Do infrared saunas burn fat?

Infrared saunas are all the rage in the natural health world. The holistic health benefits are impressive and have been well documented by legitimate Japanese researchers.

Do infrared saunas burn fat off your body, however?

No. 

Of course not. There is only one biological phenomenon that burns body fat. It’s not exercise. It’s not nutrition. This phenomenon is not delivered in a powder or pill. And it is definitely not an infrared sauna.

What circumstance deliver the only body fat burning potential you have?

A calorie deficit.

That’s it. Your body will turn to fat stores only when you burn more calories than you eat. If you live in a true calorie deficit day in and day out, you will lose weight that includes body fat.

Any weight loss strategy that doesn’t create a calorie deficit will fail.

• Exercise without a calorie deficit will not cause fat loss.
• Supplements without a calorie deficit will not cause fat loss.
• Clean nutrition without a calorie deficit will not cause fat loss.
• Sitting in a sauna will not burn fat, unless you are sitting there in a calorie deficit.

This raises the question, “Do infrared saunas increase energy expenditure? Do they burn calories?”

It appears that infrared saunas mildly elevate your heart rate, creating a passive energy expenditure, which may contribute to creating your calorie deficit.

However, sauna manufacturers seem to have lost their minds by claiming that sitting in their products burns up to 1000 calories in 30 minutes.

There is no evidence of this, at all.

Consider this: A 250 pound man who rides a bicycle at 15 miles per hour for an entire hour will burn around 1000 calories. You’re telling me that the mild increase in heart rate produced by an infrared sauna doubles the calorie burning experienced during high speed cycling?

Sorry, no. This is shady marketing copy by sauna manufacturers who, in spite of having great products, are not honest in their use of sales hooks.

Give up the fantasy of burning loads of calories in a sauna. Use them for the myriad of health benefits they do offer. Yet, if you want to lose weight, create a calorie deficit the old fashioned way, with hard work, sacrifice, patience and discipline.

Further reading: Check out what fitness expert Tom Venuto (one of the leanest men in the world) has to say about infrared saunas.