How Using Saunas for Weight Loss Can Boost Your Results
After taking a sauna, it’s natural to feel more lithe and awake. That feeling of relaxation and clarity makes an excellent post-workout cooldown, which is why so many athletes use saunas for weight loss after a hard day. To many, the sauna represents more than simple relaxation; it’s often seen as a place to sweat out extra weight and boost their fitness goals. For years, there’s been ongoing debate and research around this idea. Some enthusiasts swear by its slimming benefits, while others argue that any weight loss from sauna sessions is only temporary and not true fat reduction. Let’s explore together all the ways saunas for weight loss can or can’t assist in shedding those extra pounds.
Can a Sauna Help You Lose Weight?
A common question in every sauna enthusiast’s mind is, “Do saunas help you lose weight?” Saunas technically do make people lose weight. However, the weight you lose in the sauna may not be the type you’re hoping to shed. It’s entirely possible to weigh yourself before and after a sauna session and notice a drop in weight. So yes, saunas can help with weight loss —but why does this happen?
How Do Saunas Help Burn Calories and Reduce Fat?
Does sauna burn fat and calories? How many calories does sitting in a sauna burn? You may have several questions in your mind. Have you ever stopped to notice how your body responds the moment you settle into the sauna’s heat? Anyone in a hot sauna is bound to sweat and probably sweat a lot. When the body gets hotter, the water supply kept close to the edge of the skin starts to seep out of the body to keep us as cool as possible. As that sweat drips off your body, it technically accounts for part of your overall body mass. If you sweat enough, it’s more than possible to tip a scale down a kilogram. But this isn’t the kind of weight loss most people have in mind.
This weight loss isn’t related to excess fat but rather to water weight (LSI). A large share of your body weight comes from water stored within your tissues. During a sauna session, what you lose through sweat is simply fluid — not actual body fat. The human body is very efficient in water use. After your sauna session, the body will quickly restore the lost water once you rehydrate. This means that the weight lost during the sauna will return when you drink water, emphasizing that this isn’t a sustainable form of weight loss. Sauna sessions alone won’t create permanent weight loss; lasting effects come when they’re integrated with a balanced diet, regular exercise, and healthy lifestyle choices.
What Are the Benefits of Saunas for Weight Loss?
There are several benefits of saunas for weight loss. Sauna sessions can raise your heart rate, speeding up blood circulation and giving your metabolism a temporary boost to burn more calories. This may be hard to believe after reading the section above but for some interesting biological reasons, saunas can actually help you lose weight as long as you make some key moves before and after your visit.
Saunas Help You Burn Calories
Using saunas for weight loss has been shown to increase heart rate, which causes your blood to flow faster and promotes calorie burning. As our blood flows faster and more fully throughout the body, this also makes us burn calories quicker.
A study once found that committed and regular sauna use for weight loss actually helped people lose body mass (not just water weight (LSI)). As soon as we enter a sauna, our body ramps up its efforts to regulate core temperature, putting our systems to work. Our body working harder means that blood flows faster, the heart pumps more quickly, and, most importantly, the body’s metabolism speeds up. When metabolism picks up, the body burns calories more quickly, much like the effect you get from a workout.
With this in mind, think about how much exercise you must do to lose meaningful weight. Then think about how long to stay in sauna to lose weight and see any sauna weight loss benefits.
That said, relying solely on sauna sessions won’t melt away a lot of calories. But when paired with proper nutrition and regular exercise, saunas can enhance your weight-loss efforts and make results more visible. ble. Regular sauna use can supplement your fitness routine, helping you burn calories while enjoying other positive effects on your body.
Boosting Muscle Recovery, Growth, and Metabolism
Many people might not realise that using saunas for weight loss goals can also indirectly help by increasing muscle mass. Using saunas for weight loss makes the body produce more heat shock proteins which help us create more muscle mass in a shorter time. The body makes heat shock proteins as a result of spending long amounts of time in high heat, but the body will have even more places to use heat shock proteins if you recently worked out your muscles before using the sauna. Heat shock proteins bind to the natural tears in our muscles that happen after a workout and help muscles grow back fuller and more robust.
