Cold weather makes us lazy with outdoor activities. But if you diligently exercise outdoors in the cold season, it will help you lose weight better.
Winter weight gain is real because a number of factors are more likely this season, including cravings, hormonal changes, mood swings, and lack of physical activity.
Weather greatly affects our daily living habits. In particular, it makes us feel less active. Because of that, losing weight in the cold season is also more difficult and maintaining a reasonable weight is equally challenging.
The good news is that if you try to overcome these barriers to exercising outdoors in cold weather, you will lose weight more effectively.
We all know exercise burns more calories and accelerates weight loss. But with the sharp drop in temperature in winter, we all become lazy, just like to curl up in a warm blanket. What few people know is that exercising in the cold will burn more calories than exercising in warm temperatures. It means you’ll gain more by spending less time outdoors in the cold.
* Why does the body burn more calories when exercising outside in the cold?
In a study conducted on 53 volunteers including both men and women, the results showed that exercising in cold weather burns more calories due to thermogenesis. The team found that participants in the National Outdoor Leadership School program in Wyoming (USA) burned 34% more calories while hiking in 14-23 degrees Celsius than in warmer temperatures.
Specifically, men burned 4,787 calories per day while hiking in the cold winter, while in the spring they burned only 3,822 calories. In addition, women burned 3,880 calories in the winter compared to 3,081 in the spring.
The conclusion was that the participants lost more weight in the winter program than in the spring program, according to the Times of India.
* Why does exercise outside in the cold lose weight faster?
When the temperature drops, our body has to produce more heat to stay warm. That means it has to expend more calories to work.
But for thermogenesis to work properly, you need to feel a bit cold when you exercise. Wearing thick clothes that warm your body when it’s cold outside will not help you.
Another thing that you need to be careful about is your post-exercise snack. Exercising in the cold can make you feel hungry and eat more calories. This very easily destroys all your training efforts and weight loss goals.
So, make sure you have a good control of your daily calorie intake, not exceeding the recommended amount.
* Other ways to lose weight in cold weather.
Not only exercising outside in the cold, some activities in the cold winter can also help you burn a certain number of calories. For example, sleeping in a cold room. Cold weather can increase brown fat in the body, a substance that produces 300 times more heat than any other tissue in the body and can help burn several hundred calories a day.
According to another study conducted by Dr. Paul Lee, a scientist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney (Australia), sleeping in a cold room with a temperature of about 19 degrees Celsius can increase brown fat mass. of the body up to 42% and metabolic activity up to 10%. The study concluded that even shivering for about 15 minutes can burn up to 100 calories.
So, if you are trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight during winter, don’t be afraid of the cold weather but enjoy this time outdoors.
