Cold exposure log - *experiment SUCCESSFUL*

Time for a new experiment! Everyone who knows me in real life (or has me as an MSN buddy), knows I really like to experiment. If I'm not trying something new, I feel empty inside.

So, the story goes like this:
After getting a mild case of pneumonia about two weeks ago, and spending two days in the hospital, I returned home and became bed-bound. I took the chance to try and catch up on some reading - including a bodybuilding/lifestyle/nutrition/etc. self-help book called "4-Hour Body" written by Timothy Ferriss. Now, although I wasn't thoroughly impressed with the information in the book (not much new) - it did provide some interesting methods I've never heard of.

Among them, I was mostly impressed by an anecdote about Ray Cronise - a NASA scientist that struggled to lose weight.

Cronise explained the details of his atypical weight-loss adventure in this short TEDMED lecture:

Ray Cronise at TEDMED 2010

For those too lazy to watch an 8-minute lecture, here is a short version:
Ray Cronise was for years struggling with weight-loss by going on and off different diets. He couldn't (like a lot of people) keep doing it - hunger got the best of him every time after a while. Then one day he heard about Micheal Phelps - an Olympic swimmer who eats about 12 000 calories a day.

Since he was a scientist, he decided to make a few calculations. He realized that working out barely contributes to weight loss. If you only lose 2600 calories by running a marathon, then it makes absolutely no sense that a swimmer can spend 4-5 more than that each and every day. The math made no sense.

Then he realized: Phelps spends a lot of time in water every day. And water is a lot more thermally conductive than air.

Now here is the kicker: our bodies are designed to keep our core temperature at a certain level by all means. That means - if you are cold, your body wastes a lot of energy to keep the temperature between 36-38 °C (96.8-100.4 °F).

By using cold exposure, he finally managed to manipulate his body into burning a lot of extra calories - and he finally managed to lose weight.



My story is similar. In the 3rd grade when I discovered a large stash of chocolates my grandma was keeping "safe", I kept eating about 2 blocks of chocolate a day in secret. Soon enough I became incredibly fat. It took me about two years before I took up rowing and started to lose weight. But after that, it was never again easy for me to keep my weight down.

I always surprise people when they see how little food I eat - yet I'm always struggling to keep at 18-22% body fat. And whenever I tried watching what I eat - I always ended up similar to Ray Cronise - unmotivated to continue by the incredible hunger. So, inspired by the book and the Phelps' and Cronise' stories, I decided to take up this experiment - to not change my diet - eat whenever, whatever and how ever much I wish every time I get hungry - but implement cold exposure.

For 6 days now (and that was even before I completely recovered from the pneumonia) - I am experimenting with this by taking extremely cold showers 1 hour before going to sleep. The temperature of the water I use is about 9 °C (48.2 °F) - which is about the same temperature as the inside of my refrigerator.

For the first time today, I could spend longer than 15 minutes in the shower without feeling disoriented and light-headed. Also, I'm no longer shivering as intensely.

I will slowly increase my daily showers until I am able to comfortably last for 30 minutes, at which point I will stop and continue at that pace.

During that experiment, I will track my progress in this thread. I will track my weight fluctuations, my body temperature 5 minutes after exiting the shower and then again 30 minutes later, the time I can last, the level of comfort I experience while taking a shower, and the immediate aftermath. Also, I will report if I have any problems.

If you have any suggestions about what more I can track, I'll do my best to oblige.


The experiment starts tomorrow at midnight (7./8. February 2011.). Let's see if this is just crazy enough to work.


_____________________________ _______

EDIT
End of experiment stats:

Start weight: 74 kg (163.1 lbs)
End weight: 69.4 kg (153 lbs)
Difference: 4.6 kg (10.1 lbs)

Experiment length: 28 days
Total amount of time under a 9°C (48.2°F) water: 15:24:35
Total amount spent in the adjustment period: 1:09:44
Total cold exposure time: 16:34:19

Days before reaching the 30-minute mark: 3

Maximum adjustment period: 0:06:21 (day 1)
Minimum adjustment period: 0:00:45 (day 27)
Adjustment time progress:


Maximum comfort level during the shower: 8 (day 11)
Minimum comfort level during the shower: 1 (day 9)
Average comfort level during the shower: 4.32

Maximum comfort level after exiting the shower: 10 (days 6, 11, 17, 24, 26, 27)
Minimum comfort level after exiting the shower: 7 (days 1, 4, 5, 15)
Average comfort level after exiting the shower: 8.54

Slight positive correlation between comfort levels:


Body temperature interval measured 5 minutes after the shower: 33.7-36.1°C
Body temperature interval measured 30 minutes after the shower: 36.0-36.7°C
NOTE: during the first 26 days of the experiment, the interval was between 36.5 and 36.7

Before: http://i41.tinypic.com/2wn24au.jpg
After: http://i40.tinypic.com/2q8u1j9.jpg
Am I the only one who doesn't see a difference!?


