fitness

Slimming shorts

What are Slimming Shorts?

Generalities on slimming shorts

The slimming shorts (slimming shorts) are a piece of clothing designed to promote localized weight loss.

Also known as "sauna shorts" (sauna shorts), worn during training or during the day, they should greatly increase sweating and caloric expenditure, thus reducing the circumference of thighs, buttocks and hips.

The effectiveness of slimming shorts is controversial. Among various conflicting opinions, it is not easy for consumers to get an idea of ​​the actual slimming potential. To tell the truth, we should distinguish the effects of slimming shorts in: immediate, transitory and permanent. In the paragraphs dedicated to efficacy we will clarify by explaining the relative physiological mechanisms.

The market offers various types of slimming shorts, different especially for the design or other secondary characteristics. However, we must remember that there are other similar clothing-tools, such as slimming leggings (longer), bodysuits (whole, generally sleeveless), slimming (specific for the abdomen), tops (for women, cover the upper back and breast), tank tops (sleeveless, cover the whole trunk), waterproof suits (integral, non-adherent), etc.

use

How do you use slimming shorts?

In order to use slimming shorts correctly, it is not necessary to take special precautions. They carry out their function independently and it would seem sufficient to wear them.

Some prefer to wear them during training; others, instead, choose to wear them almost all day long. However, it would be advisable to avoid sweat on the skin for many hours; below, in the section on contraindications and side effects, we will better understand the reasons behind this consideration.

Why use slimming shorts?

Before reading about the effectiveness of this clothing, to the question "why use slimming shorts?" it would be automatic to answer "to lose weight". Instead, it is an inaccuracy because the difference in body weight between before and after wearing them mainly concerns the loss of liquids.

This is why, more than in slimming, the slimming shorts find application in the increase of sweating, a phenomenon unfortunately still used by many competitive athletes to re-enter into certain weight categories. Needless to say, sweating too much before a race makes the body too weak, to the point of thwarting the benefit of competing with lighter athletes.

Effectiveness

Effectiveness of slimming shorts

No nutrition and aesthetic culture professional (which can be defined as such) supports the usefulness of this fitness garment. However, in telesales, in certain online blogs and in commercial advertisements, one often hears (or reads) the opposite. What is the truth?

In the age of "fishing" and misleading advertising, consumers are becoming increasingly aware of and are recognizing "commercial hoaxes" quite easily. This is why the marketing of the companies that produce and distribute slimming shorts has adapted to the most recent cultural level. Promises of exceptional or miraculous results are increasingly rare, leaving room for the concept of relativity. "The slimming shorts work if you eat less and move more". Let me be clear, it is undeniable that the progression of weight loss may vary depending on many factors, such as diet and exercise. However, in the media jumble we must know how to distinguish and skim the useful factors from those that are useless or irrelevant, as in the case of slimming shorts. Let's go into more detail.

Do slimming shorts make you lose weight?

Let's take it short: slimming shorts are NOT objectively effective in weight loss. Keeping diet and physical activity unchanged, wearing this item of clothing it is not possible to effectively reduce the circumference of the hips, buttocks and thighs.

Instead they favor sweating which, however, allows for the temporary disposal of a certain volume of liquids, which are immediately recovered with the diet. Therefore, if, after having worn the slimming shorts, you see the balance coming down, do not deceive yourself; it's all sweat! The fat cells are emptied only in response to a metabolic stimulus of energy demand. Why should wearing slimming shorts increase your caloric need? Indeed for no valid reason. Some companies, desperately looking for a reason why the product should work, have put forward a theory according to which, by increasing the body temperature and forcing greater thermoregulation, the slimming shorts favor the increase of the global energy consumption. This is at least a "limping" assumption since, by cutting the bull's head, the results are not quantifiable and therefore relevant.

We have said that weight loss shorts do not lose weight but make heat loss less efficient, favoring the loss of water and mineral salts. But be careful, even this last statement could be misleading! Let's see why.

Do weight loss shorts reduce cellulite?

We must not fall into the common misunderstanding that sweating can directly dispose of excess liquids in a part of the body, counteracting water retention and therefore cellulite (or panniculopathy edemato sclerotic fibro).

The slimming shorts allow you to dispose of a certain volume of sweat only temporarily. This is produced by the sweat glands that draw directly from the bloodstream, not from the fluids retained in the interstitial spaces. Ergo: sweating causes a reduction in blood plasma volume, which is quickly restored with drinks and food, without drawing from unwanted peripheral fluids.

