If I sweat more do I lose more fat? Is it true that sweat indicates that I am burning more calories? The truth is that no. There is no direct relationship between sweat and fat loss, although there is a relationship between sweat and sport: it is of great importance in sports performance.
The researchers assured that, indeed, there is a relationship between sweat and sports, but it is not that the more sweat, the greater the loss of fat. Rather, sweat allows us to have better sports performance. The more time we spend doing sports, and the more demanding we are, the more important the mineral salt values of our body have. Sweating allows us to release salts from our body, avoiding the excess that is formed in demanding practice and, therefore, avoiding problems such as hyponatremia. On the other hand, if we sweat a lot, we lose a lot of salt, so it is important to hydrate during sports practice to avoid dehydration and have good neuromuscular activity. Therefore, hydrating and eating foods such as nuts, fruit, or glucose gel are essential.
Why do you sweat when doing sports?
During sports, we increase our blood flow, causing an increase in temperature in the viscera and muscles that must be eliminated. The mechanism that the body uses to eliminate this excess temperature is sweating, which although it is also influenced by different aspects such as genetics, age, or gender, is completely fundamental. During sports, our heart rate and blood pressure increase and this results in sweating.
Generally speaking, sweating is our body’s way of thermoregulating. There are some exercises that make the body sweat more. For example, in the case of weight lifting and repetitions, they cause the body to start sweating before reaching the limit temperature. This happens as a prevention method, since the body “intuits” what is going to happen and, therefore, prepares itself by starting to sweat earlier.
It is also important to remember that as soon as we finish the sport, we continue to sweat for a while. This is because the muscles are still warm and therefore the body continues to regulate the temperature.
While it is true that many think that the people who sweat the most are the ones who make the most effort, this is not true. You can sweat little and be making a greater effort. For example, men sweat more than women, young people, more than older people, and athletes start to sweat even earlier than those who are not in good physical condition. This is because the body really already knows what is going to happen and starts to sweat earlier to improve physical performance.
Therefore, what we want is to eliminate the myth that the more you sweat, the more fat you are burning. Think that in a sauna you sweat a lot, but nevertheless you are not making any effort that makes you lose weight.
