It is a common belief to think that if we run faster, we sweat more as our heart rate goes up and therefore, we lose more calories. Unfortunately, it is not exactly like this. Sweating DOES NOT have an energy cost for the body.
Sweat is an innate mechanics by which our own body self-regulates body temperature with the aim to maintain a constant 36.5-37 degree Celsius. So, when we sweat, via millions of sweat glands, we release water and mineral salt from the skin which allows the body to lose heat and repristinate normal body temperature.
But where is this water coming from? Is it coming from the fat that we are burning?
The body has 3 different kinds of liquid:
- Intracellular fluid - essential for any living cell
- Plasma - water part of our blood
- Extracellular fluid - which is between cells and skin
The latter on is the one where most of our sweat originally comes from. Now people think that most of the water will come from the extracellular fluid between fat cells but unfortunately not. Fat cells have very minimal level of water around them.
In conclusion:
- Sweating does not have energy cost for the body
- When you sweat you mainly burn carbohydrates because it happens when our body temperature is high, fats are burned at lower temperature - 70% max HR
- If you want to lose weight keep doing exercises but also look at a hypocaloric DIET and continuing your weekly balance calories intake
