Does the Slimmer Belt Work? Does It Work? Here’s Your Answer

What does a slimmer belt do? In theory, it makes you lose weight and shrinks your belly.

Does the slimmer belt work? Here’s your answer: yes and no. If you’re using it to lose water weight and temporarily shrink your waistline, it works. But if you want to keep the weight off for more than a day and enjoy six-pack abs, the slim belt is not really effective. It probably won’t help you meet your goals long-term.

Let’s look at a best-selling slimmer belt to see what it does.

Sweet Sweat Waist Trimmer by Sports Research

Sweet Sweat has been described as a fat-burning belt for the stomach for females. That’s a mouthful. It’s easier to call it a sweat belt, slim belt, or waist trimmer as the manufacturer does.

You’ve likely seen this American-made product in infomercials promoting weight loss. The brand has also partnered with the UFC. As a result, there are tons of copycat products on the market.

It’s a wide neoprene belt with a Velcro closure. Fasten it over your tummy before working out and you’re guaranteed to sweat like a horse. Apparently, it works even better if you use the Enhancing Gel (sold separately).

The belt is latex-free and adjustable. To get the right size, you should measure the widest part of your stomach and don’t suck in your gut first. The hardest part might be choosing between the various colors of belt.

Do sweat belts actually work?

Technically, yes, if you sweat you lose water weight. Therefore, you might lose a few ounces to a pound during an intense workout. (Just ask horse jockeys who have to lose weight before races. They spend a lot of time in the sauna dehydrating themselves and fasting).

Also, when you fasten the garment like a corset or a slimmer belt around your waist, it may make you look more trim. But all you’re doing is temporarily compressing tissue, not getting rid of fat or building muscle. You’re not even burning extra calories unless you exercise harder while wearing the belt (1).

The belt might even improve your posture. But no, a slimmer belt doesn’t melt fat just because you got sweatier wearing it. Any gut shrinkage you notice will disappear within a few minutes to a few hours (2).

How much time to use a sweat slim belt?

How long does it take a slimmer belt to work? Well, that’s the heart of the matter, isn’t it? You’ll need to ask yourself what your goal is. If all you want is to look slimmer, why not try a corset?

GRACE KARIN Lace-up Corset Elastic Waist Belt

Cosplayers love these medieval garments that squeeze the body into an hourglass shape. You can get them in many different styles. We picked a popular corset that could work for a man or a woman. It’s made of polyurethane leather with elastic and a lace-up closure in the front. It’s not nearly as uncomfortable or oppressive as some options.

That also means that it’s not as compressive, either. But it comes in a wide range of sizes for just about everyone.

If your goal is to become more trim long-term, an abdominal belt reduces the tummy for only as long as you wear it. And sadly, there are some serious sweat slimmer belt side effects.

The slimmer belt side effects

As much as you might want to think of it as a weight loss aid, a sweat belt may put your health at risk.

For one, it can lead to dehydration. Exercise and excess sweating gets rid of water weight, but your body needs water for all sorts of functions. Water makes up your blood your brain, and your muscles. If you get too dehydrated, your organs will fail (3).

Moreover, a slimmer belt by virtue of trapping heat around your midsection may lead to heatstroke. When you’re working out, it’s natural to get hot, and that heat has to go somewhere. If it doesn’t, your body temperature rises and you can become very ill or die (3).

Ironically, a sweat belt may make it more difficult to lose fat. If you’re hot, restricted, and miserable, you might not exercise as hard or as effectively. This is also true if the belt is too tight and you can’t breathe well. And wearing a waist trimmer may lead to the weakening of your abdominal muscles. Dependency on it can end up giving you worse posture and leading to injury. (3)

Those aren’t even all the side effects of a slim belt. Both corsets and waist trainers may cause gastrointestinal problems including acid reflux. (3)

No, sauna belts AKA slimmer belts or girdles don’t make it easier to lose belly fat. Unfortunately, humans can’t target specific areas for weight loss. All we can do is burn calories and build up muscles all over the body.

How to get a slimmer waist without a slimmer belt

People poke fun at police officers who’ve gone soft around the waist. They joke about cops eating too many donuts. In reality, carbs from donuts, bread, sugary soft drinks, French fries, and so on really do contribute to belly fat (4).

If you cut down on how many carbs you eat per day, it makes it much easier to lose weight and drop belly fat. You don’t need to get all drastic – adjust your diet a little at a time. Carbs are addictive and hard to wean off of if you don’t fill out your menu with tasty, nutritious food.

Which should you eat instead of carbs? Add more protein and fiber from vegetables, nuts, meat, and beans. The protein and fiber will help you feel full.

Along with dietary changes, drink more water. The water will help you feel less hungry and keep you hydrated to move all those nutrients around where they’re needed so they don’t settle as fat around your belly. An adult needs 8 to 10 glasses of water per day (that’s at least 64 ounces). If you are working out and sweating, you’ll need more.

Iron Flask Sports Water Bottle

Do you prefer cold water or hot? This stainless steel water bottle maintains cold for 24 hours and hot for 12. What’s more, all parts are BPA-free and rust-proof.

We also love the lid selection. You can pick whichever works best for you. All three are leak-proof. One has a straw, another flips up, and the last is stainless steel.

