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Does Drinking Ice Water Burn Calories?Hydration, maybe; weight loss, doubtful |
Roger Clemens, DrPH (doctor of public health) in nutrition and biological chemistry, and associate director of regulatory science at the USC School of Pharmacy, walked us through the math. For the sake of simplicity, he didn’t take thermodynamics into account, which would change the numbers very slightly.
You have an 8-ounce glass of ice-cold water in front of you. That’s about 240 grams of water.
When you drink the ice water, which is roughly 4 degrees Celsius, your body will expend calories to bring it to body temperature, which is about 37.5 degrees Celsius; that’s a difference of 33.5 degrees. To raise 1 gram of water 1 degree Celsius, 1 calorie is expended. (This is a “little” calorie—what scientists use to measure small units of energy. The calories we refer to colloquially are actually 1,000 of these and are known as kilocalories in the science world.)
Raising 240 grams of water by 33.5 degrees Celsius will take 33.5 calories x 240 grams of water, which equals 8,040 little calories.
Dividing 8,040 by 1,000 gives us 8.04 food calories (kilocalories). Therefore, you’ll burn about 8 calories for each glass of iced calorie-free beverage you drink. That’s equal to about one Life Saver: not exactly a weight-loss miracle.
Using Clemens’s figures, it would take about 435 8-ounce glasses of ice water to lose a pound.
And do we have to tell you? Consuming large quantities of cold water can have serious health effects, such as an overall lowering of body temperature, a decrease in the functionality of the gastrointestinal tract, and, in extreme cases, anemia. Drinking a lot of water can also lead to water intoxication.
CHOW’s Nagging Question column appears every Friday.
Does anyone else get heartburn from drinking water or iced tea?
By the way, the better way to lose small calories is by melting ice in your mouth. The latent heat of fusion is something like 540 cal / gram if I remember the number correctly (note there are no degrees in this equation and this takes place only at 32 degF or 0 degC). Drinking 100 grams of cold water at 10 deg C will cause you to...+READ
Does anyone else get heartburn from drinking water or iced tea?
By the way, the better way to lose small calories is by melting ice in your mouth. The latent heat of fusion is something like 540 cal / gram if I remember the number correctly (note there are no degrees in this equation and this takes place only at 32 degF or 0 degC). Drinking 100 grams of cold water at 10 deg C will cause you to lose 1 cal / deg / gram or 37(body temp) - 10 = 27 deg C. The result would be 2700 cal. Melting 100 grams ice to water will cause you to lose 540 x 100 = 54,000 calories.-COLLAPSE
I think this thread has devolved into something that is not relevant. Cold water does burn calories more than non-cold water.
Fat burning is the quest here I believe and not information on what is given to sick people in a hospital bed. To that end I give you the 8 Keys to Optimum FAST Fat Burning.
1) Hydration - Most people believe they are hydrated and drink enough pure water, but few are...+READ
I think this thread has devolved into something that is not relevant. Cold water does burn calories more than non-cold water.
Fat burning is the quest here I believe and not information on what is given to sick people in a hospital bed. To that end I give you the 8 Keys to Optimum FAST Fat Burning.
1) Hydration - Most people believe they are hydrated and drink enough pure water, but few are actually fully hydrated. Just because you are peeing 5 times a day does not mean your cells have enough water to function optimally for FAT usage as fuel.
2) Eating fewer calories than you burn without your body going into a starvation mode and shutting down your metabolism. Starvation mode with reduced metabolism usually happens if you are eating fewer than 700 - 1000 calories (Depends on your Lean Muscle Mass). But you can actually burn 3500 calories day above your calorie intake and not lower your metabolism if you have the right training and technique. Boxers, wrestlers and body builders can lose 1 lb of fat a day, but it is not easy and you need a very watchful coach/nutritionist to monitor you to accomplish this safely. Some who thought they could do it, did it wrong and died.
3) Muscular exercise that makes your metabolism increase like weight training and cardio.
4) Cardio exercise 30 minutes AFTER you eat 80% - 90% of the amount of calories you will burn during the cardio program and super hydrate your body.
Simple sugars from breads or desserts like cookies and even ice cream are okay for this. All foods are broken down to glucose any way for your muscles, but simple sugars breakdown faster. Consuming 300-500 calories from cookies, 15-30 minutes before cardio is okay and you will not gain weight if you burn all that muscle fuel during cardio class.
Good carbs like beans, potatoes, pasta, etc... take too long to digest to get converted by your liver for fuel in 15 minutes. Simple sugars convert quickly enough, but try to avoid high sugar content like icing, candy, etc... Carrot cake slices are good. :)
5) Eating the correct amount of complete protein for the muscular and bodily tissues (Blood, Hormones, Neurotransmitters, enzymes, etc...) you must repair or build. Egg whites are considered the best source of protein above chicken, fish, protein drinks, red meat, nuts, etc... The Yokes add more calories, but they are filled with everything else needed by a fast metabolic growth into a healthy young chick. :)
If you can take a good, EFA supplement to get omega fats, then good. Otherwise, Salmon and other fish are really good besides flax seed oil.
