Mar
12
Freeze Those Calories Off
Filed Under Healthy Habits, Money
In the last post, I talked about sauna’s and how they make a poor weightloss solution. Overheating yourself doesn’t do much for your metabolism. All it creates is temporary weight loss through sweat. However, what about the opposite effect? Can we cool ourselves down and burn a few calories? Sounds a bit counter intuitive, how can we burn calories if we’re cold, but it actually works. Not only that, it’s one of those health tips that’s also good for your wallet, not to mention the environment. So let’s take a closer look.
How Do We Keep Warm?
Our bodies need to maintain a relatively stable temperature. We don’t like being too hot or too cold. In the case of overheating, we usually try to cool down by resting and / or sweating. However, what do our bodies do when our environment is cold? Simple, our burn calories in order to keep warm. It’s just like you throwing another log on the fire to keep warm during a cool winter night. Our bodies version of firewood is calories, and we use them up to keep those inner fires burning.
So How Do We Use This?
Simple. Whatever temperature you keep your house at, turn it down by two or three degrees. Don’t go overboard, I don’t want you getting frostbite in your own home. I also don’t want you uncomfortable and miserable. However, a small two or three degree change is almost unnoticeable by most people. Your body however will notice it and will burn more calories to keep warm. Your wallet will also notice it since heating costs tend to add up rather quickly.
Should We Keep Gyms Cold?
On a related note, someone recently asked me if working out in a cold gym was also better for burning calories. Well, not really. When you exercise, your body creates a lot of heat. So you’re going to burn a lot of calories regardless of the temperature of the gym. However, a gym which is slightly colder will help you get better performance since you lower the risk of overheating. Your body will have an easier time dumping excess heat in a cooler environment which means you’ll be able to exercise longer and harder. This is also why you shouldn’t overexercise on warm days.
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Lowering the thermostat won’t make you thin overnight. However, it can help burn an additional 20 to 30 calories a day. That’s an extra 2 to 3lbs over the span of a year. That’s not bad for an effortless and money saving change.
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One Response to “Freeze Those Calories Off”
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I like exercising outside when it’s a little cooler. The smell in the air is great, and the worry of overheating is definately not there.
Cool crisp air makes for great workouts………….:)