does temperature affect daily calories?

fragilegift
fragilegift Posts: 347 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I know that BMR is what you use in a coma and I'm assuming this is in a climate controlled room. I'm wondering if people use more calories when they are trying to stay warm (and I guess cool down if its hot). If they do, what would be an acceptable increase?

Replies

  • grimm1974
    grimm1974 Posts: 337 Member
    I have heard that your burn more calories in cold weather doing the same amount of exercise, but I couldn't begin to put a number on it.
  • wolfchild59
    wolfchild59 Posts: 2,608 Member
    I've worn a BodyMedia Fit for over a year now and honestly haven't seen any noticeable differences in overall calorie burn in different temperatures. And from what I've seen in specific workout calories with my HRM that's also pretty negligible. But the caveat to that is that I don't live in an area with extreme temperature changes, I live in California. So the coldest we tend to get here (when I'd be out and about, not counting temp drops at night) would be right around freezing and the hottest is just around 90-ish. (It gets hotter, but I go to the gym if it's hotter than that. lol)
  • fragilegift
    fragilegift Posts: 347 Member
    I've worn a BodyMedia Fit for over a year now and honestly haven't seen any noticeable differences in overall calorie burn in different temperatures. And from what I've seen in specific workout calories with my HRM that's also pretty negligible. But the caveat to that is that I don't live in an area with extreme temperature changes, I live in California. So the coldest we tend to get here (when I'd be out and about, not counting temp drops at night) would be right around freezing and the hottest is just around 90-ish. (It gets hotter, but I go to the gym if it's hotter than that. lol)

    Its winter here, and I'm struggling to stay warm without turning the heater on. It is about 50F indoors at the moment. I'd hate to be outdoors at the football or something! Since loosing my ..uh..insulation I've felt a lot colder.
  • bathsheba_c
    bathsheba_c Posts: 1,873 Member
    I've heard a theory that indoor climate control contributes to obesity because our bodies use less energy to keep the correct temperature. But I would guess that most people don't exercise outdoors enough for temperature difference to make a major difference in calorie burn for a given exercise.
  • whitm2103
    whitm2103 Posts: 41
    I heard on the show the big bang theory that people in the artic burn 2500 calories a day.

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