OBESITY-EXERCISING/GYM, VIBRATIONS & SAUNA - WHY THEY DON’T HELP TO LOSE WEIGHT?
Since early times there has been a belief that if we exercise or rather if we sweat we ‘burn’ (consume) our fats. Somehow this concept was so much accepted by people that we saw many coming up with hundreds of workout programs and also their so called special ways of losing fats. People started using vibrators and sauna claiming that they mobilize fat and reduce weight by inducing sweating. Some people still believe that when you sweat you use up your fats, let’s understand why this is not true.
What is sweat and why do we sweat?
Sweat is a fluid consisting primarily of water (98%) and includes solutes dissolved like urea, sodium chloride, lactate etc. It is secreted from the sweat glands which are spread widely over the skin. There are two instances when an individual sweats;
1) On increased body temperature
2) Emotional stress/ stimulation.
So it should be understood that sweat comes from sweat glands which are located within the skin.
Sweating is a mechanism by which the body maintains its temperature, this does not imply that the body has lost fat. When the sweat evaporates from the body surface heat is absorbed from the skin surface thus helping regulate the body temperature.
What happens when we exercise?
When we exercise our muscles perform work, in doing so they consume energy and in turn produce motion and heat. This increase in the body temperature causes sweating which helps to reduce the body temperature.
Muscles for their activities primarily consume glucose and glycogen within our body not fat. The human brain completely depends on blood glucose for its functions and hence the muscles have to spare this glucose for the human brain. An individual can surely undergo for long durations of physical exertion for which the body cannot provide adequate glucose. Thus the muscles switch over to glycogen (stored in the liver and the muscles) for their source of energy.
Now fats are an excellent source of storage of energy but they are not a fast source of energy. When we workout we need a good & a fast source of energy which is glucose & glycogen rather than fats. So we end up consuming our glycogen stores (which are large enough) and unfortunately our fats remain as they were.
When we exercise we force our muscles to work beyond their existing capacities and thus we inform them that they need to be stronger and have to perform better. Thus the muscles undergo enlargement (hypertrophy) and become competent for the next schedule of the workout where we force them to work even harder. In this way exercising causes gain of our muscular mass causing gain in muscular weight and not fat loss.
There are individuals who attempt starvation after exercising in order to lose weight -
One should understand that muscles require a healthy diet for their growth which is stimulated by the workout. When this supply of required dietary foodstuffs is not available the person may experience malaise, exhaustion and even fever. This indicates that the body is literally being pulled in two opposite directions; this is in no way going to make you lose fats and should thus be avoided.
Even if you do manage to lose some weight it would strain your body.
The whole existence of gyms and exercising was established for the purpose of making robust and bulky individuals and not to lose weight. It is a mere waste of time & resources to exercise in an attempt to lose weight. Gyms should be used when one needs to build muscles.
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER WE DISCONTINUE EXERCISING?
When we exercise regularly our basal metabolic rate and dietary requirements remain increased.
Metabolic Rate is the sum of Anabolic (uptake in simpler terms) and Catabolic rate( expenditure) so if you consume more and spend more your BMR increases but you would not lose weight.
One question that we need to ask is when we start exercising our energy needs increase so will our hunger remain the same- The answer is obviously no. The body increase the absorption and we only lose weight for the time that the body takes to adjust to the change and when we discontinue exercising the exact reverse sequence of events take place .
As we stop our exercising schedule we reduce the energy requirement of our muscles but our body continues to absorb more calories from the food we eat. Hence what follows is a weight gain due to accumulation of these extra absorbed calories and one ends up with even more weight before they started exercising.
Thus if one wants to indulge in regular physical exertion it should be taken care that he/she continues it for long period and no discontinuation so that they don’t end up gaining fats when they stop exercising.
WHY VIBRATIONS, STEAM, & SAUNA DO NOT HELP TO LOSE WEIGHT?
After application of vibrations or sauna what happens is a transient rise in the temperature of the local body tissue causing sweating. This local reduction in the fluid content may appear as a promising way to lose inches but this does not last even a single day. The body restores it normal levels of fluid within various tissues and thus within a day or two you will find that the there has been no change in your weight or in your waist. Repeated application of this has no possible positive effects as there is a specific amount of fluid which can possibly be made to sweat out. Further repeated application of heat and vibrations may cause loosening of the underlying skin and you may even experience irritation of the skin.
These procedures are simply not capable of mobilizing fat as they claim. It should be realized that obesity is not a cosmetic disorder but a medical disorder and one should consult his/her physician on what could be done and possibly treat the cause of weight gain rather than only considering the symptoms of the disease.
