One thing I will point out... I'm not just living in a cold environment... I am letting parts of my body get ice cold. That is a big difference between it being cold and you doing what comes naturally... you put on a sweater or turn up the heat. What I'm doing is intentional.
I'm getting an ice pack and leaving it on my flabby parts for about an hour or more. Yes, I am getting a minor frost burn. It looks and feels just like a minor sunburn. Yes, I'm being careful to avoid frost bite (cold so extreme that is permanently damages the skin) and I am not making myself hypothermic.
I have also been putting an icepack on the back of my neck and around the clavicle region off and on. Generally I do that for 15 minutes or so.
My diet is fine. I had 3 major events in my life where I gained weight. 30 pounds from each baby and 30 pounds when I quit smoking. I did snack away my nicotine cravings... but I don't regret that one bit as I was able to quit.
Other than those 3 things my weight has been fairly stable... no gains and no losses regardless of my diet or my level of activity.
Location: The beautiful Pacific Northwest! Tacoma, Washington
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I don't know if I believe it or not to tell you the truth. But the scientific studies done are interesting. Cold Therapy is talked about in the book "Four Hour Body" by Timothy Ferriss, which my sister loaned to me. She bought his book after seeing him on Dr. Oz. The book also has a variety of other things you can do in addition to diet and exercise to lose weight. Good luck, I hope it works for you. Keep us posted! I'm sure we'd all love to hear your results!
I think this is referred to as thermogenic weight loss and is getting more attention lately with high profile lifestyle writers like Mark Sisson and the like writing about it on their sites. That's where I first heard about it. I was interested in the concept, but as I just lived through the most cold and atrocious winter of my life I'm not interested in any type of cold therapy right now lol! I would be interested in how it works out for you. From what I was reading the premise was to submerge your body in a tub of very cold water, possible with ice and stay there as long as possible. I've taken my fair share of cold showers in my life...and the thought makes me cringe and certain parts of my anatomy stand at attention at the memory.
Yeah... I know what you mean about the ice baths... I have taken a couple of cold showers and even I look at the videos of the dude climbing into ice water as a little bit crazy.
I did the cool treatment on my lower belly and it worked well. Like it said, I lost about 20% of my body fat from that area. I wouldn't recommend using cold packs on your body, the temperature they use in the treatment is EXTREMELY cold, much colder than you can get in your freezer and you sit there for about an hour. Putting cold packs to your own body is a waste of time.
I think sensualappeal is referring to cool sculpting... its a treatment you can get at a cosmetic surgeons office. But clearly she is wrong about using ice packs at home being a "waste of time" because I am getting results.
Sure, what I'm doing is slower and less precise.... but let's face it 22 pounds in 9 weeks without starving myself or killing myself at the gym is not something to dismiss. I should also mention what I'm doing is FREE and less painful.
I have a swimming pool and I notice I lose more weight when the pool is colder and I work out than when the water is very warm in the middle of summer.
I wonder if you lose weight doing the cold therapy because your body has to expend more energy to keep you warm?
After having to do full ice baths and leg ice buckets when playing college softball, there is no way I would do it because I hate being cold. However it seems to be working for drixnot and if something works, why change it? Good luck
I'm certainly spending plenty of time exercising out in the cold and sometimes just standing around in the cold with wet feet. So hope this works. Glad to have some benefit to standing around muddy sidelines and training in the sleet, besides just building character.
lol! I would be interested in how it works out for you. From what I was reading the premise was to submerge your body in a tub of very cold water, possible with ice and stay there as long as possible. I've taken my fair share of cold showers in my life...and the thought makes me cringe and certain parts of my anatomy stand at attention at the memory.
