Science behind Drinking Ice Water to Burn Calories

Egger29

Ice water won't replace a healthy diet, but it will burn a few extra Calories.

If you simply want to know if your body burns calories warming up the water, the answer is "Yes". But if you want to know if drinking a lot of ice water can help you lose weight, or keep weight off, this "yes" needs to be qualified.

First of all, "calories" are case-sensitive. There are calories and then there are Calories.

Calories with a big "c" are the ones used to describe the amount of energy contained in foods. (The ones you log on here)

A calorie with a little "c" is defined as the amount of energy it takes to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.

What most people think of as a Calorie is actually a kilo-calorie: It takes one Calorie (big "C") to raise the temperature of 1 kilogram of water 1 degree Celsius. So when you drink a 140-Calorie (Big C) glass of Juice, you are ingesting 140,000 calories. (Little C)

So, considering that the definition of a calorie is based on raising the temperature of water, it is safe to say that your body burns calories when it has to raise the temperature of ice water to your body temperature. And unless your urine is coming out ice cold, your body must be raising the temperature of the water. So calories are being burned.

So what exactly are you burning when you drink a 16-ounce (0.5 liter) glass of ice water:
1) The temperature of ice water can be estimated at zero degrees Celsius.
2) Body temperature can be estimated at 37 degrees Celsius.
3) It takes 1 calorie to raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius.
4) There are 473.18 grams in 16 fluid ounces of water.

So in the case of a 16-ounce glass of ice water, your body must raise the temperature of 473.18 grams of water from zero to 37 degrees C. In doing so, your body burns 17,508 calories. But that's calories with a little "c."

Your body only burns about 17.5 Calories. Not very much right? What if however, you adhere to the "eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day" nutritional recommendation.

In 64 ounces of water, there are 1,892.72 grams. So to warm up all that water in the course of a day, your body burns 70,030 calories, or 70 Calories.

Do that for 30 days and you've burned 2100 Calories which is about 2/3 of a lb of Fat.

How about over a year? 70 x 365 is 25550 Calories or 7.3 lbs!!! All by drinking your 8 glasses a day!

Remember, changing your body is about a long-term change of lifestyle habits that add up over time!

Cheers!

hush7hush

bump to read when I get to work.

sarah307

awesome!! love it!!

catwrangler

That's fine for warm months but when it starts getting chilly you won't catch me drinking ice anything!

rabbit99_47203

bump

achapman01

Informative and helpful post. Thanks!

wiglet23

very informative... thank u!

Jorra

Yay science!

Too bad I don't like ice cold water. I always drink straight from the tap. I won't burn as many calories warming it up.

Bluejay789

Great posts. I was having this conversation with my friend yesterday and we were debating so this is definitely good info!

nurse_carolyn

This is great news........i'll go fill up my icetray now:)

servilia

I've read about this before, but a question - doesn't water (or any liquid really) passively adapt to the temperature of its environment without that environment having to do any work? For example, if you take ice cold water out of the fridge and leave it at room temp, it will eventually come to room temperature without any active heating going on - you don't have to put it on the stove to get it to room temp. Same with the water in the body. It can passively come to 37 degrees C without your body doing any actual work (ie not using calories to heat it up). Does this make sense or am I missing something?

Egger29

I've read about this before, but a question - doesn't water (or any liquid really) passively adapt to the temperature of its environment without that environment having to do any work? For example, if you take ice cold water out of the fridge and leave it at room temp, it will eventually come to room temperature without any active heating going on - you don't have to put it on the stove to get it to room temp. Same with the water in the body. It can passively come to 37 degrees C without your body doing any actual work (ie not using calories to heat it up). Does this make sense or am I missing something?

Hey there,

Leaving a water glass on the counter isn't a passive process. although you're not putting it into a stove, the water will be heated by the surrounding air to raise the water to the temperature of the room it's in. This transfer occurs between the air molecules surrounding the glass. The resulting condensation you see is a symptom of this process.

As your body is a standard 37 degrees Celcius, water entering the body will need to be "heated" to body temperature to circulate through the system. The energy do to that has to come from somewhere, which is basically taken up by parts of your circulatory system.

Although it's not a major amount, it is something that adds up over time and is a simple lifestyle change that can produce dramatic results in the long term when incorporated into daily living.

pnieuw

My grandfather, wise before his time, used to tell my mother that during WWII, he would eat his food, when he got any, as fast as possible to preserve calories. Seems he was right!

I need to keep those ice cubes flowing! Thanks for the post. Very interesting reading.

servilia

ok thanks :flowerforyou: now I just wish I liked my water cold.

RangerSteve

A couple things:

1) If the temperature of the water was actually freezing (for calculation purposes being used) then wouldn't it just be ice? The water itself is going to be warmer than the ice mixed in with it. Plus, even before any metabolic processes are taken into account, your breath is going to warm the water up a bit more.

2) If you end up drinking less water because it's cold and harder to drink then you're probably offsetting any benefits of the drinking the cold water itself so you'd have to remain aware of the amount you're drinking compared to what you were drinking before. If you enjoy room temp water then it's more beneficial to stick with that as you're not having to force yourself to drink.

