Can cold air burn more calories?

daydreamblighter
daydreamblighter Posts: 28
in Health and Weight Loss
Does spending time in colder temperatures lead to increased calorie burn?

Interesting article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/cold-air-may-help-you-lose-weight-by-making-your-body-burn-calories-to-keep-warm/2014/01/27/c1e75170-8462-11e3-9dd4-e7278db80d86_story.html

I live in the North of England (UK), and the current outside temperature is 6C (43F). I've left the heating off for 48 hours and indoors it is 12C (54F).

When I exercise, I always feel warmer for a few hours afterwards. I'm currently wearing just a t-shirt and trousers (pants) and I feel comfortable. Yeah, my finger tips and nose are slightly cold but otherwise I'm fine and I'm not shivering.

It makes sense to me that my body would need to burn more calories to keep me warm if the temperature is colder.

Has anyone found that colder temperatures help them to burn more calories?

Are there any risks with this approach?

Replies

  • Leonidas_meets_Spartacus
    Leonidas_meets_Spartacus Posts: 6,198 Member
    Not sure about cals but it will save your heating bill.
  • kr1stadee
    kr1stadee Posts: 1,774 Member
    I live in Eastern Canada. I'd be burning calories just going outside 8 months of the year.

    I think the calories burned, however significant or not, would essentially be calculated in your BMR.. the same way your body burns calories to keep it's temperature regulated in any climate.

    I think this follows the whole idea that drinking ice cold water burns calories because it works to warm up the water after consumed. I don't believe any burn resulted in temperature regulation would be significant enough to cause weight loss.
  • grandmothercharlie
    grandmothercharlie Posts: 1,356 Member
    I looked this up on-line earlier this winter, but the best I could find at the time was that it was negligible. I have heart problems, but the extreme cold doesn't bother me as much as the heat. It seems to take more energy for me to cool down than warm up.
  • pyrowill
    pyrowill Posts: 1,163 Member
    Not worth thinking about IMO. Doing whatever for 5 minutes longer will burn more calories though ;)
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
    Yes, being cold burns more calories. The relative term here is "more". While you may be burning more calories, it's not enough to even mess with. And if you are trying to chill yourself to the point that it does make a difference you're stressing other parts of your body that may eventually lead to sickness in other areas. Then you're not doing your regular exercise or eating properly. Being fit is being strong and healthy..so you feel good. There's no magic pill for that. Eat right, be active in all weather conditions, and quit looking for a short cut.
  • ccather
    ccather Posts: 16 Member
    It's a fun thought and is probably a statistically negligible increase in calorie burn. (Although I'm still confused over how fat is burning calories. I didn't think fat cells were calorie burners.)

    Overall I think that article was just trying to find a silver lining to the bitterly cold winter the Mid Atlantic has had this year :)
  • Jruzer
    Jruzer Posts: 3,501 Member
    I'd be careful. Your body has ways of compensating for that kind of thing. You will get a marginal increase in your caloric expenditure keeping your body warm, but you will likely see a decrease in other kinds of physical activity to conserve energy.

    It has been very cold here in the northern U.S.: we have been well below freezing for most of the winter. I've found that when it's very cold that I get ravenous and lazy -- a hibernation response.
  • urban_ninja
    urban_ninja Posts: 175 Member
    The same could be said when it's hot since I sweat more, and my body is working harder to cool itself. I don't think there's a difference.
  • jkwolly
    jkwolly Posts: 3,049 Member
    Wow, 12C inside? Brrr.

    I hate it when my house goes lower then 18C!
  • tquill
    tquill Posts: 300 Member
    It does make a difference... not a lot per day, but it adds up.

    Drinking the 8 glasses of water per day (assuming ice water), burns about 70 calories per day.

    I'm guessing cold air is relatively similar... but I don't know how many calories it would burn, since air doesn't take away heat as effectively as water does.
  • daydreamblighter
    daydreamblighter Posts: 28
    Thanks everyone. The consensus seems to be that being colder does burn some calories, but not a huge amount.

    Here's what I'm going to do:

    * Put my woolly hat back on.
    * If I get cold enough to shiver or feel uncomfortable, I'll put a fleece on.
    * If I'm still cold after that, I'll put the heating on.

    I don't want to make myself sick just for a tiny bit of extra calorie burn per day!
  • Hakarn
    Hakarn Posts: 62 Member
    You could make an argument for the opposite point of view as well. If you are working out in the cold, your body temperature will be more easily regulated (OP already said warm for a few hours after). This would mean that you body might be doing less work for control. Many people work out in a sweat suit in a hot environment. I do not know the exact reason for doing this, but I would imagine a hotter internal temperature would allow for easier breakdown of fat (molecules at higher temperature are moving faster and therefore can break apart more easily).

    The cold environment would probably be better during resting time for burning calories, but I believe a warmer temperature is better during exercise. I am not an expert on this subject, though :)
  • Sparlingo
    Sparlingo Posts: 938 Member
    All I know is that I'm waaay more tempted to be sedentary and huddle up when it is cold and miserable out. When it's warm, I'll make any excuse to go outside and move - be that yard work, a walk to the grocery store or whatever.

    So *maybe* this is true, but in my world, summer is much nicer to my health :smile:. I'm a pretty wimpy Canadian.
  • pyrowill
    pyrowill Posts: 1,163 Member

    I don't want to make myself sick just for a tiny bit of extra calorie burn per day!

    Hold on, were you suggesting you might actually do this? If so that would go up with shake weights and sauna suits in the stupid approach to weightloss awards. Thats not meant to sound offensive btw.
  • daydreamblighter
    daydreamblighter Posts: 28
    Hold on, were you suggesting you might actually do this?

    No.

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