cardio in the cold = more calories burned?

[Titan]

It was -1F when I walked to work today 10 minutes while my jeep is in the shop. Winter has finally arrived in Vermont. So I was thinking about this on my walk.

You burn more calories in the cold, right? I think that's the case, as your body needs to expend more energy to maintain your body temperature. Just wanted to get that out of the way first. I remember watching an episode of survivor man where he was saying how he was burning like 5 or 7 thousand calories a day in the canadian tundra.

My real question is how does sub-freezing temperatures affect the body from a fitness perspective? Does your body metabolize more fat or muscle?

I'm a native VTer and I love the cold. Being fat gives me some natural insulation, and I adjust really well in it. I don't bundle up as much as other people because I can take it. So I'll use myself as an example for this question.

A couple years ago I used to hike a hill in my town. And by hill I mean sub-mountain. Up and down was a 5 mile total loop with a 500 foot elevatiion change going up. The roads up and down it were very steep to make for a good workout. Using hiking poles, I would wear just boots, gloves, t-shirt, sweat shirt and pants, and a pack for water. No hat, but I have long hair tied back and was sporting a massive beard then.

I remember actually having icicles hanging from the ends of my mustache, still after 90 minutes of hiking and being warmed up sweating, the icicles remained. Most days the temperature was between 10 and 20 F. I went at a good pace, my HR was probably around 150-160 constantly without stopping. I would break a light sweat after maybe 20 minutes, if it was hotter out I would be soaked and overheated. I weighed about 320 pounds at the time, but the hiking poles helped make it a total body workout. I didn't actually lose much weight then, but doing this 2-3 times a week for a month really shaped me up and I looked a lot slimmer. I don't get sick doing this, you just use your body's natural systems of snot and breathing through your nose to warm the air up as you breathe.

So now, a couple years since I did this, and I know more about fitness, I have some questions. Extended cardio makes your body metabolize your muscle after it depletes your glycogen stores, right? So what does the cold do, make me burn more fat, glycogen or muscle?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Yes, you burn more calories in the cold. The body wastes calories to produce heat and produces shivering. But the environment doesn't dictate what nutrients you burn for energy. If you are at low intensities of exercise (0-45% VO2 max), you will burn fat predominantly. If you are at moderate intensities (45-65% VO2 max), you will burn about equal parts. If you do higher intensity exercise (70%+ VO2 max), you will burn more carbohydrates, until you burn nothing but carbohydrates.

However, if you burn more fat, that doesn't necessarily mean you're getting leaner. It all depends on overall calorie intake. For example, if you do a high intensity workout, you'll burn a ton of plasma glucose and glycogen. Since the body has decreased amounts of glycogen to utilize for energy after exercise, it will turn toward fat to sustain the individual. If you are under caloric maintenance, you will lose fat and some muscle (used to produce glucose through gluconeogenesis).

This is why exercise machines are wrong. They have a "fat burn" zone and a "cardio" zone, with the fat burn zone being at a lower intensity. It's true that the body utilizes both free fatty acids and fat stores to make energy at low intensities, but the overall caloric intake is what matters most. For example, think of sprinters. They practically only work in the anaerobic spectrum, at very, very high intensities. Because of this, they dominantly burn carbs for energy. However, they are some of the leanest athletes around.

Working out in the cold is fine if you want to do it and yes, you will burn more calories. But just keep in mind that the same metabolic rules work in cold as they do in normal weather - if you drop your calories too much, you'll put your body into starvation or you'll just start wasting your muscle. Good question though, Titan.

 

[PingSpike]

The trouble with really exerting yourself in the cold is you get the frozen lungs thing going on. That shit sucks. That and I always wonder what possesses people to go for a jog on an ice covered roadway or sidewalk. I thought you were jogging for better health, not to break a wrist.

 

[kamper]

The trouble with really exerting yourself in the cold is you get the frozen lungs thing going on. That shit sucks. That and I always wonder what possesses people to go for a jog on an ice covered roadway or sidewalk. I thought you were jogging for better health, not to break a wrist.

Takes one or two decent runs to get over the breathing, then it's usually fine as long as you run regularly.

Ice is a problem. Ice and frozen lips

 

[darkxshade]

I'm considering trying outdoor running in the cold this winter but am unsure of proper amount of clothing I should wear since I've never done this. I bought some under armour coldgear for snowboarding trips but no idea what if anything I should be wearing over it. Any help appreciated. I don't plan on running anything under 30ish if this helps.

 

[Capt Caveman]

I'm considering trying outdoor running in the cold this winter but am unsure of proper amount of clothing I should wear since I've never done this. I bought some under armour coldgear for snowboarding trips but no idea what if anything I should be wearing over it. Any help appreciated. I don't plan on running anything under 30ish if this helps.

This thread has some good suggestions - http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=249893&highlight=clothing

I run year round outside. I would commit suicide running on a treadmill.

I ran lastnight when it was 15F. It was cold at first but half-way thru my run, I was quite comfortable.

For icing roads, there are accessories with cleats/spikes that you can put on your running shoes.

