why am I cold

Railr0aderTony

I have always been warm blooded, I wear shorts in the winter, always keep the house in the 60s. I have been doing this MFP now since Jan and I am freezing. I have lost some weight and I know that might be part of it. Just curious, is it because I am not consuming near the amount of calories that i used to? Or am I doing somthing wrong?

Railr0aderTony

found this on the Net, I think it is mostly cutting calories and my messed up sleeping schedule. I LOVE SWING SHIFT.

Here are some of the more common reasons for feeling colder than normal:

Low body weight. Both fat thickness and muscle mass assist in keeping us warm. Muscle activity generates heat and fat acts as insulation. If you have lost a lot of weight recently or you have always been thin, you might be sensitive to ambient temperatures that would be comfortable for most people.

Skipping meals. Some people get cold when they skip meals or take in too few calories. The body conserves energy and produces less heat in response to fasting.

Being overly tired. Not getting enough sleep and feeling tired all the time may be contributing to the cold feeling.

An underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). Feeling cold can be a symptom of hypothyroidism. A simple blood test for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) can determine if you have this problem.

Low red blood cell count (anemia). While anemia can cause a person to feel colder than other people in the same room, it would be unusual for it to cause the extreme cold feeling you describe. Again, it's easy to check for anemia with a simple blood test.

Raynaud's phenomenon. The normal response to cold temperatures is to shunt blood away from the skin to keep the internal organs warm. In people with Raynaud's phenomenon, that natural response is extreme. The tiny blood vessels get severely narrowed and markedly reduce blood flow to the skin, most often in the fingers and toes. One or more digit turns white or blue, temporarily. People with Raynaud's tend to be much more sensitive to even minor drops in air temperature than other people. In addition to wearing gloves and thick socks, they need to keep their core body temperature up by wearing lots of layers of clothing.

Howard LeWine, M.D.