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The Facebook pages Weird Facts and WTF recently posted this image.

enter image description here

Exposure to cold makes body fat easier to burn. Scientists found that putting ice packs on problem areas can burn extra calories. Combine that with 10 minutes of shivering, which burns as many calories as an hour's exercise, and you could literally freeze your butt off.

I'm not so skeptical that shivering does burn calories, but is it really the case that the mere application of cold will burn more calories?

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    It's at least suspect that you will "literally freeze your butt off"! :) –  Aug 10 '16 at 08:05
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    I don't have proper sources, but yes, heating your body does take energy, and that energy is supplied by burning fat under some circumstances. This matches up to personal experience of being tired sooner and having to eat more when doing sports outside in cold weather. Still needs source. – Nobody Aug 10 '16 at 14:16
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    The claim seems to imply that by putting something cold over some area of your body the fat there contained somehow is modified in a way that it is consumed in bigger amounts/faster then other fat. This is false. The only effect that cold has is simply that the body will strive to keep your temperature constant, which requires energy that is taken by burning fat. – Bakuriu Aug 11 '16 at 12:28
  • @Bakuriu That's what I also meant to imply. Now, does anyone have some sources? – Nobody Aug 15 '16 at 20:19
  • @Nobody Sources for what? That humans are cold blooded animals? That fat is used as an energy source? – Bakuriu Aug 18 '16 at 07:25
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    @Bakuriu Sources for the claim that the fat from the cooled areas is not burned preferentially. That's not obvious from just that we need to heat our bodies when it's cold and that fat is our tertiary (or something) energy source. It would theoretically be possible that our body uses fat from the directly cooled area first. After all it already does prioritize and uses certain fat storages before others. (of course it doesn't seem to make sense, but that's no sufficient proof) – Nobody Aug 18 '16 at 10:30

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