Contrary to what most people think, sweating doesn’t mean fat burning, at least not necessarily. The same goes with not sweating. Just because you’re not sweating does not necessarily mean that you are not burning fat.
Sweating is just the natural reaction of the body when it feels warm or hot. It is the body’s way of cooling off its system so as to prevent overheating. It is an indication that for one reason or another, there is excess heat inside the body and it needs to let some of this heat off. It is not a direct indication of much else, especially fat burning.
Furthermore, sweat is mainly composed of water and some solutes such as urea and lactate. It is not composed of fat. So when the body sweats, it is losing water not fat. Sure, sweating will definitely result in a reduction in weight, but this weight loss is only temporary. The weight will return just as soon as the body is rehydrated with water.
This fact is often put to good use by athletes who compete in combat sports such as boxing and mixed martial arts in a process called “cutting weight”. Because the athletes need to get into a specific range of weight, they usually sweat a lot of the water off their bodies just before the weigh-in. This way they will weigh much less than they really are while still maintaining much of their size and power. They rehydrate themselves after the weigh-in and get back to their “real” weight for the fight. This is why fighters usually look much bigger than their listed weights on the “tale of the tape”.
Saunas and other similar methods sweat off water from the body but they do not burn fat. There is no way that the body will burn off fat if it is just lying around or sitting around without exerting any effort whatsoever. In most cases, this will actually result in an increase of body fat because the body will start to become sedentary and start to store fat. Coupled with the fact that most people will eat more to try to rehydrate themselves instead of just drinking more water this method also usually leads to additional gains in weight.
The best way to burn fat is to get the body working and exerting plenty of effort. This could be aerobics, weight training, or playing sports. When the body exerts effort, it needs a lot of energy to keep it up. It gets some of this energy by burning the fat that is available in the body. The body burns fat from all over the body, not just the nearest ones to the muscle that is being worked out. This is why it is not possible to just “target” specific fat on specific parts of the body. Once the body starts to burn the fat, the body will begin to feel warm because the burning fat will produce heat. If this heat is strong enough, the body will have to sweat to maintain its normal temperature.
