Caloric consumption in cold weather

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Does anyone here know definitively if you burn more calories in cold weather than in warm weather?

Does it make sense that you would burn more calories to maintain your body heat in the cold weather rather than in warm weather?

[SCRawl]

Does anyone here know definitively if you burn more calories in cold weather than in warm weather?

Does it make sense that you would burn more calories to maintain your body heat in the cold weather rather than in warm weather?

Yes, you definitely burn more calories keeping your body warm in the cold. I don't know about you, though, but I tend to wear fairly warm clothing and outerwear in this weather, so the effect is probably negligible.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

So then would exercising in cold weather really contribute any significant gains in burning calories, or is it negligible?

Just Googling around gives me a bunch of different answers. Some sources say you burn more in the heat as you sweat, making the heart work harder to cool the body, or you burn much more in the cold only when you shiver.

[Winston Blake]

My guess is that you burn more in the cold. Since you sweat when you exercise, sweating in hot weather could be misinterpreted as 'I'm sweating more so I must be working harder'.

A cold environment would let heat flow out of a person's body more quickly, but the amount of energy lost might be negligible compared to how much mechanical work they're doing.

[Knife]

Standard calorie count for a MRE in US military is ~2000 calories. For winter rats, you're looking at 6000 calories. That's per meal.

[Feil]

I'll confirm that you burn a God Damn Lot of calories in cold weather. When you go about feeding yourself in cold weather, your objective is to consume as many calories as you possibly can, otherwise you burn out fast. By cold, I'm referring to subzero Fahrenheit, not "oh, look, there's a little bit of ice on the lake, how quaint". I don't care what Google says; if you're working in cold temperatures, you need to eat large amounts of high calorie foods or you go kaput.

[Bedlam]

Cold weather might actually make exercising less efficient although you would still need to burn more calories.

When your exercising in warm conditions the heat generated is a waste product that needs to be removed which in turn costs more energy. If its cold your body would need to be producing this heat anyway so less of the heat produced by the exercise is actually a waste reducing the energy cost of removing the heat.

I dont know how great the difference would be, it would of course vary depending on the type of exercise and the actual temperature and might be negligable in many cases.

[IRG CommandoJoe]

Perhaps if I was more specific in the type of exercise it would make the comparison more clear.

Yesterday I walked 2 miles in temperatures ranging from 15-19° F for about 30 minutes. I have no idea how many calories I burned. If I stayed indoors and used my exercise bike, the computer display indicates I would have burned roughly 350-400 calories for about the same amount of time.

If it helps, when I came indoors I wasn't nearly as tired or sweaty as I am when I exercise on the bike, but I felt much more hungry. Some websites suggest that the hunger is brought on because the body needs to consume more calories to maintain body temperature. Others claim that the hunger is merely an evolutionary instinct to feeling cold (because food is scarce in the winter, so you should eat all you can), not an indication that your body needs to consume more calories. I don't know what to make of any of this contradictory information.

Anyway, which type of exercise would burn more calories?

[CaptainChewbacca]

There's a reason why one of the staples of the inuit diet is blubber. High calorie goodness.

[Darth Wong]

Take a look at the US states with the highest obesity rates. Notice anything coincidental about their weather?

[Feil]

Take a look at the US states with the highest obesity rates. Notice anything coincidental about their weather?

No. But they do tend to vote Republican.

[FireNexus]

I suppose that colder region would have fatter people only because a smart person stays inside in extreme cold. Of course, the same effect would come into play with extreme heat, too.

[Medic]

I dunno, my appetite is out of control in the summer, not the winter where I frequently skip breakfast and sleep. (going from outside in the cold to inside where it's heated = instant passing the fuck out)

In the summer time I'd do PT in the morning, sweat my ass off just cause it's humid, eat a normal sized breakfast, then work and sweat my ass off just cause I'm outside and then on my most hungry days, I could down a 12" sub (1-2 meats, cheese, lettuce, tomato and dressings) and a personal pan pizza (plus soda) -- and then go right back to work in the afternoon and not even feel bloated, if anything it took that just to maintain a high energy level.

If it's all about your body maintaining a heat level, then the winter time seems you'd consume less just cause wearing enough layers, and working hard, you heat up VERY quickly, like a runaway greenhouse effect.