by Matt Weik
I would like to take a moment to thank Kim Kardashian for yet another idiotic piece of news, and for sparking this article. I was reading some health news the other night when I stumbled upon an article about Kim Kardashian and how she wants to lose more baby weight. The article talks about how she and her sister Khloé use sauna suits to lose weight. I think if you combined the two of them, they might share one working brain cell. Are you kidding me? Sauna suits? What are we, sweating to the oldies?
I thought we killed this dangerous sweat soaked fad a long time ago. Now we have “celebrities” saying they are using them to drop body weight. We’ll get to how dumb they actually sound saying this in just a moment. But honestly, these celebrities are working with some big-name trainers which makes me question how bright the Los Angeles and Hollywood trainers are if they are allowing their clients to use sauna suits. So, let’s dive right into this disgusting sweat pool of a topic.
The stupidity is hurting my head
Back in the day a trend was born. This trend involved putting rubberized vinyl, plastic, or nylon pants and long-sleeve jacket over our entire bodies and then exercising until we were sweating profusely, all in an effort to lose weight. What many people didn’t understand back then was, the weight they lost was simply water weight. Therefore, we had people dressed in what looked like garbage bags running around town and in gyms thinking they were actually getting skinnier by the end of the workout. Many times, these individuals would weigh themselves on the scale before their workout and then after and see they dropped a couple pounds. Seeing the numbers change on the scale only made them want to stick with this dangerous behavior.
What these individuals lacked to realize was that the only thing they were losing was water weight. While the number on the scale changed, as soon as you drink a glass of water, you’re going to replenish what was lost and the weight on the scale will go right back up. What many people didn’t realize were the risks involved in wearing sauna suits.
What’s the worst that could happen?
Actually, death. How’s that for a realistic worst case scenario? Wearing a sauna suit while exercising is simply dehydrating your body by pulling out water in the form of sweat. Your heart rate becomes elevated while wearing the suit, you could also feel dizzy and weak. Of greater concern, wearing a sauna suit increases your risk of dehydration and even heat stroke. In all seriousness, it’s not worth it. Not only is it not worth it, but it’s not helping you in any way. You’re not losing weight. You are doing more harm to your body than good. And due to the loss of electrolytes in your body from putting your system through this, you risk organ failure. Why would anyone want to do this if there’s no benefit? It’s hard to believe that people to this day are still using these old-school techniques as if they are some secret weight loss trick. Sure, we see wrestlers and fighters using them to quickly drop weight so they can meet weight requirements, but even that isn’t healthy. They do it short-term and then after they make their weigh-in, you generally find them rehydrating themselves.
If you want to get serious and put a plan in place that works and is a healthier alternative, focus on your nutrition and physical activity. If you aren’t currently active, get active—in any fashion. If you enjoy walks, walk more. If you enjoy sports, go play sports. The key to getting active and staying active is getting yourself immersed in something you enjoy. If you hate what you’re doing, you’re not going to stick with it for very long. The same goes with your nutrition. Sure, there are “nutrition gurus” out there who have all of their competitors on a tilapia and asparagus diet. Congrats, that’s enough to make the sanest person want to go jump off a cliff. Don’t put yourself through that. Find healthy foods that you enjoy and have them available in your refrigerator. Prep meals if you have to. Prepping your meals is a great way to stay on a nutrition plan. When you have your meals ready to go, it makes everything so much easier. It’s when you need something quick and don’t have it readily available that you fall off the deep end with your nutrition.
I hope that once and for all we can put this terrible concept of wrapping yourself in vinyl-rubber or plastic and exercising until you’ve purposely lost pounds of body weight to rest. It’s a terrible idea. It’s like wrapping your head in plastic wrap and not cutting any holes in it so you can breathe. Nothing good is going to come from it and it doesn’t serve a true purpose when it comes to your attempt at reaching your health and fitness goals. Put in the work. Don’t try and cut corners. Be consistent. And the results will come. There is no easy way around putting in the work. You simply need to do it. Period.
Source:
Fox News online via the New York Post. http://www.foxnews.com/health/2017/02/23/kim-kardashian-turns-to-sauna-suit-to-shed-pounds.html