Thermoregulation and Weight Loss January 13, 2009
Posted by Dr Dan in paleo lifestyle.Tags: paleo diet, paleo lifestyle, thermoregulation, weight loss
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Just a short post today on another factor that we humans take for granted, but we never had the luxury of, when we were running barefoot in the fields hunting large mammals. Don’t get hot under your collar man Im talking about temperature control (it wouldn’t be a post without a bad joke). Today, we live in a world where temperature is constant. Rather than toughing the environment we have air conditioned, or heated, buildings, cars and public transport etc. It is not often we have to face the extremes in temperature unless we are running from the taxi to the building door. We are typically in a very narrow temperature range that suits us. BUT, and there is always a but, this comes at a cost.
There is an ambient thermoneutral zone where energy expenditure is minimised to maintain our internal temperature. When its too cold, we expend energy by shivering to try and heat ourselves up. If it is too hot we sweat to cool ourselves down. If it is within this zone then our bodies do not need to spend much energy to maintain core body temperature (37 deg cel). With modern technologies we are lucky enough to keep ourselves within this zone all the time. The byproduct is that our bodies spend far less energy to stay warm than they would have done otherwise. This technique is commonly used to promote weight gain in livestock and I see no reason why it would not occur in us too.
In the year 2000 I was lucky enough to travel to Antarctica to do field work and study fish populations down there. I was very cold most of the time and I put on 10kg because I was constantly eating. This is a common phenomenon when people go to the ‘ice’. They eat and eat and eat and put on a lot of weight. The amount of energy needed to keep warm is huge and typically a person eats double the amount of calories they normally do to keep up. Of course I had free supply of food and made the most of it. The message from this is that our bodies can spend a HUGE amount of energy keeping warm or cool, and this energy is no longer used in todays world.
Food
Today, I awoke from dreams of marrow and I had some marrow cravings to deal with. I dropped my flatmate off at work and decided that I would have marrow for dinner. On the way to the butchers I decided that dinner was too far away and so would have the marrow for lunch. On the way back from the butchers, marrow in hand, I thought that lunch seemed like an eternity to wait and so decided to have it for breakfast. Marrow addiction….I think SO. Just the sight of it makes me dribble like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
Sure enough I got my buzz on afterwards. It was a grey day and so decided to exercise indoors. I got a backpack and filled it with lots of my flatmates 4 litre drinks (shhh) until it was heavy and then jumped on the treadmill and walked for 20 mins. Later on I had some more steak with greek salad (cucumber, lime juice, olive oil, black olives, tomatoes, mint) for lunch.
I was REALLY hungry at dinnertime. I really wanted to eat anything. But I resisted and had some roast lamb and roast onions. Delicious. Lamb has to be the best tasting meat in my opinion.
You know you are torturing us with your wonderful pictures of marrow, right? I’m so glad I still have some of my chili, marrow concoction.
I think there is a lot more to this than people let on. Think about your island going tropic hardbodies! I have noticed (personal observation and nothing more) people possessing a leaner build the closer you get to the equator.
The SoG
I agree. Over the last few years I’ve shed a few pounds of fat (from around 10%BF to around 6.5%) and have been REALLY surprised at how much of a different it makes in the cold.
I really didn’t expect this – I mean if you think about it we’re talking about a difference of six or seven pounds of fat, at best. When I think of fat as insulation I think of “blubber”, I really didn’t think a few pounds would have a significant effect, but it seems to.
I spend a lot of time outside in the winter climbing and the like – I get noticeably colder now at a given temperature, to the point where I have to wear more than I used to.
I agree with SOG. Lot’s going on there.
I hate it for the first few minutes, and then I get a weird type of primal buzz from it. The ride is 10 minutes long.
Art Devany has posted often about getting out and getting some shivers going.
In the morning when I go to the gym, I often take my scooter. (max speed is 44 mph)
When it’s about 40-45 degrees, al I wear is a t-shirt. Trust me, I get the shivers
The roast lamb and onions looks delicious!!
Marc
Yeah, it sounds like you probably expend the most energy in the cold trying to stay warm. I think there is also an implied desire to eat and add fat weight as Chris mentioned though. Personally, I would much rather be too hot and have my body expending extra energy trying to stay cool. I am more mobile and less hungry this way. I had some bad experiences with could and really really dislike it. lol.
The SoG
As a female with my bodyfat around 16%, I can tell you I’m cold all the darn time. It’s a running joke with my family and friends. I turned on the heater in the car during the summer! Maybe that’s partly why I stay thin–I’m always shivering!
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment on my blog!!
I gave you a little shout out today.
I hope you enjoyed some of the pics and recipes on my blog.
Keep up the great work, I’m a daily reader.
Marc
Sean – I think its my new mission to be the marrow promoter.
SoG – theoretically, we should lose more weight in the cold if we don’t eat much. I packed it on because food was readily available.
Chris – I used to go swimming in winter around an island where I worked. The water got pretty cold and people thought I was crazy but I felt great afterwards. Im one of those lucky people thats always been able to tolerate cold well.
Marc- Yeah sometimes I write these posts and then find out someone else has written something about it. I just read another post on this very same thing. It is weird how that happens but it does – a lot.
SoG – Yeah different people different strokes. I would much rather be freezing and trying to warm up. I guess you would be better of in australia and me the arctic.
Rachel – See now you can see it as positive.
Marc – cheers. No problems.
A little literary synergy today. In the first chapter of the Iliad: “They cut out the thighbones, wrapped them round in two layers of fat, set some pieces of raw meat on the top of them….” It sounds to me like the Greeks had a little caveman in them.
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Sean – Sounds tasty too.
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