It was interesting to watch the reports Tuesday evening on ABC World News and Nightline. I know that sensation sells and people just can’t help the low hanging fruit of crazy cold. The truth is, I was rarely “cold” when losing weight, because I adapted to cooler temperatures, not cold. I wrote about Wim Hof in a previous post and he represents the extreme in human endurance: 1 hour 46 minutes packed in ice. You and I would die at this exposure in 30 minutes or so…
For the record, I’ve never taken an ice bath, but I am eventually going to give it a try.
Like you, I’ve never wanted to be miserable, but the issue I faced was that I didn’t like how it felt to be that overweight and I wanted to figure out a way lose the weight faster than it was coming off with diet and exercise alone. When the question is posed: do you want to be miserably cold or exercise and eat right, of course the answer won’t be let’s go for an Arctic swim. If I told you that most of the early aviation/aerospace metabolic studies were performed at 60F (15C), it starts sounding a little less intimidating.
The beauty of this approach is that it is layered on top of proper nutrition and exercise. The concept is about boosting results with little to no extra effort – once you unlock some hidden potential we ALL have within. I think the wisdom comes in the form understanding two principles: adaptation and cumulative effect of exposure. We’ll discuss the first today.
Imagine for a moment that you decided to take that medical advice of proper nutrition and exercise. How might you start? Do you strap on some new shoes and bang out 26.2 miles? Probably not. How exciting does the idea of getting up right now and going to run an marathon sound to you? Could you do it today? Ever? Sure with proper training (Note: see page 367 Ultra-Endurance I 4HB)
The same is true for thermal loading. The idea is to ease into it. In fact, there are good peer-reviewed journal articles that tracked men confined to a room maintained at 60F. In one, It showed that their increase in metabolic rate was about 17%. This was a short term (2 day) exposure. Still another, which varied macro-nutrient ratios found almost a doubling of resting metabolic rate (RMR). This was a two week study.
Both Tim and I experimented with some extremes, certainly not the extremes of Wim Hoff or Lynne Cox.
One key bit of information is that your body is a pretty poor thermometer. You won’t guess exact temperature very well – especially when it changes rapidly. Come inside to air conditioning on a hot day – you feel cold. If you are out raking the leaves and come into a house heated to the SAME temperature, now it feels hot.
In time, you will see that adaptation will be the key to success and longer exposure times to cool temperatures are advantageous to comfort. In time, like Tim, Lynne, and Wim have demonstrated, maybe even I can adapt to ice-cold water. Until then, I’m still able to multiply my weight loss, comfortably, at competitive swimming temperatures.
I’ve been experimenting with just putting the shower on cold and jumping under it for as long as I can. LOL It’s hard to stop shrieking like a baby! and breathing very heavily.
It’s incredible how alive you feel afterwards though, I’m growing to love that feeling! It has to be good for the environment and my heaitng bill as well!
It’s common for athletes when recovering from strenous training or an impact sport like rugby to jump into an ice bath to help improve recovery from the stress they have put on their bodies.
Gavin
I’m not a big cold shower guy, as I’ve stated. Another observation is that the evaporative loss side is refreshing too. If you’ve taken a cool shower (27C), especially after a workout, and then dry a little, but not all the way, you’ll find that the cooling on your skin from the remaining water evaporating is refreshing. The last film of water flashes off fast and there’s a quick cooling. It’s like the chills one gets on a long run if allowed to dehydrate accidentally. That last bit of water combined with core body heat, drives a quick drop of the shell temperature.
I prefer long gradual cool exposure to sudden blasts of cold. I think the body responds better to moderate exposure, but I’ve no hard proof, only anecdotal experience.
In the summer, when cold does not exist everywhere is a great time to do these water exposures. Winter brings the opportunity to get long exposure to inexpensive (free) cold. Walking, running, and cycling with just a little less layering helps one keep driven to create heat.
Ray
I was just wondering for those of us not wanting to do cold showers, how long would you suggest we be exposed to the cold in a typical day.
Thanks
Actually, try the ice pack method in the book. I don’t have any experience with this, but take good notes and report back. I’ll be bribing out more of my protocols in the weeks ahead. I would love data on what’s in the book.
Also, don’t negate cool -84F. I’ll put up a survey as soon as I can find a good widget for it.
Ray
I’m going to do a cold trifecta. Cold showers, swimming (my gym has an outdoor pool which I’m sure is not heated), and the nighttime ice pack on the neck. I may add in drinking cold water as well.
