Stupid exercise equipment: The Sauna / Slim Suit

in #fitness3 years ago

This product has been around for ages and I am still a bit bewildered when I see someone wearing one since you only need to have a little bit of knowledge about how the human body works in order to understand that this is a totally bogus product as is the idea behind it.


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The idea is that you put on this suit get some exercise and sweat a lot more than you normally would and then the fat will simply fall off of your body like magic.

The old commercials were really funny because it would feature middle aged or elderly people doing things that definitely were not exercise for the most part, such as watching TV or slowly doing some gardening in a seated position.

The claim the lady makes about not being able to fit into her dress in the morning and then after simply going shopping, taking her dog for a walk, and doing some gardening it fit perfectly! It's amazing!

This notion about cutting weight by sweating is not a new one and when used by professional athletes who need to "make weight" before a weigh in for a fight it actually can do its job like this commercial suggests but this is simply water weight that is lost, not fat. As soon as the person wearing it drinks a bottle of water all of those tiny bits of weight that you lost is going to come straight back.

This process is still used by prize fighters and it is estimated that nearly 40% of all professional fighters are dramatically dehydrated during weigh ins. Several fighters have suffered serious medical conditions and Yang Jian Bing died from it. There are other stories about similar things happening to younger athletes trying to lose dramatic amounts of weight just before weigh ins only to turn up the following day a few pounds heavier.

But these people are elite athletes, not your Aunt Janet. If she tries to pull off the same thing it could be considerably more dangerous and this is probably why if you do see these products they come with lots of disclaimers relieving the manufacturer of any sort of liability should you die from using the product.


Think about it for a second. If sweating offered any sort of long-term weight loss, why not just go sit out in the sun an sweat your butt off for a few hours a day? This same notion is the reason behind a lot of misguided people that spend a bunch of time in a sauna hoping to lose weight that way.

The fact of the matter in regards to all weight loss is that you have to establish a calorie deficit in order to lose weight... PERIOD. There is no other possible way to accomplish this and while this product is not nearly as popular as it was back in the 80's you do occasionally see a person wearing one in the gym. When I see that person I know right away that they are an idiot. Don't be that guy... please?

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I went from athlete to dangerously fat and back by changing my ways and losing 50 lbs and keeping it off - you can too but there are no shortcuts! You gotta put in the work!

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Haven´t had the "pleasure" to meet some of these astronauts myself but I know they exist :D Insane.

yep, there are some strange gimmicks out there that people routinely fall for. When i see stuff like this I fear for the future of humanity.