ofuro and weight loss

my japanese friends firmly believe that ofuro helps lose weight, and follow the bath ritual religiously. I've also seen fashion magazines encouraging ofuro for weight loss. Does it really help( apart from the fact that you lose water weight)?

Only water weight I'm afraid. Real weight loss comes about by burning more calories than you consume, which a bath isn't going to help with. Taking a bath does improve your circulation for a while which may also speed up your metabolism but it is very brief and unlikely to have much effect on your weight. Sweating by itself is not an indication of real weight loss.

Actually a cold bath would probably burn a few calories because your body would then be working to try to maintain its normal temperature, but it's not recommended because if you stay too long in cold water without moving you can get hypothermic.

Taking a bath can relieve stress which may make people less likely to eat lots of high calorie "comfort food"- there could be a few indirect effects like that, but basically to lose weight you have to go back to the old standards- eat less (but not too little or your metabolism will slow) and exercise more.

Even with no effects on weight though baths are still great- I didn't take many baths as an adult before coming to Japan (always morning shower), but now I love my evening bath!

I think that what a lot of Japanese speciallists are saying is that bathing helps improve the circulation of the blood which eventually "encourages your metabolism".

So it will eventually help your body "work efficiently" meaning that whatever good things that goes into your body (like nutrition) will stay there when necessary and will drain out when not necessary, instead of clogging in your guts or organs or what not. Which eventually helps prevent ugly skin too.

Bath helps you be a properly healthy person, that's all. But that is a good thing, I suppose.