Can I Shed Pounds Drinking Ice Water?
Dave Koch | Monday, August 3, 2009 at 6:00AM 
The definition of a Calorie (note: Calorie with a capital "C") is "the amount of energy required to raise the temperature of one kilogram of water by one degree Celsius." - conversely, calorie with a lowercase "c" is the amount of energy to heat one gram of water. Essentially, a lowercase calorie is 1/1000th of a Calorie.
For all intents and purposes we will be referring to "Calories" here because that is the standard measurement in the United States (that's what is on your food labels). Ironically, we use Calories in the U.S.... but not Celsius. Go figure.
Back to the the question ,"Can I Shed Pounds Drinking Ice Water?" By the definition of a Calorie, yes, absolutely. There's a little math involved, but it's easy, let's go.
Here are the facts:
A) Ice water is approximately 0 degrees Celsius.
B) Body temperature is about 37 degrees Celsius.
C) A kilogram of water takes up one liter (that's the beauty and logic behind the metric system).
D) Urine doesn't come out cold, it's comes out at body temperature.
If you were to drink a liter of ice water, about 32 fl oz (or four cups), it would require your body to burn 37 Calories to bring that liter of ice water up to body temperature.
So the answer is yes, sort of. For every 8.35 pounds of ice water you drink, you would burn the Caloric equivalent of a half-ounce of cookie dough. There are a lot more effective ways to slim down. Stick to the "8 cups of water a day" rule; however, make it ice water every time, and that's burning 74 Calories a day.
Just think, you would only need to drink a gallon of ice water to burn the Calories in 3 tubs of McDonald's BBQ sauce...
Reader Comments (1)
Interesting (I suppose) of course I am person who has my jaw wired shut at the moment and am forced into losing 14 pounds by a broken jaw. So I guess this diet seems silly to me. GREG