While it’s obvious why a person would want bigger muscles, having more aerated and developed muscles means that the body will start to run more efficiently overall. And as you continue to use the sauna after a good muscle workout, your body will get better and better and produce heat shock proteins. Further, muscle tissue is more porous and less dense than fat tissue. So as the body replaces fat with muscles, you won’t only lose weight but also have a more healthy overall look.
Saunas Help Steady the Body’s Insulin Level
Another key advantage of using a sauna regularly is how it can positively influence insulin regulation. Saunas help stabilize insulin and regulate blood glucose levels, similar to the effects of cardiovascular exercise. Reducing insulin levels can support fat loss. While saunas alone won’t lead to major weight reduction, they can enhance metabolic health when paired with consistent exercise and a nutritious diet. This makes using saunas for weight loss an effective tool for improving your body’s ability to manage fat and calories.
Best Practices: How to Use Saunas for Weight Loss Results
To make the most of a sauna for supporting weight loss, there are several strategies you can follow.
Start by pairing your sauna session with a vigorous workout that makes you sweat, whether it’s running, cycling, or strength training. Keeping your body properly hydrated throughout your workout helps sustain energy levels and promotes effective sweating.
Once your heart rate has settled and you’re breathing comfortably after your workout, step into the sauna (make sure you’ve hydrated enough!) and relax for 20 minutes, or whatever duration feels safe and comfortable for you. This combination of exercise and sauna time can help you maximize the potential benefits for weight management. Check out our guide on how long to stay in the sauna to maximize benefits!
The 20 minutes in the sauna will do a multitude of good for your body and your weight loss potential. Your muscles will be getting doused in heat shock proteins, your heart rate will maintain a healthy and high count, and most importantly, your metabolism won’t dip back down to passive levels. Your sweating will continue, too, which will do plenty of good for your skin as well!
After your sauna session, consider your workout complete. By entering the sauna after intense exercise, you extend your body's active metabolic phase and maintain a higher heart rate for a longer period. This strategy helps you burn calories more efficiently and supports your overall weight loss goals.
Common Mistakes FAQ's on Using Saunas for Weight Loss
Now that we know the proven ways that saunas can help a person lose weight, let’s talk about some classic myths about saunas and weight loss. While some myths come from original points of truth, others are completely unfounded.
The Advantages of Using Saunas for Weight Loss Routines
If you're using the sauna to jump-start significant fat loss, it’s important to combine this practice with healthy habits. Using a sauna for losing weight alone is unlikely to produce noticeable results. For visible fat loss, you must maintain a daily caloric deficit—burning more calories than you consume. The sauna can help you burn extra calories, but it won't be enough to dramatically change your appearance without exercise.
Yes, saunas for weight loss can be effective, but only when you’ve already achieved a caloric deficit. But that will only happen if a person has burned enough calories throughout the day already to make a caloric deficit in the body. Then, the heat in the sauna may kick up a person’s metabolism enough to cause excess fat to burn.
Note on Sauna fat loss: While the body technically loses weight on a calorie deficit, that doesn’t paint the complete picture of what happens in your body when that deficit comes from not eating enough food. To keep your body functioning properly, you generally need 1,500 to 2,000 calories a day. Taking in fewer calories than needed can cause significant health problems. Your calorie deficit must come about from burning that 1,500-2,000 kcals through exercise and the sauna rather than not eating enough and then forcing yourself into the sauna.
How Many Calories Can You Burn in a Sauna Session?
By spending time in the sauna, your metabolism kicks up its pace. This means that your body is burning calories faster → compared to if you were just doing nothing. Specifically, scientists believe that people burn anywhere between 1.2 to 1.5 times more calories in the sauna. While there isn’t a universal number as to how many calories a person burns each time they visit the sauna, there is a consistent way you can find out for yourself.
First, do some research on your BMI and find out how many calories you burn in 20 minutes when you aren’t doing anything. For the sake of example, let’s use a general average number: 40 calories. If a person burns 40 calories in 20 normal minutes, they will probably burn anywhere between 48 and 60 calories during a 20 minute sauna visit. These numbers, of course, are dependent on a person’s metabolism and current weight. But as a baseline, understand that saunas technically increase average calorie burning in the body.