Egger29

A couple things:

1) If the temperature of the water was actually freezing (for calculation purposes being used) then wouldn't it just be ice? The water itself is going to be warmer than the ice mixed in with it. Plus, even before any metabolic processes are taken into account, your breath is going to warm the water up a bit more.

2) If you end up drinking less water because it's cold and harder to drink then you're probably offsetting any benefits of the drinking the cold water itself so you'd have to remain aware of the amount you're drinking compared to what you were drinking before. If you enjoy room temp water then it's more beneficial to stick with that as you're not having to force yourself to drink.

1) Water's freezing point is at 0 Degrees Celcius. I don't know about you, but last time I checked water doesn't immediately freeze like the coming of the Ice Age in "The Day After Tomorrow". It's a gradual process where the surface freezes first and it works though to the middle as it all gradually reaches the same temperature throughout. (If you don't believe me, make some ice cubes and poke them after about an hour in the freezer. So "Ice Water" doesn't mean sucking on a bunch of ice cubes...it refers to cold water with ice in it. My water cooler dispenses water at 3-5 Degrees C and my fridge is set at 3-5 Degrees C, so for the average person, Cold Water will STILL need to be risen by at least 32 degrees in the body before it comes out the other end. 32 x 473.18 = 15141.76 calories or 15 Calories/ 16 oz serving. So by that tokem 8 oz is still 60 Calories a day, 420 Calories a week, and 21840 a year.

2) I've never met anyone in my life who's physically unable to drink a glass of water or glass of anything for that matter from a jug in the fridge. (Standard temp 4-5 degrees).

Lozze

I'll be honest I drink ice cold water because it tastes better. I can't handle warm water. I'm not British! ;-)

If it gives me benefits great. I'm drinking it that temp even if it didn't help because thats how I'll get my water.

RangerSteve

1) Water's freezing point is at 0 Degrees Celcius. I don't know about you, but last time I checked water doesn't immediately freeze like the coming of the Ice Age in "The Day After Tomorrow". It's a gradual process where the surface freezes first and it works though to the middle as it all gradually reaches the same temperature throughout. (If you don't believe me, make some ice cubes and poke them after about an hour in the freezer. So "Ice Water" doesn't mean sucking on a bunch of ice cubes...it refers to cold water with ice in it. My water cooler dispenses water at 3-5 Degrees C and my fridge is set at 3-5 Degrees C, so for the average person, Cold Water will STILL need to be risen by at least 32 degrees in the body before it comes out the other end. 32 x 473.18 = 15141.76 calories or 15 Calories/ 16 oz serving. So by that tokem 8 oz is still 60 Calories a day, 420 Calories a week, and 21840 a year.

2) I've never met anyone in my life who's physically unable to drink a glass of water or glass of anything for that matter from a jug in the fridge. (Standard temp 4-5 degrees).

1) Good to know. You must have a nice fridge with temperature ratings and all. I'd still imagine it would depend on the amount of ice cubes in the water for the temperature but that's just nitpicking at this point. Cold is cold.

2) You've never met someone with sensitive teeth? Haven't you seen all those Sensodyne commercials? (they're a bit old now actually)

servilia

1) Water's freezing point is at 0 Degrees Celcius. I don't know about you, but last time I checked water doesn't immediately freeze like the coming of the Ice Age in "The Day After Tomorrow". It's a gradual process where the surface freezes first and it works though to the middle as it all gradually reaches the same temperature throughout. (If you don't believe me, make some ice cubes and poke them after about an hour in the freezer. So "Ice Water" doesn't mean sucking on a bunch of ice cubes...it refers to cold water with ice in it. My water cooler dispenses water at 3-5 Degrees C and my fridge is set at 3-5 Degrees C, so for the average person, Cold Water will STILL need to be risen by at least 32 degrees in the body before it comes out the other end. 32 x 473.18 = 15141.76 calories or 15 Calories/ 16 oz serving. So by that tokem 8 oz is still 60 Calories a day, 420 Calories a week, and 21840 a year.

2) I've never met anyone in my life who's physically unable to drink a glass of water or glass of anything for that matter from a jug in the fridge. (Standard temp 4-5 degrees).

1) Good to know. You must have a nice fridge with temperature ratings and all. I'd still imagine it would depend on the amount of ice cubes in the water for the temperature but that's just nitpicking at this point. Cold is cold.

2) You've never met someone with sensitive teeth? Haven't you seen all those Sensodyne commercials? (they're a bit old now actually)

Yes, and don't forget brain freeze! ouch!

CrisN99

Unless we are arguing just to argue(which happens quite frequently around here... ) I actually have sensitive teeth and have never had trouble drinking cold/icy drinks. Ice water, icy daquaris-- all ok with the teeth unless you postition a straw to draw the liquid directly onto your teeth you should be fine.

I DO have trouble chewing ice or biting into icecream. But never drinking a cold fluid.

Thanks for the info, OP. I am thinking I first heard about this with my bowflex and had forgotten. I am glad to hear that science backs up the theory!

kyle4jem

Does this theory work with ice-cold coke/beer and ice cream? :bigsmile:

Gonna raid the fridge-freezer when I get home. :laugh: