Sing it off: Gen Z women in China find 'cheap and easy' way to burn calories with karaoke

There are many ways to lose weight, from cardio to weight training and dieting. Now, you might want to add karaoke to the list. 

Yes, you read that right. China’s Gen Zs appear to be turning to karaoke for an effective workout to shed those extra kilos. 

TikTok user, who goes by Dr. Candise Lin, explained this peculiar phenomenon in a minute-long video on Jan 9.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@candiselin86/video/7321938710285520170[/embed]

In the video, Candise explained how China's Gen Zs “have found an easy and cheap way to lose weight.”

Showing screengrabs of posts made on Chinese social media platforms Xiaohongshu and Weibo, Candise shared how one blogger went to a karaoke studio alone to give her review on the weight loss method.

The result? 

She burned more than 400 calories within 90 minutes, according to the viral video. It doesn’t end there. After singing for a total of three hours, the content creator showed how she burned a whopping total of 781 calories in total.

Pretty impressive, right? 

Another user, whom Candise highlighted, showed that her fitness tracker recorded 529 calories after singing for 77 minutes.

One netizen also garnered an impressive result by burning more than 1000 calories after singing for close to five hours.

One online post went as far as to note how many calories one is expected to burn per song. My Heart Will Go On, by Celine Dion, for example, will purportedly use up 13.5 calories.

Candise then stated that singing is a form of aerobic activity, explaining how even when you’re seated, “you’re able to work out major muscle groups in your upper body."

This seems to ring true, according to health and fitness site Livestrong, which stated that singing while sitting improves lung and heart function, and singing standing up is comparable to walking or even yoga. 

Livestrong also reported that a person weighing 150 pounds will burn around 100 calories when singing for an hour while seated. And the same person can expect to burn 140 calories when standing up to belt out a tune. 

Moreover Healthline reported that singing helps to relieve stress and improve one's mental health. 

So is the karaoke studio the new gym? Based on comments to the blogger's viral clip, Candise pointed out that karaoke rooms in China cost less than USD$2 (S$2.69) on weekdays between 12pm to 6pm, highlighting that it could actually be cheaper than a gym membership.

With that said, there have been reports suggesting that singing is an unrealistic way to lose weight.

One New York Times article stated that singing may have cardiovascular benefits, but "weight loss is unlikely".

The report by Livestrong pointed out too, that singing "won't get you to shed pounds the way running or a gym workout does".

ALSO READ: Optical illusion: China women embrace fake belly button trend for leggier legs

venkat.gunasellan@asiaone.com

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