Does a belly sweat belt work?

Dr. Sophia Yen, co-founder of Pandia Health and professor at Stanford Univeristy with a clinical focus on obesity, agrees that abdominal sweatbands don't really work — at least not long term. "I think it would work temporarily, but it wouldn't work long term," Yen says. "Anytime anything's about sweat, it's temporary."

usatoday.com - Abdominal sweatbands: do they help you lose weight? - USA Today

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Abdominal sweatbands appear to be the perfect accessory for your workouts — a simple wrap around your waist and you end up sweating like crazy. So that must mean your body's working harder and you're losing weight, right? Think again. Abdominal sweatbands -- which cost around $20 and can be found at Target, Walmart and Vitamin Shoppe -- are usually made from a Neoprene material and are intended to make your midsection sweat more, presumably causing wearers to lose inches off their stomachs. But Harley Pasternak, a celebrity trainer and author of "The Body Reset Diet," describes the sweatbands as "useless" and potentially hazardous. "It can actually be dangerous because your own abdominal muscles are less activated," he says. "When you have an external support, you don’t strengthen your own abdominal muscles as much when you’re using a mechanical aid."

More:Workouts for each fitness goal, from weight loss to finding your abs

The trainer adds that just because you're sweating doesn't mean you're losing any weight. He likened it to someone sitting in a sauna, watching football and eating tortilla chips, saying that although that person is sweating, they're not losing any body fat. "Body fat is burned systemically, not locally," Pasternak says. "Your system burns body fat by activating its metabolism, and your metabolism is affected by physical activity (and) genetics among other things. It would be like if I were to wrap plastic around my left arm, it wouldn't get any skinnier than my right arm." Dr. Sophia Yen, co-founder of Pandia Health and professor at Stanford Univeristy with a clinical focus on obesity, agrees that abdominal sweatbands don't really work — at least not long term. "I think it would work temporarily, but it wouldn’t work long term," Yen says. "Anytime anything’s about sweat, it’s temporary." She adds that it's good if you need to fit in a dress for a special occasion later on in the evening or the next day, but the weight will be back. It's kind of like having diarrhea, she explains. "All of us, when we have diarrhea, we lose five to 10 pounds in a day," she says. Jasmine Jones, a Herbalife health coach, says that the most important thing when it comes to weight loss is your diet and exercise — the sweatband is just an added bonus. "I would say the band is extra to the work someone is putting in," she says. "Someone can be using that band and eating horrible and not get results." If you're looking to lose weight and keep it off, the key is your diet and nutrition among other things. Both Jones and Yen say that diet is far more significant when it comes to weight loss than exercise. Yen adds that she has only had one patient lose weight from just exercising and "he did three hours of cardio Monday through Friday and five hours on the weekend."

More:Intuitive eating: How eating what you want can be better than dieting

Pasternak says there are five key points when it comes to weight loss: be active throughout your day, get a good night's sleep, unplug from technology, eat well (each meal should have protein, fiber and veggies) and get at least five minutes of resistance training in a day. If you were looking to lose stomach fat with the aid of the sweatband, you can't target fat loss, with or without wrapping your midsection. "There is no such thing as local or targeted fat loss, you can not determine where your body will lose fat first," Pasternak says.

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What happens to your body when you wear a waist trainer?

As you wear it longer, it molds your waist and hips to form a more well-defined hourglass figure. According to claims by companies selling waist trainers, they can trim inches off your waist and help you lose weight in the process.

webmd.com - What You Need to Know About Waist Trainers

Waist trainers are a very popular product people who want to their waists to look smaller. They promise to shrink your waist and even help you lose weight. But do they work, and what are the health risks of wearing one?

Understanding Waist Trainers

Waist trainers aren't a new invention. Today’s waist trainers are similar to corsets that people wore more than a hundred years ago. Women wore corsets under their dresses to make their waistlines look smaller. Waist trainers are usually made of a thick, sturdy fabric. Many offer metal boning that provides support around your torso. Waist trainers wrap around your torso and fasten using a lacing system, hook-and-eye clasps, or sticky fasteners. The stiff boning runs vertically to keep the fabric of the waist trainer from bunching up where your waist gets smaller. The idea behind a waist trainer is to gradually build up to wearing it for longer periods of time each day. As you wear it longer, it molds your waist and hips to form a more well-defined hourglass figure. According to claims by companies selling waist trainers, they can trim inches off your waist and help you lose weight in the process.

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