Excess weight is a 21st century plague. It is found in men and women, children and the elderly. The moment a person realizes that he is overweight, he starts looking for ways to lose weight.
Some go on diets and abandon them, others starve and exhaust the body with training, others turn to specialists and lose weight under the supervision of a doctor. There is a fourth group of people: they believe in the effectiveness of diet pills, bracelets, earrings and belts. The vendors and manufacturers of these products promise effortless weight loss or restriction.
We will consider the effectiveness and structure of belts for weight loss: is it worth the money, how does the mechanism work and is it able to help in the process of weight loss, remove the belly?
Is a slimming belt effective?
There are people who believe that the miracle belt will melt their fat deposits or squeeze the fat out of the cells and remove it along with the sweat. This speaks of ignorance and skipping school chemistry and anatomy classes.
Attention! It doesn't matter if you use heat or massage: fat cannot be melted, much less evaporated with sweat. Fat is burned due to oxidation - there is no other way.
To open our eyes to the absurdity of such promises, consider the fat burning process:
- Fat deposits are burned in the mitochondria of muscle cells, a kind of small cellular energy stations. Fat enters the mitochondria in the absence of another source of energy - when you have not eaten carbohydrates for a long time and the energy supply in the liver - glycogen, is finished. To get it, the body is forced to process strategic fat stores.
Due to oxidation, the fat in the mitochondria is converted into energy for the muscles. But oxidation occurs only in the presence of oxygen, like a burning flame. Therefore, when losing weight, it is important to move a lot - the muscles will need energy and breathe fresh air - oxidation and fat burning will occur.
Reference! It is not fat cells that are burned in the muscles: after adolescence, their number remains with a person for life. Fatty acids are released from these cells and sent to the muscle mitochondria, where they are burned.
Of course, just wearing such a belt won't burn fat. But again, let's consider what they are and what the manufacturers promise. At least to compare the true fat burning process with the promises of the monitors.
A few words about the types and principles of work
Slimming belts are divided into 3 types: vibration, with sauna effect and neoprene. There are also myostimulators, they have built-in sensors. The electro-detectors transmit a micro current to the muscles, and this stimulates their contraction. Myostimulants are most used to pump muscles, they refer to our topic only indirectly, so we will not dwell here.
Vibrant. The effectiveness of the belt is explained by the effect of the vibratory massage on fat cells. Presumably, this stimulation causes the cells to release fat and remove it with sweat.
From the point of view of science, this is not true, but on the side of medicine there is a danger here:
- Active vibration leads to muscle contractions, even the deepest ones. Because of this, there is an increased filling of small muscles with blood, and this is already edema. Artificial edema is dangerous for a diseased spine. It can inflame chronic diseases. And if you didn't know them before, they can show themselves quite sharply and critically.
Based on the lipolysis process, it is clear that there can be no weight loss.
Reference! Lipolysis is the breakdown of fat into fatty acids which are oxidized in the muscles.
Sauna effect. The belt has heating elements. Runs on batteries or electricity. The manufacturer promises to accelerate fat burning by raising body temperature. But in fact, apart from removing the liquid, it won't be able to do anything.
Often such models are equipped with a vibration mechanism and promise a double effect. In this case, an increase in temperature is added to the risk of vibrations. And this threatens with diseases of the spine.
Neoprene. The neoprene belt promises to heat the fat and thus help it burn. Some people genuinely believe that fat can melt when exposed to heat.
Important! A belt with a heating effect can only remove excess fluid due to perspiration. This liquid will recover within 24 hours of the procedure, as it happens after going to the bathhouse or sauna.
In what cases is such a belt a real assistant
A neoprene slimming belt can really be helpful for lumbar spine ailments. It fits tightly to the body and thus fixes the immobile position of the lower back. It can be used to warm the lower back when needed.
As much as we would like to believe in a miracle - vibrating and heating belts do not bring any benefit to health and figure.
Important! It is widely believed that a tight belt helps tone the abdominal muscles. In fact, wearing it regularly can make the situation worse. The muscular corset will no longer perform the function of supporting the internal organs, because the belt has taken it on.
When this belt is useless
Important! If you are over 12 pounds (12 pounds) overweight, lose weight under the supervision of a registered dietician. With independent weight loss, thousands of men and women die around the world.
It is useless to wear any of the belts and think that the fat will burn itself. They have not yet invented such a device or tablet. And if you wear such a device, play sports, eat right and lose weight, you can continue to lose weight without auxiliary belts - you will still succeed.