 

[Titan]

10 years ago I used to run to school every day, it was often below freezing. I only wore gloves and a sweatshirt. I highly recommend gloves for any cold weather runners.

My advice is to not spit phlegm out. I think it helps heat the cold air as you breathe it in through your mouth. Even if you have a lot of it. If you breathe through your nose, let the snot heat it up. it is disgusting, but it works.

I should dig out my journal entry for this. The coldest day I ran was 10 degrees F. I didn't feel 1 drop of sweat on my head until the 7 minute mark. At the 12 minute mark I felt drop number 2. At 20 minutes I was at school, and sweating normally. Steam rising off me and frost had accumulated on the front of my sweatshirt. I used to run on a main road with cars passing by too, for added wind. My head was a snotty mess, but I spit it out in the shower and I was fine.

Your body will heat up in the cold, it just takes longer. You just have to have gloves in the cold, to keep your circulation fine or your hands would freeze.

Though the 10 degree day was the coldest temp. The coldest my hands got was when I ran without my gloves in a rainstorm, and it was 45 degrees out. My hands were so numb after 20 minutes of running in that - I cold barely unclench my fists.

 

[kamper]

I'm considering trying outdoor running in the cold this winter but am unsure of proper amount of clothing I should wear since I've never done this. I bought some under armour coldgear for snowboarding trips but no idea what if anything I should be wearing over it. Any help appreciated. I don't plan on running anything under 30ish if this helps.

Last night I went for an hour run at about 15F. I wore thin underarmour pants, an underarmour long sleeve shirt, one technical t-shirt, a track jacket with a thin cotton liner, thin cotton gloves and an underarmour-like tuque. I was sweating quite a bit and I could probably run in this outfit down to nearly 0F.

I'll generally do shorts and a few layers of shirts down to freezing. All you need is a sweat wicking layer and a wind breaking layer if it's windy and you'll be just fine as long as you keep moving. Try to stay away from cotton if you can, and keep it farther from your skin.

Edit: Titan's right about the gloves. I find my hands are the hardest to keep comfy. Gloves too warm and you're sweating and itchy, too cold and well... If you snowboard though, you probably know how to keep your hands warm.

 

[darkxshade]

Well I doubt my snowboarding gloves will be efficient for running as they are thick and warm as hell... too warm for running in fact. I think the silk glove liner[that I wear with my snowboarding gloves] should be pretty decent. Thanks for the advice... I'll give my under-armour coldgear + an arc'teryx gore-tex SL(super light) jacket a shot which I also use for snowboarding.

How about the face? I know I should also wear a hat but I was wondering if I should wear a neck-gaiter/ski-mask. I got this too for snowboarding and thought it might help protect my face from the wind/cold air?

http://www.amazon.com/Under-Armour-C.../dp/B000LHBE7A

 

[kamper]

I generally don't put much on my face because I find it hard to keep in place and I hate having stuff over my mouth. If it's really cold, I'll put on a balaclava that's the same material as my hat, but for the most part, I just deal with it. Running facing into the sun makes a surprisingly large difference, although of course you can only do that half the time at best

 

[Titan]

Yes, you burn more calories in the cold. The body wastes calories to produce heat and produces shivering. But the environment doesn't dictate what nutrients you burn for energy. If you are at low intensities of exercise (0-45% VO2 max), you will burn fat predominantly. If you are at moderate intensities (45-65% VO2 max), you will burn about equal parts. If you do higher intensity exercise (70%+ VO2 max), you will burn more carbohydrates, until you burn nothing but carbohydrates.
... SNIP

Very good answer, SC. But what if you don't shiver? I mean I am warmed up after a hike, parts of me are cold to the touch, but I'm not shivering.

I was just curious if there are studies and formulas that support this. I was wondering if there was a formula given the ambient temperature how many more calories you would burn. I mean, from what I remember in basic college chem, a calorie is a certain amount of energy that it takes to raise water 1 degree, right? So it would make sense that if you were resting at 90 degrees versus 60 degrees, you would burn less calories.

From some quick googling I saw some claims that actually you burn less calories in the cold because your body doesn't need to circulate blood to your surface and sweat as much, so it takes less energy to cool you. I would think heating the cold air up would be enough to burn more.

Runners are pretty lean yes, but they also don't have a lot of muscle. I don't want to look like a runner. I'm a big guy and always will be. My personal goal is to run a caloric deficit on diet, and keep as much muscle as possible. As using and building that muscle keeps my metabolism up. So I am weight training and stretching a lot, it's working great with my diet. And I have found that keeping my HR at 130 for an hour in the "fat burn zone" is very good for my mental health - I think because I get enough oxygen in my body. But I know if I hike in the cold, to get my body warm my HR will have to be at least 150. You think I would burn more muscle this way? I normally replenish protein after such a workout.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Very good answer, SC. But what if you don't shiver? I mean I am warmed up after a hike, parts of me are cold to the touch, but I'm not shivering.

I was just curious if there are studies and formulas that support this. I was wondering if there was a formula given the ambient temperature how many more calories you would burn. I mean, from what I remember in basic college chem, a calorie is a certain amount of energy that it takes to raise water 1 degree, right? So it would make sense that if you were resting at 90 degrees versus 60 degrees, you would burn less calories.