You need approximately 1 - 1.5 grams per pound Lean Body Mass, depending on the amount and intensity that you exercise as well as stress on your other systems from disease fighting, menstrual periods, injuries, etc...
Hydration and Protein consumption just before and after sleeping.
6) Making sure to spread your total calorie consumption across 6 - 7 meals with the largest consumption of carbohydrates before the most active physical requirements. Usually eating every 3 hours is a good measure of when to eat. Try to make sure your total calories with protein, carbs, and FAT (yes it is necessary to have fat in your diet to lose the most body fat fastest) is not below 1200 - 1500 calories. Below that level, your body will generally push the "starvation" mechanism and shut down your metabolism to save energy.
7) Getting proper vitamin and mineral (and trace minerals) supplements that allow your body to utilize FAT for energy. Taking tablet or capsule form is worst, chelated versions (http://www.vaxa.com/library/miner.cfm) are good and colloidal is best form for absorption and utilization.
8) Get enough sleep for recovery and total body rest.
Using those guide lines with proper instruction on exercise can give people a program that can burn 2 - 3 lbs or white adipose tissue (3500 calories = 1 pound of FAT) a week while retaining and increasing their skeletal muscle tissue that increases metabolism.
It is important to remember that during cardio exercise the body does NOT burn body FAT. That occurs only AFTER the heart goes below cardio levels. If you do not eat 30 minutes before doing Cardio, you are most probably destroying your skeletal muscle for energy and water required by your body. It is NEVER good to lose any weight from Cardio exercise. That means you are either dehydrated or lost muscle mass or both. it is EXTREMELY important that you eat enough calories BEFORE your do cardio to avoid losing muscle.
Like wise, super hydrate before during and after cardio. Better to have extra water in your bladder than having your body breaking down muscle tissue (70% water) to get water to cool your blood through sweating that is heating your brain above 98.6.
If you can GAIN weight from water intake before and during cardio, that is very good.
The best form of exercise that burns the highest percentage FAT is anything that keeps your heart rate just below cardio levels. Walking fast, cycling, ballroom dancing, fly swatting at picnics.... etc...
I have seen some people lose up to 1 pound a day without losing muscle tissue, but they had 8 meals each day and did low intensity exercise for 4 hours each day besides weight lifting daily and cardio 3 times a week. At the end of 3 weeks, they had lost 21 lbs. of fat and added almost one pound of muscle. Those measurements have error factors of course but they were very close. Those guys on BIGGEST LOSER are losing A LOT of muscle when they lose 5 - 15 lbs in a week. They are doing tons of cardio and burning up their muscle fast for energy and water. Not really good, but muscle is a very high maintenance tissue for your body that is would prefer not to have.
Try to avoid losing more than 1% - 2% of your total body weight a week. Go for the long haul and don't think short-term. Adjust your life style to keep the FAT dropping off and staying off.-COLLAPSE
Let me clarify about glucose in the IV. In general, tukong, you're right-if we had a diabetic in just with dehydration we generally wouldn't use a glucose IV. Having said that, if he were a diabetic admitted with hyperglycemia (too high of a blood sugar) and ketoacidosis, then at some point we would start an IV of glucose. We would usually run a combination of insulin and glucose. I recognize...+READ
Let me clarify about glucose in the IV. In general, tukong, you're right-if we had a diabetic in just with dehydration we generally wouldn't use a glucose IV. Having said that, if he were a diabetic admitted with hyperglycemia (too high of a blood sugar) and ketoacidosis, then at some point we would start an IV of glucose. We would usually run a combination of insulin and glucose. I recognize this sounds counterintuitive, but the reason is to avoid electrolyte imbalances (very high blood glucose increases your potassium levels; insulin decreases them, but decreasing blood glucose too fast can cause problems with an abnormal potassium level) and also to avoid decreasing the blood sugar too fast. If you have somebody who has a BGL of 32 (normal is 5-7) and you drop him to 15 in an hour, he's going to experience hypoglycemic symptoms, even though he technically still has a high blood sugar. So you have to be very careful about lowering blood glucose to an acceptable level slowly and gradually. Usually, you're doing frequent (every couple of hours, in some cases, or even more frequent) blood glucose checks and adjusting the rates of his drips accordingly. We can also use the IV insulin/glucose combination in somebody with a very high potassium level if he/she has a normal blood glucose.
In general, I agree with you about the coffee and tea too. The point I'm trying to make though, is that if you're not thirsty or showing other signs of dehydration (e.g. poor skin elasticity, decreased urine output) you probably are doing okay for hydration. Some of the water we take in is absorbed in the food we eat, as well. Usually, if you know how much water you need total, you can calculate how much there is in your food, and you can figure out from that how much free water you need. Of course, this will be different depending on activity level and other problems (e.g. illness-fever increases your metabolic rate, meaning that you need more fluids).-COLLAPSE