While these numbers may not seem huge, if you pair a sauna session with a workout that has already raised your heart rate, the sauna becomes an added calorie-burning bonus.
What are the Benefits of Using a Sauna Suit to Lose Weight?
The sauna suit is a specialised full-body garment that claims to promote weight loss by inducing sweat, similar to the effect of sauna weight loss. Before sauna suits, athletes used insulated sleeping bags for similar purposes. But do these suits really work? The answer depends on your expectations. While sauna suits can make you sweat, they won't result in transformative or visible weight loss without additional exercise.
Before the Sauna Suit, athletes were known to take up a similar strategy by sleeping in an insulated sleeping bag to make them sweat more overnight. So, do these suits actually work? Well, that depends on what you’re looking to get out of them. The sauna suit is not nearly as intense or healthy an environment as an actual sauna. The heat in a sauna suit is brought about by your own internal body temperature, which can never pass 37 degrees Celsius unless you’re sick. Wood-burning saunas, on the other hand, can genuinely burn twice as hot as this.
Many of the sauna health benefits that aid weight loss only come about because the heat level in saunas is above normal human body temperature. So by simple logic, sauna suits will never be as healthy as taking a real sauna. But this doesn’t mean that sauna suits can’t help you sweat more fully and meaningfully. This method quickly raises your body’s temperature. You will likely find both with cardiovascular exercise and muscle training, that wearing a sauna suit is a great way to kick up your overall sweat, which in turn activates your metabolism even more.
So, while a sauna suit can aid in weight loss, it works best alongside proven strategies like consistent, sweat-filled workouts, resulting in several sauna health benefits.
Final Thoughts: Can Saunas for Weight Loss Truly Help You Shed Pounds?
Although some skeptics dismiss the idea of saunas aiding weight loss, research shows there are legitimate ways saunas can support it. Using the sauna in combination with an engaging workout is a meaningful and unquestionable way to draw out your metabolism’s strength and burn a fair few more calories during a workout. Further, using a sauna after a workout is great for the rejuvenation of the body in general!
Individuals who stay active and well-hydrated benefit the most from frequent sauna sessions. Without exercise, don’t expect meaningful or life-changing weight loss from a sauna alone. There is no magical trick to weight loss. Just putting on a sauna suit or spending time in a sauna every day likely won’t lead to visible weight loss if that is all you change in your daily routine.
Losing weight will always take hard work, but that doesn’t mean that a sauna can’t help. If you’re exploring natural ways to support your fitness goals, using a sauna for losing weight can be a relaxing and effective addition to your routine. Saunas offer significant health perks on their own, but if your goal is weight loss, combining them with a solid workout can amplify the results.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is sauna good for losing belly fat, or is it just water loss?
Saunas mainly cause temporary water loss through sweating, not fat loss. While they can help you feel lighter, they don’t specifically burn belly fat — real fat loss comes from diet and exercise.
How often should you use a sauna for weight loss benefits?
For general wellness and mild weight loss benefits, using a sauna 2–4 times a week is ideal. Consistency matters, but it should always be paired with a healthy diet and regular exercise for real results.
How long should you stay in a sauna to maximize calorie burning?
Staying in a sauna for about 15–20 minutes is enough to maximize calorie burning safely. Longer sessions don’t necessarily burn more fat and may lead to dehydration.
What should I do immediately after a sauna session to help with weight loss?
After a sauna session, drink plenty of water to rehydrate and cool down gradually. Follow it with light exercise or a balanced meal to support real, lasting weight loss.
Does using a sauna suit actually improve fat loss?
A sauna suit increases sweating and temporary water loss, not fat loss. It can help with short-term weight reduction, but real fat loss requires consistent exercise and a healthy diet.
What is the difference between dry sauna and steam room for weight loss?
A dry sauna uses hot, dry air, while a steam room uses moist heat. Both make you sweat and lose water weight temporarily, but neither directly burns fat — the effect is mostly from dehydration.
Can saunas affect my appetite or cravings?
Saunas may slightly reduce appetite for a short time by relaxing the body, but they don’t significantly control cravings or cause long-term weight loss.