The slow carb diet is too restrictive for me since I’m a picky eater. I’m going to return to the South Beach diet again or maybe modify the South Beach diet by throwing in the cheat day after I complete phase one.
Interesting, Jeff!
Be careful in water less than 59F/15C of hypothermia. I know many that swim in this range of temperatures in SF Bay, so somehow they do it, but I just thought good to note it. Don’t want it to turn into a classic southern scene, “hey y’all, hold my beer and watch this.”
Ray
I live in L.A. so it shouldn’t be that cold. Thanks for the heads up.
great…you should ALSO try ocean swims (speaking of hypothermia). I think that the ocean there is an amazing place and there are several groups that do open water swimming.
…me? I have the Tennessee River…LOL. I AM going to make the best of it this summer. 2011 is the year I am going to put the SWIM back in swimming pool.
Well it was freezing cold today (in the 40’s). I’ll skip the hypothermia. I’m bummed though. I want to get moving on this.
Hi Ray, you can try with http://polldaddy.com. They have multiple ways that one can share a survey. One of them is to embed the survey directly on your site. Very user friendly.
I had the weirdest thing happen yesterday. I went to the pool (81F) and “swam” for about 50 minutes. Now, I’m not the best swimmer so I would basically swim a length then rest 20 or 30 seconds, then swim back.
Anyway, 50 minutes of exposure + exercise.
I got home about 3:30 to my 63F house, put on shorts and a t-shirt exactly as I have been for days, and read a book. By 6:00 I completely lost my tolerance to cool. I was shivering and cold almost beyond the ability to think rationally. I initially put a blanket on over me but that didn’t help so I turned up the heat and put on some thin lounge pants and a micro-fleece top and then got under the blanket. Within 5 minutes I was so sleepy the book kept hitting me in the head and I had to nap for about 20 minutes.
After dinner I started recovering and by about 8 p.m. I felt I had recovered but I was a little afraid to get back into shorts and t-shirt and lower the temp.
Anyone else had anything like this happen?
30 minutes in a 68 degree pool today. I had quite a buzz afterwards.
wow! I bet… so how long did it take to “get acclimated” after the initial dive?
Actually, I went in feet first and I just started walking towards the deeper area. It was only feet deep at the deepest part of the pool so I walked a couple of laps before I got my shoulders and head in.
It wasn’t bad at all. The gym ad just started heating the pool so when I go back I suspect it will be warmer (they told me they keep it in the high 70’s).
On Friday I swam for an hour in a pool that was 81 degrees. It just didn’t have the same luster for me as the colder pool.
I just finished my cheat day. It makes a difference not feeling guilty about it. let’s see how fast I can lose back the weight I gained.
I’m looking forward to the guide.
I’m curious how wind chill affects all of this. I went for a bike ride today and it was a tad under 40F, but I rode at about 14 mph (average). According to the NWS, that would make it “feel like” 32F but I am very sure I would not have wanted to do that ride without knee warmers and my arms covered.
Anyone have any insight?
Ray, I’ve been having 3 ice baths a week, for the last two weeks, at a water temperature of (+/- 5f) 43f/6c with a duration of 30 minutes (as prescribed in 4HB). After the initial 45 second shock of getting into the bath, it’s quite comfortable. I haven’t had any adverse effects yet and I love the warm sensation of blood rushing to my hands and feet after the bath.
Wow. Great. Interesting. I’m dying to try it. Soon…
Many have told me this exact story. I have a reason for waiting on this, but can’t discuss it right now. it will make sense in time.
Keep us posted!
Ray
I have found that adding ice AFTER I get into a cool bath completely mitigates nearly ALL the shock. It makes me much more likely to get into the bath, as I despise getting into cold water. I actually find the gradual cooling after I add the ice to be pleasant.
Andy
Interesting observation. perhaps others will try that and report back. Thanks for the tip!
Ray
Hi Ray. So glad I found your blog (via Timothy Ferris’s new book). Very helpful information here.
Do you think that cool/cold exposure has the potential for targeting flab? When you lost your weight (50 lbs?) did you have any stubborn fat left? How long were you obese for? I was obese for more than 10 years. I worry that once I finally get my weight down I’m going to have flab that requires liposuction. My weight skyrocketed from 200 to 230 when I was 18 in 1995. It gradually went up to the 250s while in my 20s. I peaked at 312 lbs in 2006. My weight went down to the 280s for the next couple of years. In 2008 is where I finally started to make progress by following the advice of the YOU Docs (Drs. Mehmet Oz and Michael Roizen). I got myself down to 193. I’m 5’10 and I believe I should be around 165 or so. I was stuck at 193 lbs for all of last year.
