Walking in the cold burns more calories

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lorilwayne
lorilwayne Posts: 12
in Motivation and Support
For those that live in cold climates think of walking to be a good thing. I remember reading a couple years ago that walking in the cold helps burn more calories. Anyone else hear this and can they help by letting me know how much more.

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  • lorilwayne
    lorilwayne Posts: 12
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    For those that live in cold climates think of walking to be a good thing. I remember reading a couple years ago that walking in the cold helps burn more calories. Anyone else hear this and can they help by letting me know how much more.
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
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    I was just wondering this on my walk earlier...
    your body must burn something extra to keep warm?

    Anybody? Or is this just my wishful thinking.:flowerforyou:
  • smokey48141
    smokey48141 Posts: 4
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    I think this is true as I lose more weight in cold months than warm months...good to know.
  • Razboo
    Razboo Posts: 439 Member
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    It sounds true. Your body shivers when it's getting too cold and even if you haven't reached the point of shivering, I bet the body is still taking some action to ward off the cold.
  • lorilwayne
    lorilwayne Posts: 12
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    I did a quick internet search and although no one has really come out and said that you burn x amount more calories there seems to be a general feeling that you burn more in the winter. The statement made on a website was "Even if you have to walk slower because of the weather, you may be burning more calories. And trudging through snow or walking into the wind takes more energy."
    The website that I found this on was http://www.campshane.com/nutritional/fitness/cold.htm

    It has some tips for walking in the cold safely. I guess I can say that I'm glad that we got some snow yesterday and more snow is forcast as well as cold temperatures. Guess I'm going to find my thermal sweats that I got on clearance sometime not realizing they were thermal.
  • lotusfromthemud
    lotusfromthemud Posts: 5,335 Member
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    Also, I noticed that when it's freezing, I walk faster. My twenty minute walk to the gym on Tuesday turned into about a 15 minute walk.

    Freezing my tail off is good motivation.
  • kristie874
    kristie874 Posts: 774 Member
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    Looked it up and here's what I found. Bummer!

    Do I burn off more calories exercising in the cold?
    Cold weather itself does not increase calorie needs. (And remember: the weather can actually be tropical inside your ski outfit or running suit!) Your body does use a considerable amount of energy to warm and humidify the air you breathe when you exercise in the cold. (For example, if you were to burn 600 calories while cross-country skiing for an hour in 0 degree weather, you may use an estimated 23 percent of those calories to warm the inspired air.) But you use the heat you generate with exercise to warm the air you breathe and prevent your lungs from getting chilled. Hence, you might not sweat as much. But, you don't burn extra calories--unless your body temperature drops and you start to shiver. In the summer, you would have dissipated this heat via sweat.
    You may, however, burn off a few more calories to carry extra clothing. Athletes who lug around heavy clothing and sports equipment--skis and ski boots, heavy parkas, snow shoes--do burn more calories. For example, the Army allows 10% more calories for the heavily clad troops who exercise in the cold. But winter runners or race walkers generally wear minimal heavy clothing...
    &nbps; If you are too scantily clad (or have little body fat) and your body becomes chilled, you will need more calories to stay warm. For example, scantily clad research subjects who exercised in the cold (14 degrees F) burned 13% more calories than when they performed the same exercise at room temperature--about 450 vs 400 calsories per hour.
  • hangell
    hangell Posts: 14
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    I, too, had heard years ago that walking in the cold burned more calories. I knew there was a reason why my treadmill was outside on the porch! :laugh:
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,114 Member
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    If you are too scantily clad (or have little body fat) and your body becomes chilled, you will need more calories to stay warm. For example, scantily clad research subjects who exercised in the cold (14 degrees F) burned 13% more calories than when they performed the same exercise at room temperature--about 450 vs 400 calsories per hour.

    :laugh: kristie874:

    That helps tremendously! I'm going to start walking in a bathing suit. It's 38 degrees...hope I don't cause any traffic accidents!

    :tongue:
  • icandoit
    icandoit Posts: 4,163 Member
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    If you are too scantily clad (or have little body fat) and your body becomes chilled, you will need more calories to stay warm. For example, scantily clad research subjects who exercised in the cold (14 degrees F) burned 13% more calories than when they performed the same exercise at room temperature--about 450 vs 400 calsories per hour.

    :laugh: kristie874:

    That helps tremendously! I'm going to start walking in a bathing suit. It's 38 degrees...hope I don't cause any traffic accidents!

    :tongue:

    I will be sure to watch the news to see if you made top story of the world news. You are too funny:laugh:

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