Does being cold make you hungrier?

[Janet]

A little background, I started doing my daily eat stop eat style fasts over the Christmas break and when I got back to work, I found it quite easy to keep this up.

A week after going back to work, I went on a work trip and when I got back, the powers that be decided to move me to a different part of the office to make room for a new staff member.

My new desk is located in a part of the office that is always freezing (for me, the boys think it’s pleasant).

Since the move, I’ve found that I am cold all the time in the office and I’m a lot hungrier during the day, somedays ravenous. This is making it really hard to stick to my daily ESE style fasts. Some days I give in and eat something, other days I don’t.

Could it be the cold that is making me hungry? Or is it all in my head? Maybe a bit of both?

[nancy]

Could be a bit of both. I know when I get cold (which is quite often actually,) all I want to do is curl up in a ball under a nice thick blanket. Can’t do that when I’m working obviously, so next best thing for me is a cup of hot tea or soup.

[sharon]

I agree it can be a bit of both. I also want to wind down when it is freezing at work, but like Nancy, i am always sipping hot teas to keep the hunger at bay. On eat stop eat days, if it is very cold I mainly have hot tea, and I always make sure I have a “Thick” sweater handy at all times.

[sandra]

I think being cold does make me hungrier. I was having no problem staying below my RMR calories since I started a couple of weeks ago, but this week it has been below zero here almost everyday and my office and house have been cold, cold, cold. Hot tea and soup help to warm me up but I have been starving. It has been really hard to stay at or under my RMR.

[Anonymous]

Interesting. I think for me, being thinner has made me cold. I really don’t think I’ve ever been this cold. I have given up and now wear long johns under my pants and from 3-7 layers on top. Scarves help as well. I am looking forward to summer, thinking I might finally be able to bear the Florida heat. We shall see. I am colder on fast days. Tea is my friend. I am now buying the good stuff as I’ve never actually enjoyed the bags much and I look forward to the whole ritual.

[Julie]

I think this is true. I have a half baked theory that it has to do with just having a lighter smaller body and not taking in as many kcals or burning as many cals. If you think about it a small lean person or animal (like my 6 lb doggies) could NEVER burn as many calories as some larger heavier bodied person or animal even if they were doing something very strenuous.

I think the fact that women in general are less muscular and lighter means they always feel colder. It’s a paradox since we have more sub cutaneous fat than guys do and you’d think more insulation would help.(Hey, it works for seals and penguins, no?). But the fact is having more muscle and a bigger body means you have a larger furnace cranking out body heat.

Lately I’ve been freezing. I’m wearing sheepskin lined boots all the time and my sweaters and coats are in heavy rotation. The cold doesn’t make me hungrier but I’m always drinking hot tea or coffee to get warm. I linger at the hot water just to get my hands warmed up.

All I can say about the hunger thing with cold is HOT tea is your friend. Also learn to cook soups and chili. Those are my winter staples. Plus cooking soup is fun and warms up the kitchen.

[donna]

I am finding that I am always cold anymore. I don’t think it has affected my appetite, however. My office is cold too so i brought my heating pad and sit on it all day… kind of like the bun warmers in cars. Works pretty well if you can’t have a space heater.

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