How is this possible? Let’s talk about your house for a minute, more specifically the thermostat in your house. Let’s say it’s the winter and you set your thermostat at 80 degrees. It’s only 30 degrees outside. What happens when the temperature inside your house drops below 80 degrees? The heater in your house kicks on to get the temperature back up to 80 degrees, right?
Well your body is an amazing machine. Your body’s “thermostat” wants to be about 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit. What does all this have to do with burning calories without exercising? What would happen if you walked out of your 80 degree house and into the 30 degree outside without putting a coat on? You would get cold right?
The cold weather was start lowering your body temperature and remember, your body wants to be as close to 98.6 degree Fahrenheit at all time. As your body temperature drops below 98.6 degrees your body kicks on the heater to warm the body back up to 98.6 degrees and this warming the body up is achieved by burning calories, it’s called thermogenesis.
Now, it does get a lot more scientific than that. We would need to talk about brown adipose fat, Uncoupling Protein-1, and the production of ATP which then allows energy to be dissipated as heat. So, to burn calories without any exercise we are going to do something called Cold Thermogenesis.
Frequent exposure to cold will cause the body to burn calories to produce heat in order to maintain the body’s temperature at 98.6 degrees. There are a lot of ways we can do this. I don’t recommend you jump right in ice baths, you could if you wanted to, but I recommend you gradually expose your body to the cold. Exposing your body to cold water works better than cold air, but every bit counts.
Here are some suggestions of how to use Cold Thermogenesis to cause your body to burn calories.
Drink cold water.
Ice water on face (in sink, 30-60 second dunks for 10 min)
Take walks outside when it is cold.
Drive your car with the air conditioning on high.
Start taking cold showers and then work up to soaking in the bath tub with cold water then add ice to the water.
Full body immersion in cold pools or lakes.
Put ice packs on you chest and upper back.
Workout or do your exercise sessions in cold weather when possible.
If you have been try to lose weight, but have been stuck at a plateau, try adding some cold thermogenesis into your daily activities to burn off a few extra calories. Instead of gaining weight this holiday season, try burning off a few extra calories by giving cold thermogenesis a try.
Dr Jeff Banas Photo Dr. Jeff Banas personally lost over 60 pounds and now helps others lose weight also. Dr. Banas is also a Certified Chiropractic Sports Physician, a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specailist and an Ironman Triathlon Finisher. Dr. Banas coaches people from all over the world using cutting edge training an nutrition protocols, everything someone just looking to lose a few pounds, to Ironman triathletes. For more information about Dr. Jeff Banas, go to http://www.DrJeffBanas.com. Call or email at 480-633-6837 drjeff@fatmantoironman.com
