Can a Hot Tub Help You Lose Weight?

Do Hot Tubs Help You Lose Weight?

 

 

Regardless of what your weight loss goals are, there are useful strategies to help you meet those goals. Losing weight almost always requires making some significant lifestyle changes.

 

It is a given that things like changing your diet are inevitable and it is also beneficial to begin working out in the gym, running outside, or even taking swimming lessons to learn new ways to burn calories and stave off body fat.

 

You’re not likely to find a fast weight loss plan that will both work and stick around for lasting change without requiring a little more effort on your part.

 

However, you will find, when coupled with the right methods, one surprising and enjoyable approach that can assist you in reaching your weight loss goals is simply getting a good soak in a quality hot tub.

 

Let us explain.

 

Benefits of Soaking in a Hot Tub

 

 

Soaking in a hot tub or hydrotherapy provides many health and fitness benefits on its own and supports other healthy habits. Therefore, hot tub hydrotherapy may not only help not only improve your quality of life but also aid in your weight loss goals.

 

Recent scientific evidence shows the following hot tub health benefits include improvements to your sense of well-being, supports athletic performance, may increase cardiovascular performance, and simply makes you feel better.

 

If you don’t feel well you won’t feel like exercising or eating right.  If you suffer from health problems such as carpal tunnel, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, poor blood circulation, sleep problems, and other chronic diseases, you may also experience health improvements simply from using hot tubs on a regular basis.

 

 

 

 

Using a Hot Tub to Attain Your Weight Loss Goals

 

When paired with important and successful weight loss ingredients include dieting, exercising frequently, and practicing a healthy lifestyle, soaking in a hot tub, and feeling better in general you can improve your chances of accomplishing your weight loss goals.

 

The benefits that you can get from using a hot tub are not only likely to help you control your weight, you will also likely enhance your overall health and well-being. Some ways in which soaking in a hot tub can aid your weight loss goals are as follows:

 

• Promotes an alert mind and healthy body, which are important to losing weight

 

• Relaxes your body and mind and reduces stress and risks for insomnia and restlessness

 

• Helps your muscles to recover after and between workouts

 

• Eases muscle and joint discomfort and soreness especially after exercising

 

• Soothes muscles and joints to help improve flexibility and increases your ability to move freely

 

• May improve health conditions, including diabetes, arthritis and multiple sclerosis, which may hinder your weight loss plans

 

 

Does a Hot Tub Burn Calories?

A study by Steve Faulkner, Ph.D found that sitting in hot water for one hour can burn 140 calories. It may not be the fastest way to burn calories, but it is the most relaxing. You can increase that number though by moving around while enjoying your spa, including do stretches or exercises.

 

Easy Hot Tub Stretches & Exercises

As relaxing as it can be to just sit back and enjoy the hot tub’s water jets washing over your tired body, when you’re ready to get a real workout in, you don’t even have to leave the hot tub.

 

There are some unique fitness advantages that a hot tub provides. The hot water increases blood flow throughout the body, including to the muscles. This helps loosen tension, allowing a greater range of motion and flexibility. It also aids in preventing new injuries and rehabilitating past ones.

 

Stretches

 

While in your hot tub, try these stretches to warm up and lengthen your muscles, ligaments, and fascia (a sheet of connective tissue beneath the skin that is primarily made up of collagen).

 

• Twist Your Torso: Sit with your shoulders submerged. Grab your right knee with your left hand and twist to the right. Hold on to the edge of the hot tub with your right hand and look over your right shoulder to deepen the stretch. Repeat on the other side.

 

• Lengthen Your Hamstrings: Use both hands to grab your right foot under the water. Straighten your leg directly in front of you. Alternate flexing and pointing your foot but don’t lock your knee. Repeat on the other side.

 

• Front Shoulder Stretch: With both hands, grip the front edge of your seat. Edge your glutes off of the seat and dip your hips low while still holding on with your hands. Try both tucking your elbows in close to the body and splaying them out a little for variation.

 

Exercises

 

Because of the natural buoyancy and resistance of water, aquatic exercises can give you a good hot tub weight loss workout without being hard on your joints. If you want to build muscle on top of losing weight, just add waterproof wrist and ankle weights to the following exercises.

 

• Work Your Core: Grip your seat with both hands while bringing your knees up to your chest. Then, fully extend both legs together. Keep your back straight and your shoulders down. If you want to add in an arm workout, do the same but with your buttocks lifted and your body floating.

 

• Leg Kicks: Just as you would pedal a bike, kick your legs in and out. Alternatively, keep your knees bent at a 90-degree angle and lift your knees up and down toward the surface of the water.

 

• Arm Lifts: Submerge your arms under the water and extend them straight out from your sides. First, clap your hands together. Then, flap your arms like you’re trying to fly. You will find your chest, biceps, triceps, and shoulders worked.

 

Using a Swim Spa to Achieve Weight Loss Goals

 

 

You can even take a step up from a hot tub and use a swim spa to achieve your goals. A swim spa has more room to complete exercises and stretches, but it also has a built-in jetted swim current system.

 

You don’t have to be a professional swimmer to use the current system. Bullfrog Spas Swim Series features a current system that makes swimming in a spa easier. These spas are engineered to help you keep horizontal and in your swim lane for effective workouts.

 

Bullfrog Spas Swim Series comes with a multifunctional fitness kit with an adjustable row bar, handles, and resistance bands to give you unlimited workout opportunities.

 

Tips for Using a Hot Tub or Swim Spa

 

 

Using a hot tub improperly or at the wrong time has its dangers. Therefore, to avoid injury, you should always take precautions by following proper procedures. These include:

 

• Use your spa at the right temperature range

 

• Avoid hot tub use if you have swelling or infection

 

• Avoid staying too long in the hot tub

 

• Know tips/doctor recommendations for hot tub use while pregnant

 

• Don’t ever use plugged in electrical devices and gadgets while in the hot tub

 

• Avoid using a hot tub alone if you are feeling tired, dizzy or drinking alcohol

 

• Perform regular maintenance to correct problems and to keep the hot tub clean

 

You may not see any significant weight loss by just soaking in a hot tub. However, the health and fitness benefits may help you to better reach your weight loss goals and improve your quality of life.