From some quick googling I saw some claims that actually you burn less calories in the cold because your body doesn't need to circulate blood to your surface and sweat as much, so it takes less energy to cool you. I would think heating the cold air up would be enough to burn more.

Runners are pretty lean yes, but they also don't have a lot of muscle. I don't want to look like a runner. I'm a big guy and always will be. My personal goal is to run a caloric deficit on diet, and keep as much muscle as possible. As using and building that muscle keeps my metabolism up. So I am weight training and stretching a lot, it's working great with my diet. And I have found that keeping my HR at 130 for an hour in the "fat burn zone" is very good for my mental health - I think because I get enough oxygen in my body. But I know if I hike in the cold, to get my body warm my HR will have to be at least 150. You think I would burn more muscle this way? I normally replenish protein after such a workout.

You can't really apply a calculation to generalize everybody's metabolic activity. Some people run at a higher or lower core temperature. Some people burn more calories in certain situations. Shivering is actually the secondary mechanism for controlling heat loss. The first is called vasomotion. You do that in both cold and hot situations - your body allocates blood to the skin in the heat, but actively rerouted it to deep veins when it wants to avoid giving off heat. I would imagine the calories burnt there are similar since they're both active methods. You burn calories to both heat and cool yourself. BUT people who live in the equator do not burn 5k-7k calories like the eskimos do. I would definitely say cold conditions induces an increased metabolism compared to hot conditions.

I was actually talking about sprinters. Sprinters are very, very lean and have tons of muscle so my argument still stands. For example:

Yes, endurance cardio releases greater endorphins, but working out at higher intensities has both greater health benefits and greater fitness benefits. I think you should definitely vary the intensities of your sessions. However, if you just do longer stuff, you may get in the habit of docking down your muscle each day. I can't really say how much muscle is lost, as it is different for everyone. Some people actually don't lose muscle at all, while others will shrink 10% in a month from long steady state cardio. To be perfectly honest though, unless you're doing a very long cardio session, I wouldn't be worried about muscle wasting (if you're still lifting and if you get a protein shake right after). By the way, where did you get the idea that sprinters don't have a lot of muscle? They are some of the most muscular athletes around.

 

[Titan]

By the way, where did you get the idea that sprinters don't have a lot of muscle? They are some of the most muscular athletes around.

I wasn't thinking, you're right. Sprinter is like football player, running back. I gotcha. I was thinking like marathoners. They are skinny if my brain is still working. That's what I meant.

I tend to do the cardio once or twice a week, like 1 hour at 130HR, then it's 8 1-hour sessions a week, half the time spent stretching, the rest lifting. Now that my legs have gotten stronger from doing squats I hardly beak a sweat doing my cardio but it still feels good, I have less anxiety after it. Keeping stress and cortisol levels down I believe has assisted with my weight loss.

I am actually pretty fast when I want to be. I maybe will find a track and get into sprinting at some point. I was just trying to incorporate the cold hiking, maybe snowshoeing on my back yard hill for 20 minutes, into my workout paradigm.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I wasn't thinking, you're right. Sprinter is like football player, running back. I gotcha. I was thinking like marathoners. They are skinny if my brain is still working. That's what I meant.

I tend to do the cardio once or twice a week, like 1 hour at 130HR, then it's 8 1-hour sessions a week, half the time spent stretching, the rest lifting. Now that my legs have gotten stronger from doing squats I hardly beak a sweat doing my cardio but it still feels good, I have less anxiety after it. Keeping stress and cortisol levels down I believe has assisted with my weight loss.

I am actually pretty fast when I want to be. I maybe will find a track and get into sprinting at some point. I was just trying to incorporate the cold hiking, maybe snowshoeing on my back yard hill for 20 minutes, into my workout paradigm.

You definitely can incorporate that type of stuff. It'll help you burn some calories and stay healthy. If you're lifting and you can get your protein soon after, you'll be a-okay. But yeah, I'd definitely mix it up a bit with some faster stuff once a week or so.

 

[darkxshade]

Personally I think you burn more calories in the cold based on the assumption that in the heat, your body only uses energy to move/sweat water(which already exists inside you) to the outside to keep core temps down. In the cold, your body however actually has to burn energy to create heat to fight the external cold while at the same time also sweat to keep core temps down.

To put it into perspective, you probably burn more calories in the cold than in the heat but you lose more weight in the heat than in the cold since you shed more water. Personally, I'd rather burn more calories than to lose more "weight".

 

[ciba]

Instead of worrying about what temperature it is outside, if you want to maximize thermal impact during cardio, wouldn't it make more sense to swim? The thermal conductivity of water is what? Twenty five times that of air?

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Instead of worrying about what temperature it is outside, if you want to maximize thermal impact during cardio, wouldn't it make more sense to swim? The thermal conductivity of water is what? Twenty five times that of air?

Yeah, there's a negative aspects to that - water is so efficient at removing heat that you can become hypothermic pretty quick. Heated pools, which would really be the only safe place to swim, would burn fewer calories than activity done in cold air.