What sounds like the best way to burn calories: leaving your house for a 10-minute run or staying for an orgasm? Most will probably choose the latter. How many calories are burned during sex, since not everyone has sex the same way? When it comes to losing weight, sex isn't the most reliable form of exercise.
Still, scientists are excited about the idea of shedding pounds with humanity's favorite pastime. If you're interested, there's a lot of information out there to help you burn calories during sex.
Does sex burn calories?
This delicate issue remained open for a long time. But one day, Canadian scientists conducted a very piquant experiment, during which they put a special sensor on the volunteers’ hands to determine energy consumption, and sent them to enjoy each other.
The study involved 21 couples in the age category 18-35. Men and women were also asked how tired they felt after sex, and to what extent they were satisfied. As you can see, there was enough information to answer how many calories are burned during sex. It turned out that the indicators for men and women are different. Representatives of the stronger sex lose 4.2 Kcal per minute of sexual contact with a woman, and beautiful ladies lose a little less - 3.1 Kcal.
The intimacy of people who agreed to the experiment lasted from 7 to 24 minutes. For the maximum time – 24 minutes, men “gave” 104 Kcal, and their partners – 69 Kcal.
Of course, this is not enough to seriously affect your weight. But perhaps in families where physical love lasts longer, they would like to hear how many calories are burned in an hour of sex, so as to base it on a more round figure. Based on the above calculations, we will answer that in an hour a man will “miss” 252 Kcal, and a representative of the fair half of humanity will miss 186 Kcal. Not so little, which means it’s still possible to lose weight thanks to physical intimacy?
Theoretically, yes, but in this case you will have to approach this process not as time devoted to expressions of affection towards each other, but as a full-fledged physical training, with its own regime and level of activity. What should be the plan for losing weight through sex?
Necessary:
- repeat sexual intercourse 5 times during the week;
- such a “training” should last at least an hour.
Based on the numbers, we conclude that this will give certain results. But this scheme is not suitable for everyone. And if a person also decides to overdo it, he risks harming himself both mentally and physically.
Orgasm and positions4
A real orgasm plays an important role in the process of greater expenditure of energy during sexual intercourse. During these few seconds of maximum pleasure, about 300 calories are consumed (scientists' opinions vary widely). While a false peak of pleasure will only take 15 calories.
But the main thing is its effect on the nervous system and the body as a whole. The achieved relaxation has a beneficial effect on all processes of the human body.
The expenditure of energy also varies depending on the position in which a person has sex. If partners decide to “love” each other while standing, then in an hour you can burn more than 500 kcal; variation in poses also plays a role. The same missionary, depending on the variation, can burn 1 kilocalorie per minute, or maybe 5 kcal. The most energy-consuming positions: knee-elbow (doggy style), cowgirl and standing.
Those who want to lose weight during bed games are advised to take a more conscious approach to the process - strain their muscles, try to feel every part of their body, and control themselves. This will not only increase resource consumption, but also make the process more sensitive.
How to burn a lot of calories with relatively short sex?
We must not forget that any indicators are individual. And the emotional component of physical intimacy also cannot be discounted. It is these purely psychological moments, seemingly not directly related to sex in its physiological understanding, that can increase the burning of calories or reduce this process to “nothing.” What should you pay attention to in order to be sure that making love will still have a beneficial effect on your figure?
The passion of foreplay
Hot kisses, imagine, also “take away” calories. If you kiss hotly for one minute, 10 Kcal will immediately “disappear.” Supplementing kisses with strong hugs, all kinds of caresses and other movements will take up the same amount of calories, and perhaps a little more.
Even ordinary undressing, provided that it is turned into a beautiful romantic act, requires an energy expenditure of 10 Kcal. This is confirmed by Italian scientists who were interested in this issue. When nudity became an element of unusual love games that brought joy to both partners, several dozen times more calories were burned.
Diversity
There should be “innovations” in proximity as often as possible. A change in intensity, activity, touch, even unusual underwear and unusual words can make physical unity, which often turns from the “apotheosis of love” into “marital duty” within a long-term relationship, again emotional, vibrant, full of new sensations.
Massage
Some couples have long made massage part of “carnal love”. If you want to lose a significant amount of calories while making love, follow their example. The numbers are impressive: an hour-long massage “steals” 100 Kcal per hour. Add hot caresses to the massage, and this figure will increase.