The bottle comes in various colors with a laser-engraved logo. None of them sweat, which is wonderful.

And now back to exercising to lose belly fat…

Exercise works better than a slimmer belt

Physical activity burns calories and gets rid of fat. No, you don’t need to start running 5Ks or benching 300. Something as simple as a 15-minute walk at a moderate pace can help a lot if you do it every day. You can gradually increase the time and intensity you spend exercising (5).

Lifting weights and doing isometric exercises builds lean muscle and helps eliminate fat. If you can exercise with someone else or have someone to report back to, it helps with motivation.

Be patient and realize that it will take at least a week or two before you see improvement. Don’t waste your time checking your weight every day. Instead, check how your pants fit.

Lastly, spend some time relaxing to reduce your stress every day. If you get enough sleep, that helps your body get rid of fat, too (6).

Gaiam Essentials Thick Yoga Mat

You don’t need to do yoga to own a yoga mat. We love this extra-thick mat for all sorts of activities. It makes the floor much more comfortable for planking, push-ups, sit-ups, stretches, meditating, and so on. It has the right amount of padding to protect your knees during vinyasa yoga, too.

Furthermore, this mat is big enough for almost everyone. It’s 72 inches long and 24 inches wide. You can get it in various colors. Each one comes with a carrying strap with elastic rings that slip over the ends once you roll up the mat.

Skechers Women’s Go Walk Joy Shoe

We mentioned walking to burn calories. With springy shoes like these, you’ll want to keep going mile after mile.

These budget-friendly walking shoes are lightweight and well-cushioned. They are flexible, with a responsive sole that returns energy with every step.

What’s the downside? Although they are affordable, they aren’t colorful. The style is rather drab.

Exercising with a slimmer belt versus without: which is better?

Let’s say that you’ve decided to get a sweat belt anyway. It’s cheap, so why not give it a try? Well, then, we suggest you take it easy and see how your body handles wearing it while you exercise.

Be sure to drink plenty of water before, during, and after exercising. You might think that defeats the purpose, but it’s better than passing out from dehydration or worse.

Once you’ve finished sweating, clean the slimmer belt so that it doesn’t harbor bacteria and cause a rash.

Please don’t plan on wearing the slimmer belt all day long. You’ll end up weakening your back and abdominal muscles. It isn’t a back brace for moving furniture, either.

In the end, we recommend spending the money on something that will actually help you lose weight and get healthier. Or better yet, save the money as an incentive to reward yourself when you’ve lost weight or slimmed your midsection. Plan a vacation, for example.

Slimmer belt: is it a scam?

In today’s post-truth world, it’s really hard sometimes to know who or what to believe. Product listings online are full of positive reviews that might be fake. How do you know what’s a scam?

When in doubt, Fakespot can help. It analyzes product reviews and seller websites to tell you in a few seconds if something is sketchy.

Next, when it’s a health or beauty product like a sweat belt, you can check PubMed. It’s a database with links to research studies on all sorts of topics. When you look at the study, you can check whether the brand paid for the study (to promote the product) or if the assessment was done independently. Look right under the authors’ names for “Affiliations”.

You can also look at the Better Business Bureau for information about the manufacturer. Not every company is listed, but the ones that are have a grade. Sports Research (the maker of the Sweet Sweat belt) has an A+ rating. It doesn’t guarantee that the product isn’t junk, but at least you can see if they’ve had consumer complaints that they’ve responded to.

Anecdotally, we can say that we’ve seen some changes over the past couple of years. We suspect the FDA or another regulatory authority has leaned on waist trimmer manufacturers to be more honest. The slimmer belt listings we looked at for this article were all very specific about how they help make a person sweat. They didn’t claim to be miraculous solutions for belly fat.

Conclusion

We hope this article answered your question about whether the slimmer belt works. If you only want to sweat and lose water weight temporarily, it might help you meet that goal. But if you want a slimmer silhouette and a healthier body, you’ll need to assess your diet and perhaps exercise more.

At any rate, changes take time. Be patient with yourself as you make the effort to lose belly fat. If you’re able to talk with a nutritionist or a personal trainer, do so.

In the meantime, feel free to drop us questions below. Check back soon for new healthy lifestyle articles.

Sources:

1. https://www.healthkart.com/connect/do-slimming-belts-work-heres-what-you-need-to-know Do Slimming Belts Work? Here’s What You Need To Know

2. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/weight-loss/the-truth-about-slimming-belts-for-weight-loss/articleshow/68375547.cms The truth about slimming belts for weight loss, by TNN, Updated Mar 13, 2019

3. https://theswaddle.com/untrending-sauna-belt-for-belly-fat-belt-does-it-work-no/ Untrending: Sauna Belts Can’t Really Trim Belly Fat, By Liesl Goecker, Dec 5, 2019

4. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/8-ways-to-lose-belly-fat-and-live-a-healthier-life 8 Ways to Lose Belly Fat and Live a Healthier Life

5. https://www.webmd.com/diet/features/the-truth-about-belly-fat The Truth About Belly Fat, Written by Sonya Collins, Reviewed by Carol DerSarkissian, MD on February 20, 2022

6. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/weight-loss/expert-answers/walking/faq-20058345 Can I lose weight if my only exercise is walking? Answer From Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D.