The liquids trapped under the skin and in the fatty tissue are far from easy to remove. If sweating were enough, the "orange peel skin" blemish would be easily solved. In conditions of poor hydration, even transient (like that induced by excessive sweating), the reabsorption of these fluids "could" be more effective than normal; however, once the general homeostasis is restored, the effect would completely disappear. In practice, even if it worked "momentarily", the use of slimming shorts would be a trivial palliative.

To counteract water retention and cellulite instead, it is essential to intervene on the triggering causes, in particular on vascular and lymphatic efficiency. Not for nothing, the marketing plan for these garments has recently been updated: "the slimming shorts improve circulation, counteracting water retention and therefore the formation of cellulite". False. The "defects" of the circulation that can favor the onset and the aggravation of the "orange peel" effect are: poor venous return, poor capillary efficiency, poor lymphatic reabsorption. The slimming shorts do not intervene on any of these three elements. Increasing the local temperature can promote capillary vasodilation. On the other hand, it has been shown that to strengthen these small blood vessels (an intervention necessary to combat water retention and cellulite), they must be subjected to a sort of "gymnastics". They dilate and become constricted due to the effect of intrinsic smooth muscle contraction. As in any type of muscle, fibrillar units can become more efficient only when subjected to numerous successive contractions, chemically induced (nutritional factors, from the bloodstream or absorbed by the skin), or physically (alternating high and low temperature packs, activating the vascular system with motor activity, etc.).

The slimming shorts, not performing any of these functions, do not effectively combat water retention, cellulite and orange peel skin.

Contraindications

Contraindications of slimming shorts

The slimming shorts are contraindicated in case of:

  • Pregnancy
  • Predisposition to intense sweating
  • Low blood pressure
  • Hypersensitivity to heat
  • Tendency to muscle cramps
  • Malnutrition: also from eating disorders, such as in anorexia nervosa, or due to alcoholism, drug addiction etc.
  • Slimming or inadequate or unbalanced diet
  • Localized skin disorders or disorders: dermatitis eg eczema, erythema, folliculitis, psoriasis in acute, sores, ulcers, abrasions, wounds, burns, infections etc.

Side effects

Side effects of slimming shorts

The most likely side effects related to the use of slimming shorts are:

  • Hypovolemia and hypotension due to dehydration, with consequent predisposition to illness and fainting
  • Worsening and onset of muscle cramps; they are particularly risky in underwater sports such as apnea, open water swimming, downhill skiing and snowboarding etc.
  • Worsening of the state of general nutrition, particularly harmful in pregnancy
  • Worsening of dermatological pathologies mentioned in contraindications
  • Onset of diseases, or simply disorders, such as ingrown hair (especially in men), mycosis, etc.

Types

Different slimming shorts: how to choose them?

Aware of the fact that slimming shorts make you sweat and not lose weight, taking for granted that our goal is exclusively to lose liquids, the time comes to choose between the various market offers.

The slimming shorts can be classified according to:

  • Dressing mode: there are slimming shorts of different shapes that must be worn in an equally different manner. Some are real shorts, therefore they have a traditional shape, elastic consistency, with tight fitting; they can be without front closures or with side hinges. Others are open, they look like "diapers" for adults and close by means of a velcro
  • Material and thickness: the slimming shorts are made of non-breathable synthetic material; they have physical characteristics diametrically opposed to those of the now widespread technical material for sportswear. This is because their operation is based on the accumulation of sweat on the skin which, by hindering the dispersion of heat, induces further sweating. The mixtures of neoprene, latex and possibly microfiber (external and / or internal lining) are widely used; the thickness may vary but is generally around 1.5-3.0 mm
  • Color and design: most commonly black, today they are also available with colors similar to training shorts, so that they can be worn without any other clothing on top
  • Price and range: it is difficult to establish different ranges for such an elementary product. Nevertheless the various models can have very different prices; it is clear that, apart from materials, it will mainly be the brand that differentiates the various cost ranges. They range from less than € 4 to almost € 16.

Conclusions

Slimming shorts: yes or no?

"Is it advisable to buy slimming shorts?". The answer is negative. They tend to be useless or even counterproductive from any point of view. Weight loss is achieved by combining dietary and motor factors, certainly not hindering the dispersion of heat to sweat more than normal. The same applies to the fight against cellulite; only by optimizing the diet and practicing physical activity is it possible to obtain appreciable results. It is certainly advisable to abandon these trivial gimmicks to invest time and resources in a personalized training program.