Using temperature to increase your caloric expenditure can be beneficial. If you are cold and shivering, you can take encouragement from the fact that you are burning extra calories while trying to stay warm. The more you shiver, the more you burn.
Considerations
Shivering is your body's warming mechanism. Calories burned due to cold are based on the energy that you use during this warming process. Exercising in cold weather does not necessarily promote extra caloric expenditure, however, because your activity raises your body temperature.
Time Frame
The amount of time spent trying to warm up has a direct impact on the number of calories burned. According to the American Council On Exercise, you may burn about 400 calories an hour from shivering, depending on the temperature and the heaviness of your clothing.
Fun Fact
You actually burn more calories exercising in heat -- as your body tries to cool down -- than you do exercising in cold.
Member Comments