Burn more calories by working out in the cold?

Happysoul0317 · February 2018

I just read an article that reported that when you walk or run outside in the cold that you burn more calories than if it were 60 or 70 degrees. Is this accurate or another BS story?

MegaMooseEsq · February 2018

As I recall, the effect has been overstated and is impractical for weight loss purposes. Like, you maybe burn a tiny bit more if it’s really cold, but you’re unlikely to be able to or want to exercise in that temperature for very long. If it sounds too easy, it sadly probably is.

Poisonedpawn78 · February 2018

While technically true, your body expends energy and calories to heat itself. Its the same principle if you were to drink cold water instead of warm. However this is what is called majoring in the minors. Worrying about it wont really do anything because the order of magnitude in the calories burned is always greatly overstated. you would burn an extra 5ish calories depending on the length of time(quantity of water). It is far more effective for you to pay attention to diet and exercise period. A single muffin would wipe out months worth of cold workouts and drinking cold water.

In other words worry about the 100 calories from the orange you ate instead of the 2 calories lost because it was cold instead of warm. Additionally keep in mind that even if you did go the cold route, you would likely lose around 1 extra pound of fat a YEAR for your effort. Hardly worth freezing your butt off all the time.

Azdak · February 2018

Poisonedpawn78 wrote: »

While technically true, your body expends energy and calories to heat itself. Its the same principle if you were to drink cold water instead of warm. However this is what is called majoring in the minors. Worrying about it wont really do anything because the order of magnitude in the calories burned is always greatly overstated. you would burn an extra 5ish calories depending on the length of time(quantity of water). It is far more effective for you to pay attention to diet and exercise period. A single muffin would wipe out months worth of cold workouts and drinking cold water.

In other words worry about the 100 calories from the orange you ate instead of the 2 calories lost because it was cold instead of warm. Additionally keep in mind that even if you did go the cold route, you would likely lose around 1 extra pound of fat a YEAR for your effort. Hardly worth freezing your butt off all the time.

Not to mention the fact that it is highly likely that an outdoor workout will be less intense and lower duration than the comparable indoor workout. So while in a lab setting one can technically burn a few more calories in the cold, in real life, the odds are better than 50/50 that you will burn substantially less.

TWRUNNER32 · February 2018

I swear to god, it has to burn more calories trying to stay upright on an icy sidewalk. Lol. It totally FEELs like it does anyway. I walked a mile and half the other day, and muscles I didn't even know I had hurt the next day.

Happysoul0317 · February 2018

Wonderful insight from you all. Thank you kindly. I thought the same thing, that it was overrated claims.

MegaMooseEsq · February 2018

I don't know if this is the article you read or not, but it does a fairly nice job of summarizing the problems with these cold + exercise claims: https://www.vox.com/2017/12/23/16774320/exercise-in-cold-burn-more-calories. I think Vox's main science writer usually manages to explain things in lay terms without sensationalizing or oversimplifying. Not always, but usually.

Burn more calories by working out in the cold?

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