The dieting process can be an uncomfortable one due to hunger, and it might also give you the chills. A number of factors can affect how quickly your body creates and loses heats, causing you to feel cold while on a diet. Your change in metabolism, body composition, age and gender can all influence your perceived body temperature.
Metabolism
When dieting, you are typically restricting essential calories and nutrients. This, in turn, can slow down your body's metabolism. When you slow your metabolism, you are slowing down the rate that your body breaks down food and nutrients to create energy and heat.
Body Composition
Body fat is an insulator and plays an important role in maintaining body temperature. When dieting, you are losing fat tissue so you will become more sensitive to cold. Also, a person with more muscle mass generates more heat, so don't forget to pump some iron while dieting.
Age
If you are an older adult and dieting, you may be especially sensitive to cold. Mechanisms that help regulate body temperature, such as vasoconstriction and shivering, are mechanisms that are important for controlling body temperature, but they become less effective with age.
Gender
Gender affects sensitivity to cold since women and men tend to differ in body composition and body surface area. Women have more contours and, therefore, surface area; this encourages the loss of heat. Women also have a greater percentage of body fat and a lower percentage of muscle mass than men, which makes them more vulnerable to cold. Additionally, women are more likely to be cold during their periods due to hormonal changes. Therefore, women will experience the chills more so than men when dieting.
Keeping Warm
Layer up. Put on long underwear under your clothes, and keep outer garments like sweaters and jackets with you.
Run warm water over your hands for a couple minutes throughout the day.
Drink hot tea, coffee, hot chocolate, soup, broth, or even just warm water.
Keep dry because when you are wet you lose body heat more rapidly.
Wear a hat or scarf. This keeps your body heat from escaping from your head.
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