Anything that promises quick weight loss without changes of lifestyle habits and proper nutrition and exercise should send you running for the hills. Body wraps were popular many years ago and I noticed more recently they are coming back again. I did some research once again to see what all the new hype is about.
Many body wrap companies market themselves as providing fast weight loss and reduction of inches from your body. Most body wrapping businesses are also spas that provide other cosmetic services from face masks to tanning.
How Body Wraps Work
Measurements are taken from various areas of your body. Usually these areas are trouble spots for the person being measured. The next step usually involves being covered with some type of mixture (could be mineral salt, oil, mud, etc.) and then being wrapped in cotton bandages (basically from head to toe) that may or may not have been soaked in some type of herbal solution.
The next step is to begin the sweating process which can be achieved through methods such as light movement or lying under a thermal blanket. After the process is completed, the wrap is removed and measurements are taken again to check how many inches have been lost.
The new craze is also now the “Do at Home Wraps” the one being pushed around here in Michigan is the “Ultimate Body Applicator” from a company call “It Works”
Claimed Benefits of Body Wraps
- Tightens and firms skin
- Lose inches (typically 6 or more)
- Eliminates toxins
- Reduce appearance of cellulite
Body wraps DO NOT shrink fat cells or burn body fat – no matter what type of wrap: bandages soaked in minerals, herbs, enzymes, plastic, foil, vinyl, clay, seaweed, mud – it doesn’t matter, body wraps don’t burn fat!
And those sauna “wraps” or rubber “wraps” that go around your waist? They can’t “burn” an ounce of fat either.
Some of these products definitely CAN take off inches (for example reduce your waist measurement), but it’s temporary and it’s not fat, its water weight and fluid.
Remember, “Inches” and “fat” are not the same thing.
Suppose I made this claim in an advertisement:
* Lose Up To 20 inches in 1 Hour! *
This is legal advertising because the claim “lose inches” might be supportable (if enough circumference measurements are taken with a tape measure at enough sites, that might add up to a total of 20 inches in circumference loss)
However I feel that these types of claims are misleading (and probably intentionally so), because “inches” is not the same as body fat but you might easily confuse “inches” with “fat.”
Contrast that claim with this one:
* Lose Body Fat without diet or exercise in 1 Hour!*
that claim is totally false and unsupportable.
Again, body wraps cannot burn fat or “shrink fat cells.”
If fat loss could be achieved with body wraps it would be very easy to test and prove.
Body composition (body fat) testing (rather than measurements of inches) could be performed before and after the wrap, and the answer (“does it work”) would become easily exposed.
Since it doesn’t work, you won’t find any wrap people accepting your challenge to allow you to do independent body composition testing, nor will you find a shred of scientific evidence showing reduction of body fat from wraps.
Some experts even warn that certain types of wraps can be dangerous, mainly due to the rapid and excessive fluid loss/dehydration.
If you want to get wrapped because you find it relaxing or you consider it a “pampering”, “spa-like” treatment, that’s one thing. Just remember, wraps have absolutely nothing to do with fat loss.
All body wrapping companies vary in their process. Don’t fall for the “weight loss” gimmick that some may use to market themselves. You don’t lose fat or have long term weight loss by performing a body wrap. For the most part, you are losing water weight during the process. The loss of inches are purely for cosmetic purposes and are commonly used to “fit into that dress” or those jeans that don’t quite fit anymore.
The inches lost simply come from loss of fluid. And guess what – those inches (and or water weight) will come right back in days if not hours, as soon as you completely re-hydrate yourself.
I’d suggest completely avoiding any companies that advertise fat loss when it’s only water and inches you’re losing, because a dishonest company is one you don’t want to patronize at all.
Always keep in mind that there are no quick fixes to losing weight. You have to put in the effort through proper diet and exercise.
Last word is SAVE YOUR MONEY, and invest in something that “DOES WORK”
Your Fitness and Nutrition Coach,
~David Modderman
