Has Your Body Temp Dropped With Weight Loss?

springlering62

Just curious. Many of us experience cold and chills with weight loss.

Has anyone experienced lower body temperatures as well?

I’ve always run a degree or two lower than normal but now it’s gotten to be a running joke at both gyms I work out at that I either don’t register a temp at all during check-in, or it’s several degrees below everyone else’s.

I thought this was interesting, but they don’t define “older”:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/when-is-body-temperature-too-low

My first winter of weight loss was hell, last winter was tolerable. But this fall is starting off miserably, with frequent chills, and needing to wear gloves and thick fleece hoody well into the 60’s.

I’ve been eyeballing the fireplace, but know my husband will flip out if I turn it on so early. This afternoon I got so cold I turned on the dryer so I could wallow in the hot laundry to warm up. It was 74 outside.

amart4224

Not me, as I still have plenty of insulation, but my dad has talked about how getting below a certain weight causes his temperature to be a couple degrees below normal. He is supposedly able to pinpoint an exact weight at which he experiences this, and tries to stay a couple pounds up from that, as he finds it unpleasant.

gewel321

I have a space heater under my desk that I run year round. It blows directly on my legs. I am constantly cold. I was cold when I was 400lbs but it has only gotten worse the more weight I loose. My family loves the cold and are both hot natured so we keep the house quite cold and I have thick fuzzy blankets on every couch.

With that being said my internal temperature is also quite low. I work at a hospital and I have to bring my own oral thermometer because the temporal ones say I’m dead. Lol.

Noreenmarie1234

I've noticed my body temp drops whenever I am eating in a deficit (at any weight) to around 96.2-97.5. As soon as I eat maintenance or above it goes right back up to around 97.9-98.2.

nooshi713

I am still overweight but my usual temp registers around 96-97. It has been as low as 94, technically hypothermic.

stevehenderson776

I can't answer as to my internal body temperature dropping. I checked a minute ago and it was 98.3f. No idea if it was higher before. I doubt it though. I've lost over 50lbs since the springtime and I THINK that I feel colder when I'm outside than I did with similar temperatures last year, but it's hard to be sure. It always takes me a while to acclimate to the new seasons. Every fall when the temperature drops below 60 I'll start shivering and put on a sweater, and every spring when it rises above 50 I'll start sweating and go out in a t-shirt.

heybales

My temp drops slightly in a diet.
But not at lower weight.

And depending on how much deficit I'm attempting - it sure has no desire to warm up when cold.
I know it has more important things to expend the limited calories on than keeping warm.
Temps where I'd normally shiver require going several degrees below before that will happen.
Just happened Sun night. Stood there wondering why I was so cold and wasn't shivering. Wasn't even that cold yet compared to normal.

It's a great way of telling how extreme the deficit is for you personally, if body doesn't want to spend the calories on producing extra heat. Really must have little to spare.

springlering62

heybales wrote: »

It's a great way of telling how extreme the deficit is for you personally, if body doesn't want to spend the calories on producing extra heat. Really must have little to spare.

Now that’s an interesting idea.

I averaged 2544 calories per day the past week, though, and 2402 for the month.

Like @gewel321, the running joke is that I’m dead. One temporal won’t read me at all, the other consistently picks me up at 92.+. We have to sign in with our temperatures at my weights gym , and I always peek at the sheet. The other readings are a bit lower than normal, but always several degrees higher than me.

On a personal, anecdotal level, feels like I’ve gone directly from tanks to full fuzzy gear and socks with the fall weather. I used to laugh at Europeans for wearing winter coats and scarves in what I considered warm weather. “Bah! I’m from the Deep South and even I can handle this!” but no more. Apologies, German friends.

springlering62

You know, this is really interesting. I’ve gone back for months looking at calorie totals. A family member was ill and no one was allowed to visit. My calories averaged under 2300 during that period, I reached goal and tried to settle into maintenance.

