Do you burn calories by having a fever?

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MeiannaLee
MeiannaLee Posts: 338 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Ive been violently sick all day after consuming an insane amount of lactose yesterday.
Ive also had a fever and have been in bed 70% of the day.

Ive also been wearing my fitbit and due to my fever and exasperation, my heart beat rate hs been at 105.
I check my fitbit app and it says I have burned 200 calories for the day but this cant be right.

I mean I do feel hungrier but I dont think I acually burned those calories whilst laying in bed.

Thoughts?
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Replies

  • Rocknut53
    Rocknut53 Posts: 1,794 Member
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    I don't know, but reading this it makes sense that you would burn more.
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/321747-how-many-calories-does-a-fever-burn/
  • hhazzouri
    hhazzouri Posts: 103 Member
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    Short answer is yes. When you have a fever your body raises your temperature as a defense mechanism and that energy is produced by burning more calories.
  • MeiannaLee
    MeiannaLee Posts: 338 Member
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    I see!
    Thank you so much for your responces!
    :blush:
  • Cherimoose
    Cherimoose Posts: 5,210 Member
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    You've been in bed 70% of the day so you're probably burning fewer calories than usual. HR isn't always correlated to increased calorie burn.

    Try some Lactaid next time for the lactose intolerance. :+1:
  • rankinsect
    rankinsect Posts: 2,238 Member
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    In general, yes a fever burns calories - the body heat you lose to the environment all ultimately comes from your metabolism, and if your body is trying to raise its temperature, it will burn extra calories purely for the sake of generating heat (either via shivering or via mitochondrial decoupling).

    Of course, Cherimoose is correct and being in bed will burn fewer calories from reduced activity, so hard to say whether you ended up burning more or fewer in the end.
  • singingflutelady
    singingflutelady Posts: 8,736 Member
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    I wouldn't go by a HRM for non exercise activities. Having a higher HR doesn't mean you are burning more calories. My RHR was 140 for a few months because of severe anaemia and I didn't burn more than usual.

    The fever will make your body burn some more calories but if you are laying around you are burning less than you usually do.
  • RosieRose7673
    RosieRose7673 Posts: 438 Member
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    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    MeiannaLee wrote: »
    Ive been violently sick all day after consuming an insane amount of lactose yesterday.
    Ive also had a fever and have been in bed 70% of the day.

    Ive also been wearing my fitbit and due to my fever and exasperation, my heart beat rate hs been at 105.
    I check my fitbit app and it says I have burned 200 calories for the day but this cant be right.

    I mean I do feel hungrier but I dont think I acually burned those calories whilst laying in bed.

    Thoughts?

    Unexplained/unexpected weight loss is in indication there they may be something wrong with you. In these cases see a doctor and and don't ask us internets dumbasses.

    OP said nothing about unexplained/unexpected weight loss. Just asked a question about having a fever and being ill from too much lactose today.

    Not too sure why you would even post that.
  • 5Pointzshy
    5Pointzshy Posts: 2 Member
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    When calculating a patient's caloric needs in the hospital we have to take fever into account. It does require energy to produce that heat.
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    5Pointzshy wrote: »
    When calculating a patient's caloric needs in the hospital we have to take fever into account. It does require energy to produce that heat.

    Welcome to the show.
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
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    @5Pointzshy I read that the best treatment for TB before antibiotics was a 3,000 calorie a day diet. Give the body some fighting calories to stave off disease.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    Ironandwine69 wrote: »
    Do you eat back fever calories?

    :laugh:
  • vismal
    vismal Posts: 2,463 Member
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    Ironandwine69 wrote: »
    Do you eat back fever calories?
    Only half... lol

    To the OP, yes having a fever will increase how many calories you are burning from just sitting around. I wouldn't go with how many the fitbit says because the device isn't smart enough to know why you have a higher heart rate. All in all you probably burn less calories in a day when you have a fever because the amount burned due to the fever is probably going to be less than the amount not burned because of lower than normal activity.

  • vespiquenn
    vespiquenn Posts: 1,455 Member
    edited August 2017
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    Ironandwine69 wrote: »
    Do you eat back fever calories?

    If I have a fever and can still eat, I'm eating those fever calories.. and the exercise calories walking to the kitchen, and the calories burned just thinking about eating.

    Damn.. I'm noticing a trend on why I always gain when sick. :lol:
  • Ironandwine69
    Ironandwine69 Posts: 2,432 Member
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    vespiquenn wrote: »
    Ironandwine69 wrote: »
    Do you eat back fever calories?

    If I have a fever and can still eat, I'm eating those fever calories.. and the exercise calories walking to the kitchen, and the calories burned just thinking about eating.

    Damn.. I'm noticing a trend on why I always gain when sick. :lol:

    Smart girl.

    Nobody wants to go on negative for a day!!!!
  • AliceDark
    AliceDark Posts: 3,886 Member
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    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    RosieRose7673 wrote: »
    ncboiler89 wrote: »
    MeiannaLee wrote: »
    Ive been violently sick all day after consuming an insane amount of lactose yesterday.
    Ive also had a fever and have been in bed 70% of the day.

    Ive also been wearing my fitbit and due to my fever and exasperation, my heart beat rate hs been at 105.
    I check my fitbit app and it says I have burned 200 calories for the day but this cant be right.

    I mean I do feel hungrier but I dont think I acually burned those calories whilst laying in bed.

    Thoughts?

    Unexplained/unexpected weight loss is in indication there they may be something wrong with you. In these cases see a doctor and and don't ask us internets dumbasses.

    OP said nothing about unexplained/unexpected weight loss. Just asked a question about having a fever and being ill from too much lactose today.

    Not too sure why you would even post that.

    Asking medical questions on a board like this is not a good idea. Op is also saying she has unexplained calorie burn.

    A Fitbit really only gives you an estimation, so I would personally assume that whatever readings it gave me after a day spent sick in bed were likely to be inaccurate anyway. I would just ignore whatever it told me for that day.

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