Hungrier? Exercising in much colder temperatures

[shootingstar]

This has happened several times this winter: I seem to get hungrier faster when I exercise outdoors in fairly cold winter temperatures. ie. temp. colder than minus -18 degrees C. Whether it's cycling, snowshoeing or simply hiking for a few hrs.

Yesterday we hiked in a park for only 7 km. in fresh snow 20 cms. deep @ temp. -23 degrees C. We were famished but discovered a nice restaurant in the park was closed for lunch. By the time we found store, I gobbled up a chococlate cookie within 2 minutes.

I'm beginning to believe that exercise in quite cold winter temperatures, simply burns off abit more calories....even simply by just standing around for half an hr. Wonder if someone has done a study on this..

[lph]

Yup, I think it's pretty well established that cold surroundings cause your body to burn more calories to keep warm. I don't think you can completely compensate by dressing more warmly, and even then the extra clothing alone makes it a bit more of an effort to move. And there's only so much you can do to warm up cold air entering your lungs anyway. I'm not sure how much of it is automatic, and how much of it is simply the cold stimulating you to move more, though.

[Melalvai]

I wonder if it's not just your body burning more calories, but maybe the cold air stimulates hormone production and appetite increase independent of calories burned. It would make sense that we should have an instinct to consume more calories in cold weather, both to compensate for the increased energy expenditure and to increase insulation.

[Eden]

I read an interesting study that was pretty conclusive that you *do not* burn significantly more calories when it is cold, but cold does affect your appetite. If I'm remembering correctly cold doesn't stimulate hormone production that increases appetite, but rather decreases the effectiveness of hormones that suppress appetite.

The study was done by having people exercise in a cold pool or in a warm room. After exercise both groups were offered a selection of snacks. The cold pool group, I think, may have burned slightly more (I don't totally recall), but they also consumed more than the warm room group - significantly more, and definitely more that would have simply offset any additional calories expended by being cold.

Moral of the story was... watch your eating after exercising in the cold -you will feel more hungry than you really are!

I'll see if I can find the actual study. It was some time ago and I had I think, a PDF copy. I haven't been able to find it out on the web... It was quite interesting.

[shootingstar]

Would be useful Eden. Of course, the temperatures we were very cold (it is close to frostbitten face warning situation) vs. what someone living in Florida experiencing just freezing temp.

Or maybe a person' body acclimatizes over the years in northern climates, that their body would burn calories more slowly to "conserve"....similar to body adjusting to less food in general during periods of near starvation??

Nevertheless it nearly scared me on 2 separate occasions: Yesterday and last weekend I knew I couldn't cycle an extra 5 km. after a 30 km. ride in -15 degrees C weather...I desperately needed some food energy. Just a small amount of food, that's all. In the summer I wouldn't be hankering for food in this way.

[zoom-zoom]

Nevertheless it nearly scared me on 2 separate occasions: Yesterday and last weekend I knew I couldn't cycle an extra 5 km. after a 30 km. ride in -15 degrees C weather...I desperately needed some food energy. Just a small amount of food, that's all. In the summer I wouldn't be hankering for food in this way.

Sounds like reactive hypoglycemia, to me. It's one reason I do really well on low carb diets. High carb = incredible blood sugar yo-yos and irrational hunger.

[PamNY]

I always feel like I burn a lot more calories in the cold. The first winter I cycled a lot, my weight dropped and I had to force myself to eat more.

There could have been other variables, and I didn't keep track of mileage. It's possible I traveled farther when I wasn't stopping to watch birds, chat with friends, etc.

[Crankin]

Although my appetite does increase from long, hard rides in the warm weather, I do notice this much more at this time of year. Last Saturday, I did a measly 8-10K x country skiing, and maybe another 8K of snow shoeing. I was famished the rest of the day, despite eating a sandwich for lunch and a Luna Bar. I tried fighting it, but did succumb to a couple of healthier type snacks.
Perhaps this is why my weight is up a little. I am ravenously hungry...