The caregivers brought this family member back to their home, and we were able to visit, but the usual sucky family drama increased, and so did the average calories. I don’t know how I missed it, but I hadn’t even realized. The family member has since passed away, I’ve tried to shut the drama out, and my average calories have dropped back considerably since then, down to 23-2400.

@heybales , you may have a very valid point. Thanks for pointing that out.

I see now I was able to maintain pretty comfortably at 27-2900 during that two or three month period. Might be time to rethink my maintenance plan.

I know weight loss involves physical work, but the mental work is equally taxing. Wowsa.

NovusDies

My temperature was once a reliable 98.6 and it is now consistently 1 degree cooler whether I am in a deficit or not.

When I was in my ~1000 calorie deficit the cold was much harder on me even with plenty of fat still on my body. My theory is that this is a result of the downshift in BMR during prolonged deficits. Theory <> Fact but it is a reasonable conclusion I think. We are starting to have cool to cold mornings here and at my current ~500 calorie deficit I am not feeling it as I did before. My hands still get cold pretty fast so I have to keep gloves handy but my relationship with the space heater is no longer making my wife jealous.

ahoy_m8

Mittens in the 70'sF does sound like something is going on. If your data supports it, maybe it is as simple as a too steep deficit.

Another thought: hormone induced temperature disregulation. I tend to run cool (feel cool when others feel comfortable) and also tolerate heat pretty well. However, in perimenopause (still having regular periods but some hormone wackiness), I swear I had cold flashes. I felt like I just couldn't heat up my core. It didn't feel like it was cold in the room; it felt cold on the inside, in my core. It lasted 30-60 minutes. I eventually graduated to hot flashes. At least I think they are hot flashes.... they only happen in summer and right before the AC kicks on, so I'm always wondering, is it a "hot flash," or just hot? It's a sudden onset and is gone in 1-2 minutes so I decided, yes, it is a flash. Hormonal transitions seem to manifest so differently in different people, I'm not sure there is a real "textbook" progression. If you are in an age range where this might apply, OP, perhaps it's another thought to explore.

Terytha

I've been wearing a sweater all summer. I never took it off. I'm frequently freezing.

Honestly not sure how I'm gonna survive this winter. =P

heybales

Body being willing to spend energy on keeping you warm falls in to same box as spending energy growing hair or nails at some rate, or replacing skin. It can be backed off.

Body just slows some things down first when it feels threatened too much, that line that can be perhaps found in a research study - but rarely do people know where their line is - so we have reasonable rates and recommendations to hopefully avoid it to a bad degree.

What's normally shown as progress of Adaptive Thermogenesis.
So less fidgeting first, small drop to NEAT.
Less moving, perhaps seen in drop to step count, less NEAT. Some counteract this now with step counts being available, so body resorts to next thing it can do.
Slower growth on hair/nails/skin, less BMR.
Less heat output when needed, just put on extra clothes to compensate, less BMR though.

Then you got tweaks to all that with extra hormones involved.

Of course with less body fat as insulation, you have to produce more heat to keep the same temp depending on surrounding temps, so a drop to body temp not unusual.

I've never read though if any case studies (they could never run a research study on this) if body backs off immune system responses if underfed too much.
Like is body willing to raise temps to kill bugs if it's already reached point it doesn't want to keep temp normal anyway?
Are you more prone to catching something in a big deficit?
Some of that goes to nutrition too during the diet. I know when I do get sick, if I was in a diet I'd back off. "Feed a cold" theory.

charmmeth

My temperature is generally a degree or two below what's defined as "normal". (I was reminded of this when we went into lockdown and were encouraged to check every morning.) This has always been the case and I don't think it changes when I gain weight (I gained 8 kg in several weeks during the time I was taking my temperature every day but it did not go up noticeably.)

What @heybales is describing makes sense to me.

the_stained_ape

Definitely.

