Short answer: without a drug, weight loss rests on eating less and moving more at a pace your doctor sets.
That is the same base the FDA labels for Wegovy and Zepbound pair with those drugs. A sauna is not a weight-loss treatment, but it can make a routine easier to keep: book a private infrared sauna, 30 minutes for $30.
Check with your doctor first before you start a weight-loss plan or add heat or cold to your week, especially if you take any medicine, are pregnant, or have a heart, kidney, blood pressure or diabetes condition.
What the drug labels say about food and activity
The FDA prescribing information for Wegovy (semaglutide) says it is used with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity to reduce excess body weight and keep it off long term, in adults with obesity or with overweight and a weight-related condition, and the Zepbound (tirzepatide) label opens the same way. Ozempic and Mounjaro, the diabetes medicines made from the same two drugs, are labeled as an addition to diet and exercise for blood sugar control in type 2 diabetes, with no weight-reduction use listed.
So with or without a drug, the base is what you eat and how much you move, and your doctor can set a pace that fits your health. NOLA Chill does not sell, prescribe or recommend any drug or peptide, and this page is not advice to start or avoid one.
You may also see compounded semaglutide, or peptides such as BPC-157, sold online. FDA’s order of February 21, 2025 determined that the semaglutide injection shortage was resolved and gave compounders until April 22 or May 22, 2025, by type, before it would act on violations that had depended on the shortage. On July 23, 2026, the FDA Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee met to discuss whether BPC-157, KPV, TB-500 and MOTS-c should be added to the list of bulk substances allowed in compounding; FDA’s page for that meeting says advisory committees make non-binding recommendations, so a committee vote is not an approval. Talk with your doctor about anything sold that way.
What a sauna or cryotherapy visit does not do
Neither one is a weight-loss treatment. A 2018 systematic review of regular dry sauna bathing by Hussain and Cohen covered 40 clinical studies with 3,855 people; several reported lower body weight in the sauna groups, but we found no body-fat or lean-mass result in it. The same review reports lower plasma volume, the fluid part of the blood, after sauna sessions in a small study of healthy women, which is why the scale can read lower right after a sauna and climb back as you drink.
The evidence on cold is thin as well. A 2022 meta-analysis by Huo and colleagues pooled 10 randomized trials in healthy people, each a single spell of cold in a group of 6 to 27 people, and found that energy use rose compared with room temperature. Its own discussion says this has raised energy use in people without producing a loss of body weight, and a short-term rise in energy use is not the same as losing weight over months.
Where a sauna fits a plan without drugs
What a sauna can honestly do is make a routine easier to keep. If you have started walking in Audubon Park or along the river, a warm, quiet half hour afterward gives the week something to look forward to, and coming back week after week is what a long plan depends on.
At NOLA Chill, thirty minutes in the private infrared sauna is $30 and 45 minutes is $40, and you pay after your visit. A 10-visit pack of 30-minute sessions is $200, and one pack visit covers one or two people in the room together. Every price is on the pricing page, and NOLA Chill is open every day, Mon to Fri 9am to 7pm, Sat 9am to 4pm and Sun 10am to 3pm, with off-street parking in front.
Using the sauna safely
Drink water before and after, and step out at any point if you feel dizzy, light-headed or sick to your stomach; you do not have to stay the full 30 minutes. Skip it after alcohol or when you are ill or dehydrated. If you take a GLP-1 drug, ask the prescriber first: none of the FDA labels for Wegovy, Zepbound, Ozempic, Rybelsus or Mounjaro mentions saunas or cold exposure, all five warn about kidney injury from fluid loss, and the Wegovy and Zepbound labels report more low blood pressure on the drug than on placebo.
More in this series
- Keeping muscle on Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound
- Starting to exercise safely, on a GLP-1 drug or without one
- Keeping your energy after losing weight
- Cryotherapy or infrared sauna: how they compare
Frequently asked questions
Does a sauna burn fat or help you lose weight?
No. The 2018 review of 40 sauna studies we read reports no body-fat or lean-mass result, and a lower scale number right after a sauna is fluid lost in sweat, which returns as you drink. Weight that stays off comes from food and activity, planned with your doctor.
Is compounded semaglutide or a peptide a way to lose weight without the brand drug?
NOLA Chill cannot advise on any drug or peptide. FDA declared the semaglutide injection shortage resolved on February 21, 2025, and the July 2026 committee votes on peptides such as BPC-157 are non-binding recommendations, not approvals. Talk with your doctor about anything sold that way.
How we checked
Drug uses and warnings are from each medicine’s FDA label on DailyMed, read on October 30, 2026; the shortage dates are from FDA’s order, the committee facts from FDA’s meeting page, and the sauna and cold findings from the two reviews.
- Wegovy label (DailyMed)
- Zepbound label (DailyMed)
- Ozempic label (DailyMed)
- Rybelsus and Ozempic tablets label (DailyMed)
- Mounjaro label (DailyMed)
- FDA order resolving the semaglutide injection shortage, February 21, 2025
- FDA meeting page, Pharmacy Compounding Advisory Committee, July 23 to 24, 2026
- Hussain and Cohen, 2018, dry sauna systematic review
- Huo and others, 2022, cold exposure meta-analysis
NOLA Chill is a wellness studio on Magazine Street in New Orleans, not a medical clinic. A sauna or cryotherapy visit is not a weight-loss treatment and does not replace care from your doctor.