Cold Showers = lose fat?!?!

(Joel Abdul) #1

I’ve been trying this the past week…It’s freakin’ brutal. It definitely wakes you up… Lol

Anybody else experiment with cold therapy for fat reductions or recovery?

Cold therapy
(Angela Przybylski) #2

I don’t know about fat reduction, but I’ve heard before it’s good for helping circulation.

(Joel Abdul) #4

Yeah, I’ve heard a lot about it…Ben Greenfield, Wim Hof, mark Sission, and many others.

Is that a good book, @Jason?

(Jacquie) #5

@Joel_Abdul Jack Kruse, too. That’s a whole other ball of wax. :wink:

(Texan ) #6

I heard this the other day, but the person was going out side to stand when it was -25. It was a comment in passing and they never really went into too much detail about it.
Not that it gets that cold in Texas, but I’m still following the thread.

#7

Sounds like CICO stuff. Just because you burn a few more calories warming up, doesn’t mean you’ll lose more weight.

(Larry Lustig) #8

I believe that admin @erdoke is an advocate of cold therapy and for reasons well beyond simple calorie consumption. But I don’t know more than that. Perhaps he’ll initiate a topic on it?

(Gabor Erdosi) #9

CT works in the longer term by stimulating mitochondrial biogenesis, and is able to markedly improve insulin sensitivity. So as usual, it’s not about burning a few more calories.

(Joel Abdul) #10

@erdoke Thanks for the input!

The first couple times I was on the verge of screaming, but just today I was fully under full blast cold.

I tested my water and it’s 44.3°F/6.8C…lol

I’m continuing on with it. If I only get the extreme invigeration out of it, I would consider it a win.

(Allan Misner) #11

Yes, the principle is two-fold:

  1. Your body burns extra calories to keep your body temperature stable.
  2. You begin developing brown fat, which has a higher metabolic threshold than regular body fat.

I’m just not sure that a cold shower is sufficient to really do much to get either of these effects. I think it has to be colder and for longer than a typical shower.

(Gabor Erdosi) #12

CT can be induced in white adipose tissue as well, and in fact it happens in average folks during winter. The extent we have to go is exactly where no shivering is needed, so 7 °C showering seems good enough. I’d say even higher temperatures would do, but of course the colder, the less time can do the trick.

#13

I read something once about Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps work out exposes him to many hours daily of cold water immersion, so much so that he has to shovel in tons of food into his body to compensate for the energy expenditure.

While on the surface it sounds like a CICO explanation, i do believe other biological processes are going on in his body. Like @erdoke explanation of mitochondrial effects.

(Peter Demarest) #14

I do 20-30 seconds of cold at the end of my shower. Also I’ll sit with an ice pack on my shoulders and back in the evening while watching TV or reading. I’m not sure how much difference it makes but I put it the category of it couldn’t hurt.

(Brian Miller) #15

I had experimented previously with Ice Baths as described in Tim Ferris’ Book with success. I tried again the other night and I could barely keep myself submerged for 3 minutes. It’s something you work your way up to, used to stay in for 20 minutes with complete back and chest submerged. I’m likely to revisit it again.

#16

Interesting.

(Mark) #18

You can watch a video on YouTube called Laird Hamilton extreme thermal cycling,Laird is a big wave surfer and has an ice bath set up in his back yard and switches between the hot tub and the ice bath,he is all about optimal performance, and has lots of good fitness videos and the importance of breathing,I saw Tim Ferris interview him as well and he is also a fan of wim hoff,Laird is a very focused and driven individual and is a strong proponent of getting the mind prepared as well as the body, very good role model

(Joel Abdul) #19

@Bacon (hahaha love the name, how the hell was that not taken. Lol)

I’ve never heard of him. I’ll definitely check it out on YouTube.

Thanks!!

(Christina Hansen) #20

I do this myself. I shoot for 5 minutes every morning, but it has been noticeably colder in the shower this winter than back in the fall.

I don’t know if it works re: fat metabolism, but it does feel good, so I’ll keep doing it.

(Jacquelyn Graham) #21

Not enough money in the world. #coldwaterisfordrinking :grimacing:

(Christina Hansen) #22

I find the rationale quite compellingthat taking a 5 minute cold shower every day for at least 30 days is good for you because it forces you to do something you DO NOT WANT TO DO. And the discipline you muster to face something that is a minor short term discomfort will help you do OTHER things you don’t want to do.