Burn more calories cold?

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shakybabe
shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm really feeling winter today.. my hands are blue and feel cold.. as can't exercise at minute to warm up due to leg injury.. I was wondering if I would burn more calories whilst I'm cold from just my body trying to keep temp up? How many cals an hour do we burn keeping warm?

I can't remember if it was 400 or 600cals an hour for shivering? I still have my dog to walk twice day and as I'm just sat on mobility scooter or in powerchair as she's running about, its not long before I'm shivering.

I'm stiffer in winter too so not expecting to be able to exercise at the same intensity as I was over summer so was just wondering if I can burn about equal calories from been cold all day? (can't afford central heating on all day anyway with my income)

Replies

  • jennajava
    jennajava Posts: 2,176 Member
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    No, you burn more calories if you're warmer.
  • SHBoss1673
    SHBoss1673 Posts: 7,161 Member
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    a leg injury should not preclude you from exercising, even warm up. There's plenty of upper body and even swim related activity you can do with a leg injury. Shadow boxing comes to mind if you're not able to stand at all.
  • meerkat70
    meerkat70 Posts: 4,616 Member
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    Yes you will burn more. But not massively so. (Ditto if you're too hot)

    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/11/science/11qna.html
  • 1goodymom67
    1goodymom67 Posts: 125
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    I wish I knew for sure if you did burn more cals when it is cold, I want to believe it though. I walked in the snow all last winter Mon/Wed/Sat whether I wanted to or not LOL :wink: Stay warm and get back out there!! :tongue:
  • a1rose
    a1rose Posts: 127 Member
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    Punches are great to get the heart rate up and the body warm. Along with arm crosses and windmills. :)
  • iplayoutside19
    iplayoutside19 Posts: 2,304 Member
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    The body uses active process to warm-up like shivering, and urinating more often. The body uses passive process to cool down like sweating. Sweating does not burn calories. So, you do burn more calories when you're cold....but the difference is so small I wouldn't mess with counting it.

    Unless you're going to be spending several days exposed to really low tempuratures.
  • Pangea250
    Pangea250 Posts: 965 Member
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    No, you burn more calories if you're warmer.
    Sorry, that's incorrect. The body uses more energy when it is trying to stay warm.
  • sonjavon
    sonjavon Posts: 1,019 Member
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    From what I've read there is actually considerable debate about this... but most scientists believe that brief bursts of being cold may temporarily slow your metabolism while prolonged exposure to the cold actually increases your metabolism.

    I confess that I don't know much about ataxia. What exercises are safe for you to do? I think it's important to do something to keep your heart rate pumping... but without knowing more about what you can/cannot do - it's hard to make suggestions. At the minimum, stretching would seem prudent.

    Try to stay warm! The small extra calorie burn that you may get from being cold is not worth the soreness and stiffness that you'll have to go through!
  • shakybabe
    shakybabe Posts: 1,578 Member
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    I've been quite enjoying the boxercising games... I'm thinking of getting another boxing game and the gloves for wii. I currently use hair scrunchies wrapped around my hand and the wii remote so I don't keep dropping it whilst I'm flinging my arms around... lol!

    I like tennis one's too.. got good strength and gross motor movement (like swinging arm as if swinging a racket) but struggle more with fine motor (eg games where you have lot of button bashing to co-ordinate movements such as fast paced platform games).

    Both of these I can play from sitting in chair. I use my passive trainer bike from chair too but I think I overdid it last week, it sends muscles into spasms and the machine was still pedalling I think I pulled something and back of leg swelled up, so just staying off the bike a week until it goes down.

    I manage Wii Fit a couple of times a week.. I need more energy for that just cos of having to get onto floor and back up between floor and standing games. (and do some sitting on board) Trying to pull myself back up of floor is a challenge enough without additional injuries, so wii fit will have to wait until leg has healed too!

    I can't walk outside at all so have to use powered chair to walk dog, its getting nippy out there when sat waiting for her to sniff her way around the field... lol! .. hoping we don't get snow as bad as last year was snowed with 8" snow up drive couldn't get chairs out of house for 2 weeks... even scooter which can handle bit of snow was sliding everywhere,, had to pushed back down into house.. lol!

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