Do you burn more calories when running in extremely cold weather?

Hello! I read a few articles, and next to me there is a stadium, a friend is running in a warm jacket in winter to keep him hot and sweat. But he has already fallen ill twice because of it. I don't think it's a good decision.

Well not if he gets really cold after and he is soaked in sweat and gets chilled, which can than increase the risk of him getting unwell.

You burn WAY more calories in extreme cold, whether you're running or sitting still, or skiing, or pulling a dog sled, or sitting on a dog sled and the dogs are pulling it.

You burn so many calories that extreme explorers of the Antarctic and Arctic invented special high-fat chocolate so they could haul enough food to eat 7000 calories a day. And that wasn't counting the fact they were going to eat the dogs too! And even after they ate the dogs, some of them still didn't make it.

Legend has it Amundsen passed the dead body of Scott and ate it or he wouldn't have made it back from the South Pole either.

At least some of this is true.

Jack Daniel's solved this question long ago.

He said that air temperature itself has no effect on calories burned. But he said that in colder temperatures, running economy drops, because of heavy clothing for example (cap+gloves+multiple layers/jacket+tights). So you need more oxygen to run at any given pace.

So because you are not as efficient as in normal weather with a singlet, you will burn MORE calories in cold weather to run your standard 7 min mile easy pace.

The same can be observed in heat. If it's so hot that you feel bad and your form/technique breaks down, you also burn more calories. However, if pace also drops, you burn less calories because of the slower pace, so it actually evens out in the heat.

But the important thing is, if running economy is not affected, you burn the same whether it's cold, normal, or hot temperature.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Jack Daniel's solved this question long ago.

He said that air temperature itself has no effect on calories burned.

Then he was wrong.

Bad Wigins wrote:

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Jack Daniel's solved this question long ago.

He said that air temperature itself has no effect on calories burned.

Then he was wrong.

Jack has a PHD in exercise physiology and is one of the most reputable coaches, what are you?

You are right about people eating more in cold environments, but that's because the bodies want to feel warm. Not because more calories are burned in running! Otherwise people would not gain weight, but they do gain weight in the winter like you said yourself.

I don't really see how Jack Daniels can be right about this given the effects of heat stress.

For example, if someone goes for a run and is is perfect, 15C.

Someone else goes for a run in Bahrain and it is 45C (I have run in these conditions).

Your body is put under so much stress in terms of trying to regulate it most definitely uses more energy.

LateRunnerPhil wrote:

Jack has a PHD in exercise physiology and is one of the most reputable coaches, what are you?

Educated in the laws of thermodynamics.

In a colder ambient temperature, it takes more energy to maintain body temperature, because heat escapes the body faster.

Either prove me wrong, or bow down and admit your precious Jack is wrong, Ph.D. and all.

And do try not to get mad, eh? Being right isn't everything.

well from my limited bio knowledge you need more energy to run in the cold to keep your body warm since humans are endotherms. you need more ATP for warmth so cellular respiration rate is increased, so you consume more glucose and oxygen

Bad Wigins wrote:

Educated in the laws of thermodynamics.

In a colder ambient temperature, it takes more energy to maintain body temperature, because heat escapes the body faster.

But not sufficiently educated in exercise science.

There are three factors in play:

1) Insulation. As others have pointed out, excess clothing will slow you down. The OP's question didn't clarify whether we assume that the runner is appropriately dressed. In general, the amount of clothing necessary to stay warm when running is pretty minimal. Tights, a long underwear top, and a windbreaker weigh very little. We're looking at a slight difference here.

2) Heat produced by exercise. This is more than sufficient to keep the body worn, when combined with a little insulation. You can easily work up a sweat in sub-zero temperatures. Generally, runners try to avoid sweating a lot, but I've never finished a winter run without at least some damp spots. If you're sweating, then you are overheating. Incidentally, your calorie burn increases when your body has to cool itself by sweating and by diverting blood to surface tissues.

3) Heat produced simply to maintain body temperature. This DOES NOT HAPPEN during normal exercise. Even when not exercising, your body's capacity here is pretty limited. You can shiver, which is essentially just exercising for the purpose of producing heat. Or you can metabolize brown fat. That produces a small amount of heat, and a very low calorie burn overall. But it doesn't happen until you FEEL quite cold. If you're metabolizing brown fat and shivering while running, you're not having a normal run. You're going to be falling apart, and you're probably going to need medical attention before long.

p.s. I'm excluding BMR from this discussion. Lots of people run slower in cold weather (for various reasons including motivation), and your total calorie burn is obviously higher when you run slow if you take BMR into account, which you shouldn't.

Bad Wigins wrote:

And do try not to get mad, eh? Being right isn't everything.

Bwhahahahaah!!!! you better hope not!

Aren't you the 2,600 guy?

The guy that said there was NO WAY Biden could win Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan or Pennsylvania?

Do you even look at charts?

Try not to get mad eh? Being right isn't everything.

800 dude wrote:

p.s. I'm excluding BMR from this discussion. Lots of people run slower in cold weather (for various reasons including motivation), and your total calorie burn is obviously higher when you run slow if you take BMR into account, which you shouldn't.

Huh?

Run a 5k in minus 40 windchill wearing the lightest cold weather clothing. Your time will be compromised considerably.

You will burn a lot more calories than perfect weather conditions.