Orgasm
The essence of achieving this “pivotal moment” of intimacy is not only about pleasure. At this time, a person’s blood pressure rises, the heartbeat reaches its maximum, breathing is interrupted, muscles begin to contract throughout the body, emotions go off scale - how can one not lose calories in such a state? Similar changes are observed in the body of an athlete who runs a 100-meter race. Orgasm burns 50-60 kcal.
Time
It turns out that even the time chosen for sexual relations can affect energy expenditure. This is especially true for men. Between 7 and 8 am, the testosterone levels of the stronger sex increase, which makes intimate relations at this time the most pleasant and active. Women are also recommended to enjoy physical love when the hormone is released during ovulation.
Mindfulness
Trainers tell athletes that for any exercise to be more effective, it is important to feel muscle tension during exercise. This advice remains relevant even when it comes to sex as a way to lose weight. You need to tense and relax your muscles, try to feel each of them, remember with pleasure how many calories are burned when having sex - this has a very good effect on the result.
Love
The most calories are burned during physical intimacy when a person passionately loves his other half. Thanks to this feeling, the process of releasing hormones and other substances is launched that literally heal - strengthen the immune system, activate metabolism, and give beauty.
Scientists have proven that people who perceive sex not as a physical need, but as the incredible joy of unity with a loved one, are always more beautiful and slimmer. The secret is that they are more stress-resistant, get sick less often, have high self-esteem, and - the most interesting thing - do not overeat.
The centers of satiety and sexual arousal in the brain are nearby, so if there are enchantingly pleasant moments of intimacy in a person’s life, the desire to compensate for something with tasty food disappears imperceptibly. We should not forget that a person in love takes better care of himself and has more incentives to look beautiful.
Main part
3-60 minutes, maybe longer
This part is very individual and depends on the temperaments of both partners and their combination. This can be moderate to low intensity cardio at 60-70% of your maximum heart rate. It can also be an ultra-intensive interval load with access to an anaerobic energy supply mode.
Photo: istockphoto.com
Also, any sexual position is a coordinated functional work (uncoordinated positions, by the way, spend more energy). In addition to turning on the cardiorespiratory system, all muscles of the body are involved - providing complex work. And sometimes the load on individual muscle groups is higher than strength work on simulators, since here, among other things, it is also necessary to maintain balance. And acceleration to climax is a peak waste of energy (especially when one partner is holding the weight of the other).
The main part is different for everyone, and everyone is used to or strives to carry it out in their own way. If you want to prolong the act, of course, regular fitness training will give you an increase in endurance and stamina.
“They lose weight on the treadmill” and other 7 myths about cardio training
Down with workouts: how to tighten your figure if you don’t want to go to the gym?
What is body drying
The so-called drying effect came to amateur sports from professional bodybuilding, where this process is used regularly by athletes before the competitive season. In essence, all drying activities come down to getting rid of subcutaneous fat without losing the accumulated muscles. This will significantly increase the body's definition. In combination with intense training, proper nutrition is also necessary. In particular, it is necessary to minimize the amount of carbohydrates in the daily diet in order to enhance the use of fat deposits and, at the same time, increase the number of proteins, which will help preserve muscles from destruction during this period.
Benefit6
Yes, the harsh truth of life is that making love cannot fully replace visiting the gym. But this does not mean that sex is useless. Below are just some of its positive properties:
- A high-quality personal life helps strengthen the immune system (due to greater production of antibodies).
- The production of hormones during sexual intercourse is an excellent prevention of hormonal imbalances.
- Regular sexual release, which occurs at the moment of orgasm, works as the best relaxer in the world. Alcohol, hobbies and other ways to relieve stress cannot be compared with it.
- The person becomes calmer in general and more satisfied with life.
- The likelihood of developing cardiovascular pathologies is reduced.
- Self-esteem increases significantly.
Abstinence and obesity7
With a long absence of personal life, the body begins to sound the alarm. The host of the organism systematically feels the need for “something like that”; he lacks one of the main joys of adult life. There is anxiety, a feeling of constant fatigue and other “gifts” of abstinence. And one of them is uncontrollable hunger.
Feeling the joy of eating food, people temporarily forget about difficulties and dissatisfaction. Gradually, the situation worsens and after a couple of months many notice a strange roundness in the place where the stomach used to be more or less flat.
So, regardless of the joules expended during sexual intercourse, sex itself is necessary as one of the tools for weight control.
