Losing weight and/or trying to maintain a specific weight could be tougher than you think (especially if you haven’t started your health regime yet). Now, let’s try to understand why that’s such a huge problem. Losing weight is directly related to the calories we consume and burn each day. Using your bank account as an analogy, you only grow rich when you have more money coming in than going out (and vice versa). Your calorie bank is your weight here.
Put simply, if your metabolism (the way your body burns calories) is great, and you eat lesser calories (called calorie deficit), you will eventually lose weight. Recently, we came across the ‘Ice hack for weight loss’ challenge, and we wanted to understand if it truly works.
To answer that question, we first need to understand the underlying problem of weight loss and how it varies among different people.
In this article
Identifying the Problem
We see two major problems with people across all age groups, genders and ethnicities, who are unable to lose weight; lifestyle and metabolism. The way people spend their days, whether its on their laptops, or in the gym, or their eating habits; every tiny habit contributes to weight loss. When we talk about temperature (hot or cold) being a contributing factor to weight loss, there is no research proving the ice hack diet, specifically, works for weight loss.
The first problem, a prolonged sedentary lifestyle leads to bulking up more calories than losing them, so you gain weight. The way forward is to make conscious choices on how to improve your lifestyle, eat better, and sleep better.
The second problem, your metabolism is influenced by several factors, including age, gender, body composition, and genetics. When someone has a low metabolism, it means their body is not efficiently consuming calories. This can lead to a variety of issues, including difficulty in losing weight.
Now, let’s try to decode the ice hack for weight loss, and whether that works for you.
What is the Ice Hack for Weight Loss?
According to recent blogs, the Ice Hack for Weight Loss is a unique weight loss technique that harnesses the power of cold exposure to stimulate the body’s metabolism and promote fat burning. It involves incorporating ice-cold water or ice packs into your daily routine to trigger thermogenesis – the body’s natural process of generating heat to maintain its core temperature. However, there is no scientific research that talks about the credibility for ice hack for weight loss.
When we went deeper into the benefits and side effects of ice hack for weight loss, we discovered something even more interesting. Social media influencers who promote these methods might share how much weight they’ve lost and may also suggest how often you should consume cold food or drinks. Science doesn’t usually believe that.
How people portray it to be working v/s how it actually works:
- Cold showers – Instead of it making you lose weight, it helps improve your blood circulation for a while, and thus impact your metabolism. This is not as significant as needed for you to lose marginal weight.
- Cold immersions (ice bath) – Just like cold showers, your blood circulation improves when you’re immersed in ice, thus helping your metabolism.
- Hiking in the cold – Hiking itself has many physical benefits (increase in calorie consumption), however, the temperature (hot or cold) does not really impact weight loss significantly.
- Placing ice packs on your body – Ice or cold temperature tends to relax your muscles, however, does not have any effect on burning calories in the muscles.
Effectiveness of the Ice Hack for Weight Loss
Research on the effectiveness of the Ice Hack method for weight loss is still emerging, but preliminary studies suggest promising results. One study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism found that drinking ice-cold water can increase metabolic rate by up to 30% for 90 minutes after consumption. However, that varies based on body type, and might not work for everyone. Another study published in the journal Cell Metabolism demonstrated that exposure to cold temperatures can activate Brown Adipose Tissue (BAT) and increase energy expenditure of your calories.
Alpilean ice hack for weight loss is the most common in the United States and some parts of Canada. While we researched what it was, we found a few scientists giving their take.
Citing a lack of evidence-backed ingredients that will “lead to weight loss goals,” Gomer does not recommend anyone try Alpilean. Latimer agrees, expressing concern about any product that promises instant change. “I encourage people to engage in a healthy lifestyle of moderation, balance and variety,” says Latimer.
Solving The Problem
Understanding your body and what it needs is the first step of it all. This could vary for each individual. For instance, you might not be losing weight due to a single vitamin deficiency, or insulin resistance. Or you might be eating too much and still losing weight due to a high metabolism. Figure it out, one step at a time, by asking yourself the following questions:
- How many hours do I spend sitting on the laptop, or lazing on the couch? Can that be improved?
- How many times do I workout in a week?
- Am I sleeping atleast 7-8 hours a day?
- What are the minimum amount of calories I need in a day?
- Is my metabolism slow – do I have troubles digesting food in a day?
- Am I eating more protein than carbs in a day? Can that be controlled with a proper diet? So on and so forth.
These questions would help you understand more about your metabolism and lifestyle than any other guide would. Once you do, you’d be able to answer ways that work for your weight loss yourself. And if you’re still confused, we have decoded some quick tips for you to start.
- Take care of your calories: Even when you’re not engaging in physical activity, your body requires energy for basic functions like breathing and maintaining body temperature. Just make sure you’re in a calorie deficit in case you’re trying to lose weight. However, using ice hack for weight loss might not help you significantly over months.
- Don’t worry about your weight loss plateaus: Individuals with a low metabolism or sedentary lifestyle may find that they hit weight loss plateaus more frequently. Initially, they may see some weight loss when they start a diet or exercise program, but the only way forward is to keep consistent with your workout regime, and calorie count.
- Focus on building muscle: Metabolism is also influenced by muscle mass. Muscle tissue is more metabolically active than fat tissue, meaning it burns more calories at rest. If you have a low metabolism and struggle to build or maintain muscle mass, it can further slow down your metabolic rate and hinder weight loss efforts
The Ice Hack for Weight Loss does not really offer a refreshing and convenient approach to weight loss for busy individuals in the US. However, by incorporating cold exposure into your daily routine, you can stimulate your blood circulation, but might not potentially enhance fat loss without adding extra time to your schedule. Along with increasing basic metabolism, you also need to cut down your sugar cravings using these supplements.
