lol, interesting post. I'm like a cold blooded lizard and always have been. If it's hot outside I am dying of the heat and if it's cold then I just about have frost bite. I ofcourse prefer the cold becasue sweat is hard to ignore while shivers can be hidden.
I think it will probably be pretty different for everyone. My sister is thin, alway been thin, and always been hot. I'm fat, alway been fat, and always been cold.
I've always been hot natured too, but after I hit the 30 pound mark...I was cold all the time, especially at work. My coworkers would laugh at me because I brought a space heater to the office and used it year round.
My beginning weight was 297 and I would overheat very easily and was always sweating but now that I'm 179 I am ALWAYS freezing! It just started once I got down to the 100's.
I started getting colder when I started working out more - around 50 lbs into it. I also think my resting heart rate tanked around that time. I have low blood pressure normally (even when obese), and now it looks like I'm an Olympic athlete! Ha!
Over the summer I started getting really cold, I bundled up with sweatpants, my snuggie and a blanket... now I have a Electronic blanket . This is very odd, because before weight-loss I would've considered myself a warm-natured person... now it's completely opposite.
My temperature is always much more related to my hormones. I used to be hot all the time, and the oddest thing is that everyone warns you that you'll be even hotter when you are pregnant and I was really worried about being pregnant in June. Of course my body took the opposite road and I became freezing cold for the first time when I was pregnant and it never changed back, ever since I hit 25 weeks pg I've been cold in all weather apart from when it's so hot you start melting, there's no comfortable temperature any more, even though my daughter is now 4 years old I still have the same problem! I suppose I should get my thyroid checked again now I think of it, thyroid trouble in pregnancy is common and it's always been a bit borderline.
I'm a doctor, and I have to agree with mkroyer on this issue; dieters and dieter/maintainers have -unfortunately- lowered their basal metabolic rate by 200-400 cal /day over what it was prior to losing weight. This is an enormous thermic deficit (you can run an entire mile and consume<=100 cal) over what you were burning prior to the weight loss. It also has nothing to do with the actual amount that you weigh, which is why some of you are noticing the cold even though you may still be 50-100+ pounds away from goal, and why naturally thin people (who have not artificially reset their bmr) can feel warm with a body fat % far lower than yours.
For those prone to complaining about the injustice of having to diet in order to look the way others can effortlessly, this is just more "fuel for the fire" (yes, I know that's a terrible pun).
I've been very cold this past week.
True, it IS very cold, and I also seem to have got some kind of catarrh-free cold at the moment (Lee Marvin voice, headache but no runny nose) but my back and my bones just feel frozen through. In fact, I've just been and bought a thermal vest and longjohns for the first time ever!
On the whole, I prefer it: I can always add more layers, it beats feeling permanently fat'n'hot.
I'm a doctor, and I have to agree with mkroyer on this issue; dieters and dieter/maintainers have -unfortunately- lowered their basal metabolic rate by 200-400 cal /day over what it was prior to losing weight. This is an enormous thermic deficit (you can run an entire mile and consume<=100 cal) over what you were burning prior to the weight loss. It also has nothing to do with the actual amount that you weigh, which is why some of you are noticing the cold even though you may still be 50-100+ pounds away from goal, and why naturally thin people (who have not artificially reset their bmr) can feel warm with a body fat % far lower than yours.
Is this a 'for the rest of your life' thing or does it slowly balance out over time? Is there anything that can be done to combat it?
I've been maintaining weight loss for almost a year and started feeling cold after having lost about 50 pounds, so it's been almost a year and a half of being freezing. I live in Hawaii for goodness sakes! @_@ Going outside is fine, but the minute I get into the AC, I get unbearably cold. My hands turn to ice and actually start feeling numb. Upon giving blood, they found my iron levels fine, so it's definitely the weight loss thing. But I don't know how I'm going to be able to live in a normal climate now with winter if I can't even handle the AC after weight loss. Layers can only go so far.
. This is very odd, because before weight-loss I would've considered myself a warm-natured person... now it's completely opposite.
