# Do you burn more calories exercising when it's cold than when it's warm? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 6, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034 "2002-12-06T22:24:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/1 "2002-12-06T22:24:24Z")
For example, running outside, during winter as opposed to summer. My guess would be that you do burn extra calories just to keep the body temperature up. To offset that though, maybe you sweat more in summer, so the body works harder and you burn more calories? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/2 "2002-12-06T22:31:45Z")
I’d be surprised if there’s any significant difference. ---
**Author:** ![Splanky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b2d939/32.png) [@Splanky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Splanky)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/3 "2002-12-06T23:02:25Z")
The Great One mentioned this in an article once… [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2\_313.html](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_313.html) > [@](#): > > Working out in the cold (within safe limits, of course) will burn even more fat, although curiously enough so will working out in the heat–your body uses up a lot of calories trying to keep you cool, too. It doesn’t say which burns more, but it is probably dependant on how cold/hot it is. For example, maybe you burn the same amount of calories at 120 degrees as you do at 15 degrees. I have no idea as to the real numbers though. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/4 "2002-12-06T23:05:11Z")
Thermogenesis takes energy. You can get an idea of how much by comparing the calorie count of the military’s cold and warm weather rations. It looks like cold weather activities require an extra ~1500 calories a day. > [@](#): > > A day’s worth of military issue cold weather rations is designed to provide 4500 calories. [http://www.usariem.army.mil/nutri/nuadcold.htm](http://www.usariem.army.mil/nutri/nuadcold.htm) > [@](#): > > Four standard MREs per day must be eaten to supply a soldier the necessary calories during cold weather, if no other rations are provided. [http://www.hooah4health.com/environment/cold/cwofoodwater.htm](http://www.hooah4health.com/environment/cold/cwofoodwater.htm) > [@](#): > > To support the revised feeding policy of three quality meals per day… > Other individual rations in our existing “family of rations” include the Ration Cold Weather (RCW) and the Ration, Lightweight 30-Day (RLW-30). The RCW, a unique individual ration for arctic environments, consists of six menus with entrees, snacks and numerous hot drinks. The RCW requires little preparation. The ration, lighter and smaller than three MREs, contains approximately 4,500 calories per daily ration menu. > > The RLW-30 is a lightweight, calorie-dense ration designed for the Special Operations Forces. The ration consists of dehydrated components and may be eaten as is or with minimum preparation by the soldier. The RLW-30 weighs less than one pound and contains approximately 2,100 calories per daily menu ration. The ration is made up of six different menus. [http://www.qmfound.com/army\_family\_of\_rations.htm](http://www.qmfound.com/army_family_of_rations.htm) ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/5 "2002-12-06T23:14:18Z")
I surf in water that’s about 53 deg. I always thought I used more energy trying to stay warm. This is because cold water is supposed to take heat from your body at ten times the rate of cold air, so you have to keep swimming to create heat & stay warm. In hot weather, you can stay calm & be warm. Seems to me, therefore you need more energy in cold weather. ---
**Author:** ![Superspy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/22d042/32.png) [@Superspy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superspy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/6 "2002-12-06T23:41:34Z")
Well I must start this post by saying that I haven’t read the links in the above statements, so this will be purely my opinion. It seems like when it’s cold out, the body would be trying to get warm. By excercising, you are _helping_ the body to get warm. This seems as if it would make it easier for the body to get warm. Vice versa, in the heat, the body is trying to get cooler. By excercising, you are getting it hotter and hotter, _making it harder_ for the body to reach the desired temperature. I would think that it would take more calories to perform the harder task, and therefore would burn more calories in the heat. Just my opinion though 😉 ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-burn-more-calories-exercising-when-its-cold-than-when-its-warm/141034/7 "2002-12-06T23:58:57Z")
I did a bit more searching, and found the following on [http://www.naturalstrength.com/nutrition/detail.asp?ArticleID=227](http://www.naturalstrength.com/nutrition/detail.asp?ArticleID=227) Of course, I’ve no idea what the credentials of this site are. > [@](#): > > Do I burn off more calories exercising in the cold? > Cold weather itself does not increase calorie needs. (And remember: the weather can actually be tropical inside your ski outfit or running suit!) Your body does use a considerable amount of energy to warm and humidify the air you breathe when you exercise in the cold. (For example, if you were to burn 600 calories while cross-country skiing for an hour in 0 degree weather, you may use an estimated 23 percent of those calories to warm the inspired air.) But you use the heat you generate with exercise to warm the air you breathe and prevent your lungs from getting chilled. Hence, you might not sweat as much. But, you don’t burn extra calories–unless your body temperature drops and you start to shiver. In the summer, you would have dissipated this heat via sweat. > You may, however, burn off a few more calories to carry extra clothing. Athletes who lug around heavy clothing and sports equipment–skis and ski boots, heavy parkas, snow shoes–do burn more calories. For example, the Army allows 10% more calories for the heavily clad troops who exercise in the cold. But winter runners or race walkers generally wear minimal heavy clothing… > &nbps; If you are too scantily clad (or have little body fat) and your body becomes chilled, you will need more calories to stay warm. For example, scantily clad research subjects who exercised in the cold (14 degrees F) burned 13% more calories than when they performed the same exercise at room temperature–about 450 vs 400 calsories per hour.