Cold temperatures appear to increase energy-burning brown fat.
Could exercising in the cold help you burn fat? Today we look at the relationship between temperature during exercise and weight loss.
I live in Seattle, where it got down to around 32 degrees Fahrenheit this morning. It might just be the time for me to go out and get a bit of exercise. You may be thinking I am too much into physical activity, but hold on a minute. A new research study from the American Physiological Society adds to a growing body of literature, pointing to cold temperatures facilitating more fat burning (compared to the same exercise in a so-called thermoneutral space).
Researchers recruited overweight (but moderately fit) volunteers. They tasked the subjects with two weekly high-intensity exercise sessions involving ten minutes of cycling at 90 percent of their maximum effort.
After each cycling sprint session, the participants cooled down for 90 seconds by cycling at only 30 percent of their maximum effort. The researchers introduced the important variable: They had subjects do one session at a warm 70 degrees F and another at a cold 32 degrees F.
Here are the research findings about cold and the potential for weight loss:
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