Just last week I was watching Timothy Ferris on the The Dr. Oz Show and I’ve never been more excited since I first found out about the YOU Docs in late 2006. I watch that show every day and I’ve never seen someting more compelling. It was one of those rare light bulb moments. They come every once in a long while, and this is one of them. Been researching and reading the book since last week. Already began the diet and I lost three pounds. Been doing ice packs at night and ice cold water in AM. Cold showers I’m working on.
This brings me to the question. Do you think the flab can be burned through cold/cool exposure that normal exercise/diet can’t? This is for those of us who were obese for a long time. In my case, more than 10 years. I had already excepted that I’d most likely require lipo once I can remove all the fat I possibly can through diet/exercise. Would appreciate your thoughts on this. Hope to hear from you soon.
Hey Mike
first, it is a journey, not a destination as the cliche goes… Stick in there and know that you absolutely can get to your target weight. Basically, I think all of us that tend to be heavy have about a 10 lb window to work with. If you go up 10 lbs, then your NO MATTER WHAT attitude must kick in and dietary restriction/body activity must begin. I have found that this was a must. I am spoiled now, because in the winter I can drop weight far faster and eat what I want (in moderation). Summer is more difficult and I have to eat strictly. This is only based on a little over 2 years.
I have played a lot around the 180-190 point, but I REALLY want to go lower by another 12-15 lbs. Since I knew I was getting into this business, I preserved that last bit for science/business. If there is enough interest, I will do it with a paid group and put all of my daily thoughts/struggles down and live out the 30 day transformation more publicly.
Lose skin is lose skin. I don’t have much. I became heavy over about 20 years. Just don’t worry about it right now. Focus on the bigger goal. I know that the comments I have received are always about my youthful look and I attribute most of that to a vegan diet I lived for a year and pescetarian most of the year before that. It was all a health experiment and my blood work is all in line. I only put meat back into my diet about 3 weeks ago and generally am still recovering and getting used to that. I don’t feel as good as the all vegetable diet, but I LOVE meat, so I guess I have to sacrifice myself for science 🙂
just get down to your target weight, or within 10 lbs. Don’t worry about the lose stuff. The body is very resilient. very honored to help you make this happen.
Ray
Thanks for your insightful reply, Ray.
You’re right, it has been ONE long journey. However, this journey is now a bit too long. I started reading those ‘YOU’ books that I mentioned way back in 2006. It took TWO long years before I really made some success towards losing weight. 2008 and 2009 were major weight loss years for me. 2010 was a failure. 2011 is looking good! I’m so lucky that I even saw Timothy Ferriss on The Dr. Oz Show. Due to bad weather, the show wasn’t even recording half the time. I got lucky that day.
Also, I couldn’t believe it this morning. When I went to check the scale I weighed 187. I was 193 when I began this diet… even a bit higher because my weight has slightly gone up before I started. But 193 is a better number to say… because it was averaging around there. But I had spiked to 197 not long back.
So you’re around the same weight as I am. You certainly don’t look it, then again people say that about me. They think I’m 175, but they don’t notice bowling bowl hiding beneath. Perhaps you’re also taller. I’m 5’10. Thanks for the inspiration and your research. I hope a lot of people benefit from it.
“Still another [study] which varied macro-nutrient ratios found almost a doubling of resting metabolic rate.”
Wow, that sounds like an interesting paper — can you share the citation?
Thank you.
yes…there are many and they are part of an upcoming post…hang in there.
Ray
Hi Ray,
I read 4 Hour Body and decided to look into cold exposure. Being that I live in Minneapolis and it’s about 15 degrees right now, I was wondering how long you would suggest walking in the cold starting off? When it gets to negative temperatures (which it most certainly will), what do you suggest for that?
Also how much fat or calories it could burn in about an hour of exposure? That might depend on my body weight, etc., but I’m just curious.
Thanks for the help!
Thanks for writing.
Below 32F/0C in air you’re into hypothermia zone. Walking hypothermia can be nasty and sneak up on you. I’d say the better chance for cooler environment is to get outside, with less, not zero layers. Also commute to work – set thermostat lower and use your body heat to warm the car. Remember, even at 60F (it’s common to have cooler inside temperature in northern communities, is a great temperature and you can spend hours in shorts/tshirt.
You’ll find your tolerance for cooler temperature will rise pretty quickly.
Ray
Oh, okay. Gotcha! I am just now getting to read your older blogs and now I’m understanding it a little more, haha.
Thanks for your help!
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