I've noticed a definite change. I never used to feel the cold, but since I've dropped best part of 3 stone, I definitely feel the cold more.

lgfrie

Yes. 98.6 -> 97.4, and I am always cold now LOL

heybales

Which this whole effect going into fall for many of us may just make it harder to be inspired to go do our workouts if outside or cold part of house.
Never mind you know you'll warmup of course, getting out of that warm bed or snuggly blanket - what a battle!

stevehenderson776

heybales wrote: »

Which this whole effect going into fall for many of us may just make it harder to be inspired to go do our workouts if outside or cold part of house.
Never mind you know you'll warmup of course, getting out of that warm bed or snuggly blanket - what a battle!

I'm looking forward to the winter. There's no workout like a trudge through 2 feet of snow in sub zero temps.

moonangel12

I froze last winter!! But summer was miserable as well... my overall temp regulation is terrible in general (likely part of my autoimmune issues).

I tend to run low... and hormones can definitely play a role. Fertility can somewhat be predicted by body temp - one time I was newly pregnant and checked my temp because I was feeling icky only to find it in the upper 95’s... sadly, I had an early miscarriage a day or two later... body temp had me suspicious so it wasn’t a huge surprise when it was confirmed.

I run in the 96/low 97 range normally.

ahoy_m8

stevehenderson776 wrote: »

heybales wrote: »

Which this whole effect going into fall for many of us may just make it harder to be inspired to go do our workouts if outside or cold part of house.
Never mind you know you'll warmup of course, getting out of that warm bed or snuggly blanket - what a battle!

I'm looking forward to the winter. There's no workout like a trudge through 2 feet of snow in sub zero temps.

Spoken like a true Canadian. I miss my Canadian friends and deeply lament the closed border.

frankiesgirlie

I live in Florida and wear a sweatshirt, socks and long pants because I freeze with an air conditioner. No body else in the house feels this way and even sometimes say it’s hot. It’s worse when I’m eating at a deficit or when I’m at my goal lower weight.
I sometimes run hot water over my feet to warm up. In Florida.
Some people are just cold natured I guess.

AnnPT77

When I lost weight in my late teens, I was always cold at the lower weight, even in summer. This round, in my 60s, I haven't had that experience. I'm not any more cold sensitive than when I was fat, that I can tell (except that the very tips of my fingers get cold more easily, which may be the early stages of a circulatory issue, dunno).

AFAIK, my body temp isn't lower than previously, either. It's usually around 98 point something orally, when measured.

I know it's hard to parse out non-random reasons for any of this stuff, but when it comes to feeling colder more often, I wonder if it makes a difference that unlike many I see losing weight here, I was already very active exercise-wise for a dozen years while obese - it wasn't something new during or after weight loss. That's just wondering, though, not proposing it as a theory. (In general, I think heybales probably has his finger on the core reasons it happens. I don't know whether exercise is a counter to adaptive thermogenesis - assuming it's reasonably fueled, of course.)

I was surprised. Based on the earlier experience, I expected to be cold more often. Didn't happen.

heybales

AnnPT77 wrote: »

When I lost weight in my late teens, I was always cold at the lower weight, even in summer. This round, in my 60s, I haven't had that experience. I'm not any more cold sensitive than when I was fat, that I can tell (except that the very tips of my fingers get cold more easily, which may be the early stages of a circulatory issue, dunno).

AFAIK, my body temp isn't lower than previously, either. It's usually around 98 point something orally, when measured.

I know it's hard to parse out non-random reasons for any of this stuff, but when it comes to feeling colder more often, I wonder if it makes a difference that unlike many I see losing weight here, I was already very active exercise-wise for a dozen years while obese - it wasn't something new during or after weight loss. That's just wondering, though, not proposing it as a theory. (In general, I think heybales probably has his finger on the core reasons it happens. I don't know whether exercise is a counter to adaptive thermogenesis - assuming it's reasonably fueled, of course.)

I was surprised. Based on the earlier experience, I expected to be cold more often. Didn't happen.

