmile: