Excess weight is a scourge of the 21st century. It is found in men and women, in children and the elderly. The moment a person realizes the fact that he is overweight, he begins to look for ways to lose weight.
Some go on diets and get off 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 sellers and manufacturers of these products promise weight loss without effort or restriction.
We will consider the effectiveness and structure of weight loss belts - is it worth spending money, how is the mechanism of work and is it able to help in the process of losing weight, remove the belly?
Is a slimming belt effective?
There are people who believe that the miracle belt will melt their fatty deposits or squeeze out fat from cells and remove it along with sweat. This speaks of ignorance and skipping school chemistry and anatomy lessons.
Attention! It doesn't matter if you use heat or massage - fat cannot be melted, much less evaporated with sweat. Fat is burned as a result of oxidation - there is no other way.
To open our eyes to the absurdity of such promises, consider the process of fat burning:
- 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 supply of energy in the liver - glycogen, is over. To get it, the body is forced to process strategic fatty deposits.
As a result of 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, losing weight, it is important to move a lot - 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 muscle mitochondria, where they are burned.
Obviously, only using such a belt will not burn fat. But still, let's consider what they are, and what the manufacturers promise. At least in order to compare the real process of fat burning with the promises from monitors.
A few words about the types and principles of work
Slimming belts are divided into 3 types - vibration, with a sauna effect and neoprene. There are also myostimulators, they have built-in sensors. Electrodetectors transmit a micro-discharge of current to the muscles, and this stimulates their contraction. Myostimulants are more used for pumping up muscles, they relate to our topic only indirectly, so we will not dwell here.
Vibrating. The effectiveness of the belt is explained by the effect of vibration massage on fat cells. Supposedly, this stimulation causes cells to release fat and remove it in sweat.
From the point of view of science, this is not true, but from 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 did not know about 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 that 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 increasing body temperature. But in fact, apart from removing the liquid, he will not be able to do anything.
Often such models are equipped with a vibration mechanism, and promise a double effect. In this case, a rise in temperature is added to the vibration hazard. And this threatens with diseases of the spine.
Neoprene. The neoprene belt promises to heat the fat, and thus help burn it. Some people sincerely believe that fat can be melted 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 after the procedure, as 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 ailments of the lumbar spine. It fits the body tightly, and thereby fixes the motionless position of the lower back. Can be used to warm the lower back when needed.
As much as we would like to believe in a miracle - vibration and heating belts do not bring any benefit to health and figure.
Important! It is widely believed that a tight belt will help tone the abdominal muscles. In fact, wearing it regularly can make the situation worse. The muscle corset will no longer perform the function of supporting the internal organs, because the belt took over it.
When this belt is useless
Important! If you are over 12 pounds (12 pounds) overweight, get slimmer under the supervision of a registered dietitian. With independent weight loss, thousands of men and women die in the world.
It is useless to put on any of the belts and think that the fat will burn itself. They have not yet invented such a device or a tablet. And if you wear such a device, go in for sports, eat right and lose weight, then you can continue to lose weight without auxiliary belts - everything will work out for you.