How Many Calories Can You Burn by Exercising vs Thermal Wraps?

Why do your clients exercise? There are probably two reasons: to improve overall health/fitness and to lose weight by burning calories (or a combination of the two). And those are noble reasons to hit the gym, take a bike ride, run a few miles or join a Zumba class. But if the main goal is really to burn calories, you may be surprised at just how inefficient some forms of exercise are. Could it be that regular FIT Bodywrap© sessions produce better results? Read on!

Go for the Burn – What Influences the Amount of Calories Burned?

Let’s say two friends, Sara and Rob, start a fitness program with the goal to drop 20 pounds in half a year. They both participate in the same activities. At the end of six months, Rob has shed those 20 pounds and then some. Sara, however, has only lost 10 pounds and is now stuck at a plateau that not only makes her lose motivation, it causes her to give up and give in to those cravings for a daily ice cream sundae. What happened? It’s important to understand that the amount of calories burned is influenced by several different factors. Most notably, they are gender, metabolism rate, age, workout intensity and the level of conditioning. Because Rob is a man his metabolic rate is higher, he’s going to burn more calories than Sara. And because Sara weighs less (being a smaller woman), she has to work harder than Rob to burn through the same number of calories. The amount of calories she can reasonably expect to burn in an hour of intense exercise is somewhere around 500. Recent studies show that diet has more of an effect on weight loss than exercise. Sara should, by taking in 500 fewer calories per day, be able to lose a pound a week (1 pound = 3,500 calories). Combine that with an hour of vigorous exercise per day, and Sara should reach her goal weight within 10 weeks (at a rate of losing 2 pounds per week). But once again, her gender, metabolism rate and age can all conspire to prevent her from losing that extra weight simply by eating less and exercising more. As she gets older, it gets even more difficult.

How Many Calories are Burned with FIT Bodywrap©?

What does a thermal body wrap do for your body that can’t be simulated via traditional forms of exercise? It’s important to note that the FIT Bodywrap© system incorporates the use of FIR (far infrared rays), which have the ability to deeply penetrate the skin and cause profuse sweating. Not only does the act of sweating require the body to burn calories (to produce one gram of sweat requires 0.586 kcal), it provides a cardiovascular conditioning effect first noted by NASA scientists when researching a way to keep astronauts fit in space. According to our Medical Director, Dr. Aaron Flickstein, “Due to the deep penetration…of the infrared rays…there is a heating effect deep in the muscular tissues and the internal organs. The body responds to this deep-heating effect via a hypothalamic-induced increase in both heart volume and rate. This beneficial heart stress leads to a sought-after cardiovascular training and conditioning effect. Medical research confirms the use of a sauna provides cardiovascular conditioning as the body works to cool itself and involves substantial increases in heart rate, cardiac output and metabolic rate” (Infrared Thermal Systems, 1989, revised 2007). Further, according to a 1981 article on sweating in the Journal of American Medical Association (referring to 30-minute infrared sauna session), “A moderately conditioned person can easily sweat off 500 grams, in a sauna, consuming nearly 300 kcal – the equivalent of running 2-3 miles. A heat-conditioned person can easily sweat off 600-800 kcal with no adverse effects. While the weight of the water lost can be regained by dehydration with water, the calories consumed will not be.” Now, consider that FIT Bodywraps© allow the user to generate much more sweat than they would in a typical sauna, this means that the caloric consumption in a thermowrap will be much greater. According to Dr. Flickstein, “Two of the highest calorie output forms of exercise are rowing and marathon running. Peak output on a rowing machine or while running a marathon burns about 600 calories in 30 minutes. An Infrared Thermal System may better this effect from ‘just slightly’ to up to 250%, by burning some 900-2400 calories in a 30-minute session. [It] might then simulate the consumption of energy equal to that expended in a 6-9 mile run during only a single session.” Compare up to 2,400 calories burned in half an hour to the max 500 calories that could be expected after an hour of aerobics – it’s clear that the fictional Sara could see real results really quickly. When it comes to burning calories with the goal of losing weight, it seems clear that FIT Bodywraps© are superior to traditional exercise. And because the effects are long lasting, this could have a very positive effect on metabolism in order to help someone lose even more weight afterward. Isn’t it time you added the FIT Bodywraps© system to your salon, spa or clinic?