Original question:
Is it possible to lose weight by using cold exposure, WHILE overeating and avoiding extra exercise?
Answer after the experiment:
Yes.


Personal notes and observations:
- Pain and discomfort while showering is only present during no more than the first 5 minutes of the shower
- After exiting the shower, you feel an unusual "afterburn" effect (the opposite of what you feel after exiting a hot shower/bath)
- The afterburn effect is an extremely pleasurable experience: muscles relax, you feel warm and comfortable and have a temporary resilience to lower room temperatures
- The afterburn effect seems to last no less than 30 and no more than 90 minutes
- It is advisable to avoid showering lower legs and forearms, but imperative to avoid feet and hands to avoid a nasty case of frostbite
- My body temperature returned to normal in less than 30 minutes after exiting the shower (with the exception of the last two days of the experiment)
- When exposing myself to cold for too long (before developing the resistance), I experienced these symptoms: light-headedness, lack of concentration, lack of orientation, inability to recognize numbers/letters, auditory hallucinations, paranoia and frostnip (mild case of frostbite)
- The biggest challenge in all of this, excluding being careful to avoid frostnip and hypothermia, was dealing with boredom - it is VERY boring to stand in the cold shower for 30 or more minutes at a time
- To kill boredom, I listened to music and took notes
- Louder and energetic music lowered adjustment periods and made me last longer without my muscles getting too stiff


Thanks to everyone that participated. Special thanks to Sheamus for being my most consistent and bravest guinea pig, and to Hooloovoo for introducing me to a different perspective on cold exposure.

So, relevant data goes like this:
Time: 08. February 2012. 00:30 GMT+1
Shower length: 23:50
Adjustment time: 6:21
Comfort level: 3/10 (tolerably painful)
Aftermath level: 7/10 (somewhat comfortable)
BT@5M: 36.0°C (96.8°F)
BT@30M: 36.6°C (97.9°F)

You can post here if you want. I'll include your results in my diagram too. It would be nice to compare.

There is no procedure. Just, in order to avoid shock, start with medium-cold water, and slowly (in the course of 3-5 minutes) decrease the temperature. Use the coldest setting you have and try to endure for 10 minutes the first time. Just, keep in mind, the first few times are incredibly painful

My own entry for the day:
Post-swim shower: medium-cold
Post-cardio shower: cold. Got accustomed fairly quickly, but then again, I'm that guy that's running around in a t-shit when it's 35 F outside.

@LG:
Good to hear it's not as painful

Could you give me some more details? If you don't have the measuring tools (thermometer, stop-watch), I'll be more than satisfied with any relevant data - like how did it feel while in the shower and how did you feel after coming out? If you could give me that on the scale of 1-10, where one is extremely painful and 10 is extremely comfortable, I would really appreciate it.

Also, how long did the shower(s) last and at what part of the day did you take them?


@Dille:
As far as I know, it's really risky to expose yourself to cold for too long. That's why I do it only once a day for a target of 30 minutes (although, so far, I've only been able to tolerate a bit over 20 minutes). And even then, I'm careful not to stay even a second longer after I start getting dizzy and have trouble concentrating.

Also, the idea is to use water. According to Cronise, water is 24 times more thermally conductive than air. That means, the amount of calories your body has to burn in order to heat the surrounding environment is a hell-of-a-lot bigger. Since it seems I'm losing weight (my scale broke down, so until I borrow my friends', I won't know for sure), and at the same time pretty much stuffing myself - I guess it works. But I'll reserve my opinion until the experiment is over

Time: 10. February 2012. 00:34 GMT+1
Shower length: 21:30
Adjustment time: 5:30
Comfort level: 3/10 (tolerably painful)
Aftermath level: 8/10 (comfortable)
BT@5M: 36.1°C (97°F)
BT@30M: 36.7°C (98.1°F)

I'm following this!, a guy I know lives on a island in Scotland, it's freezing up there, and he reckons that he always stays at 11% bodyfat for his reason, now this is ment to be  be good to lose fat quoted by himself, but To gain mass and strength, you need to eat at your BMR level preferable more!, so really you would need to find out how many calories a day u burn from the cold lol, that's to gain mass tho!

This is interesting too see just as u are only having showers.

/follows

^he has a point.