Excellent point - that one study I really like that examined BMR, NEAT, and TDEE changes during different weight loss methods, showed the decent deficit with exercise with no lowering of those systems beyond what would be expected with weight loss and moving less mass around.
More LBM was retained.

kshama2001

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

Mittens in the 70'sF does sound like something is going on. If your data supports it, maybe it is as simple as a too steep deficit.

Another thought: hormone induced temperature disregulation. I tend to run cool (feel cool when others feel comfortable) and also tolerate heat pretty well. However, in perimenopause (still having regular periods but some hormone wackiness), I swear I had cold flashes. I felt like I just couldn't heat up my core. It didn't feel like it was cold in the room; it felt cold on the inside, in my core. It lasted 30-60 minutes. I eventually graduated to hot flashes. At least I think they are hot flashes.... they only happen in summer and right before the AC kicks on, so I'm always wondering, is it a "hot flash," or just hot? It's a sudden onset and is gone in 1-2 minutes so I decided, yes, it is a flash. Hormonal transitions seem to manifest so differently in different people, I'm not sure there is a real "textbook" progression. If you are in an age range where this might apply, OP, perhaps it's another thought to explore.

I'm almost 54, not in menopause yet, no hot flashes, but always run hot. The house has been in the low 60 degrees in the AM when I wake up and I feel no need to turn the heat on. With more layers, I could comfortably go into the high 50 degrees.

I've always run a little hot, but it's gotten noticeably worse as I get closer to menopause.

gunderw59

I have lost 50 lbs. in the last year and a half, I get cold more often than I used too. Body temp been running between 96 and 97.

Go_Deskercise

I keep a heating pad at my desk to warm my feet, legs, lap, arms or back when I need it

Also helps with cramps when it's that time of the month!

owieprone

I haven't a clue what my normal temp is but I always FEEL hot, this doesn't change with whether I"m in beach mode or winter mode. I feel the heat like no-one else in my family or that I know, my perfect sports/workout temp is 10DegC, and the rest of the time anything over 15DegC is too hot. The only time I feel cold is when I'm ill. Last winter I wore shorts and Tshirt and only wore a jacket to avoid getting soaked while walking about (SouthEast England). I've always been able to warm myself up by mentally convincing myself it's warmer "It's not cold, its warm" repeat about 5 times and voila I'm toasty. Weirdly I have icicles for feet and hands, I don't feel it but I have been assured by others they are. What is really bizarre is I hate it when I have cold hands, feet and ears, can't stand it, if they feel cold to me then I'm cold - but i could have shorts and tshirt on with gloves, hat and warm feet and be totally fine in -4DegC.

corinasue1143

My temp runs 97.5 to 98 or so. When our gym reopened, they didn’t heat the pool. After about 3 weeks, my body temp was down to 95-96. I’m 70. The last couple of years, my body just doesn’t recover quickly or easily after I get too hot or too cold. I quit swimming, and I’m back up to my normal. Took about 3 months. My temperature goes down when I’m exercising more, too, so I find @heybales idea interesting.

RunsWithBees

I guess I am the the opposite. When I was obese I was constantly cold... always wore a sweater, scarf and gloves in the office kind of cold. I do have hypothyroidism and low iron so that could be a factor but even getting those conditions well managed didn’t help much. When I lost weight I started exercising regularly for the first time in my previously sedentary life and I started not feeling so cold all the time. I’ve maintained my weight and exercise level for almost 7 years now and I don’t feel cold anymore, I feel a lot warmer even in cooler weather. I attribute this to all the new muscles I’ve developed over the years, especially in my legs. Previously my legs had a lot of fat and now they are more muscular and it could be that muscles generate more heat, or perhaps my circulation is better now that I’m active, but I really have no idea. All I know is that I can rarely even wear hats, scarves or gloves anymore because they actually make me feel too warm! It has to get really cold for me to even want to bundle up anymore. It’s like night and day of how I used to feel, so weird!