Does Working Out in the Cold Really Burn More Calories?

When looking to maximize calorie burn, your best bet is to go for intensity.
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When you head out the door for a cold-weather workout, you may be wondering if your body is working harder as it tries to stay warm. You're sweating less than you would during the summer months, but depending on the temperature, you may be shivering, and that has to burn loads of calories, right?

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To a degree, says Zac Schlader, PhD, associate professor in the department of kinesiology at Indiana University and a fellow for the American College of Sports Medicine. The big question is how cold it is, Schlader says.


"When we think of working out in cold weather, we wear a lot of clothes, and our skin gets cold, but as we start to exercise we ultimately get warm," he says, explaining that sweat gets trapped in clothing.

In this situation, what happens to the body isn't much different from exercising in cooler temps, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. Sure, your skin will be a little colder at first, but you'll be able to produce enough heat with exercise so you're not becoming hypothermic — a decrease in core body temperature.

The exception, Schalder says, is when you start exercising in very cold weather, like 20 degrees Fahrenheit, in shorts and a T-shirt. That's when you might start to burn calories trying to stay warm, in addition to calories burned from exercise.


"The amount of heat you generate with exercise may not be enough to maintain your body temperature," he says. "In that case, there would be different physiological responses."


Exposing yourself to the extreme cold when not properly dressed could lead to hypothermia and frostbite. So if you're working out in the cold, make sure to wear appropriately warm layers, including a beanie and gloves.

Read more: How to Stay Motivated to Work Out When It's Cold, Dark and Miserable

How Shivering Burns Calories

One way your body tries to maintain its core temperature is to warm itself up is through shivering — whether that's while sitting at a bus stop or when you're logging miles in subzero temps.


"Shivering is analogous to sweating in the heat," Schlader says. "You sweat to get rid of heat and you shiver to generate heat." But while sweating doesn't burn calories, shivering does.

It's hard to say exactly how many calories shivering burns, but a 2014 study published in Cell Metabolism suggests that shivering for 10 to 15 minutes may be comparable to an hour of moderate exercise. But, Schlader points out, just being cold isn't a reliable method of calorie burn for weight loss. Plus, he says, "shivering is really uncomfortable."


Read more: 10-Minute Total-Body Workout You Can Do at Home All Winter

Brown Fat Also Affects Calorie Burn

Until recently, it was thought that only small rodents and human babies had brown adipose tissue — brown fat — which can help the body stay warm without shivering. But now, Schlader says, it's clear that adults have brown fat, too, and it's proving to be an effective way to keep the body warm.

Research has shown that cold temperatures activate the body's brown fat stores, which generate heat without having to do any additional work, Schlader says. "The beauty of it is you can increase heat production without feeling miserable [from shivering]," he says.

So how many calories does brown fat burn when it's trying to warm you up? "That's the million-dollar question," Schlader says.

The amount of extra calories burned through brown fat activation or shivering, Schlader says, is not astronomically high. "If you go out for a 30- to 45-minute run, I don't think we're talking about more than 100-calorie difference," he says. "I wouldn't say, oh good, you can eat that extra cheeseburger."

And let's say it's so cold that you cut your four-mile run down to three miles. You'd burn more calories from running a fourth mile than from your body trying to warm itself up.

To date, studies looking at whether brown fat activation alone is an effective tool for weight loss seem to have come up short, Schlader says. "If you go outside without any clothes on and just stand there in 40 degrees for four hours [definitely not adviseable!], will you burn more calorie than sitting inside? The answer is yes. The body has to produce heat. But if I were to exercise inside versus going outside, dressed appropriately, the evidence suggests I wouldn't be burning more calories in the cold," Schalder says.

In other words, yes, working out in the cold burns calories, but not necessarily more than in other conditions. Again, the exception is if you're not properly dressed to work out in the cold.

"If you're not wearing enough clothes, your body increases heat production, and that extra heat has to be coming from somewhere," Schlader says, and that's from either brown fat activation or shivering.

Acclimating to Cold Weather

Just like you can train your body and your mind to get stronger, you may be able to "train" your body's brown fat stores to get better at creating heat, thus burning calories, by exposing yourself to cold weather.

A very small — only six subjects — 2014 study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that four weeks of cold exposure resulted in a 45-percent increase of brown fat volume of activity. And a 2013 study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation also found that frequent cold exposure could be an effective way to increase brown fat activity and subsequent calorie burn.

But more research is needed when it comes to brown fat and calorie burn, Schlader says. "The investigation into brown fat is really interesting, but it's pretty early as far as understanding the importance of these changes being observed."

For example, much of what's been observed when it comes to cold temperatures activating brown fat is at a very mechanistic molecular level, and hasn't been translated to a whole-body level, yet. "That doesn't mean it won't, but we're just at the tip of the iceberg — no pun intended," Schlader says. "It's too early to say, go sit in a cold room and you'll lose weight."

Read more: The Perfect 6-Minute Warm-Up for Outdoor Winter Workouts