I have never been a warm-blooded person, but this is getting ridiculous. My hands and feet are nearly constantly icy now, and I can get to the point of actual shivering in a normally-heated (e.g. 70 degree) room.

I'm still 5 pounds over goal, and haven't lost a pound in over a month; calories are between 1300-1500/day (and was above that for a few days around New Year's). I am weight-training 3x/week and doing cardio another 2-3x.

Is there ANYTHING I can do to improve my obviously broken basal metabolic rate? And if I miraculously manage to lose the last 5 pounds, am I going to have to go around wearing an anorak and gloves indoors?

I'm cold all the time, too. I run my space heater in the summer in my office, eating or drinking something cold will make me cold all over even in 90 degrees.

Cliche, but the last few pounds are the hardest. Maybe lower your calories a little? Change your workout routine a little? Something to shake it up?

yup i 'm freezing 24/7 too! I seriously can't wait for my first hotflash, so I can literally warm up! Too bad I have years to wait though on that one.... My heated mattress pad & my heated bun warmers in my suv help me cope in summer & winter!!!!! As does drinking hot teas and holding my hands around the mug. I notice right after I eat, is when I get even colder... brrrrr so yeah I hear ya girl, it sucks to be COLD!

Neurodoc, you are a doctor so you probably have already thought about this, but have you had your thyroid checked lately? The combination of being cold and the fact you haven't lost even though your calories are low makes me suspicious.

I'm frreeezing as we speak. I've taken to wearing Cuddle Duds a lot during the winter - it really helps! I also like to drink a warm mug of water. It really warms me up. I bought a throw-sized electric blanket for when I'm sitting around the house. It's much cheaper than turning the heat up!

Paperclippy, yes my thyroid's "fine" in that I have been taking Synthroid for hypothyroidism since 2001.

Ladies, this is terrible. Basically what you're saying is that for a reduced-overweight person, it is not possible to have a normal metabolism, even many years into maintenance. We are all essentially eternally in starvation mode; no wonder so few people are successful at maintaining a large weight loss. Obviously, you've all learned to cope. I guess I was hoping to hear that this problem was temporary; that being in maintenance for awhile would allow my metabolism to reset and behave more normally (she sighs wistfully).

Don't know if there's even a connection (purely anecdotal experience here), but I'm also part of the icy-hands crowd, and I take Armour for sub-clinical hypothyroid. My doc started me on some high-dose EPA/DHA to see if we could reduce my cholesterol numbers, and while it didn't make much difference in that, within a few weeks I noticed I wasn't quite as cold. This is my first winter where my gloves actually seem to work.

I'm freezing right now too. The thermostat is set at 75, I have on cuddle duds, (long underwear and undershirt) 2 pair of socks and fuzzy pajama pants and a thick sweat shirt. I am just about to retire to the TV with an electric throw blanket to warm up.

My family and friends....(heck even the repair guy who was here this last summer) have made fun of me for going out and push mowing when it's 95 degrees outside. Even weirder is I rarely break a sweat in doing so. Oh how I long for summer. There is a foot of snow on my beautiful lawn right now.

Only 3 short years ago I didn't even have a winter coat that fit me...and it didn't matter because I was roasting hot all of the time.

hmmmmm ... Interesting point; Never heard it called "essentially eternally in starvation mode," but Meg has posted references to studies that show that the formerly obese consume about 15% less for their basic metabolic needs. Something's gotta be different, so maybe it is a reduction in internal heat generation.

I now wear my down vest around the house regularly, which I never did before. My brain had just assumed that it was due to getting older, or DW's incrementally lowering the thermostat, or loosing my insulating layer of fat. But now I gotta go think about your post. Thanks for that insight.

I am cold too.
Now depending on hot-water bag, so primordial， right？

Another one of the freezing crowd. I keep meaning to go get my thryroid rechecked cos I haven't been warm since I was pregnant, pretty famous for breaking thyroids right? But yes, I am much more frozen since I started my plan, my body just switches off whatever it can to preserve calories - stoopid body, I reduced it on purpose so you'd burn them up!! I try not to pile on clothes and hot water bottles cos then my body gets to work even less hard, potentially lowering my metabolism even further, so I try my very best to just fidget my way through it.