Dr Oz: Cold Dieting
For the next Fix or Fail segment, Dr Oz wanted to take a closer look at cold dieting, which is a way to keep cold on your body, in hopes of losing weight. Some say you can burn an extra 500 calories a day by wearing a calorie-burning cold vest. Its inventor is a NASA scientist, Dr Wayne B. Hayes. For years, Dr Hayes researched quick and easy weight loss, trying high intensity cardio, weight training exercises, and a ton of exercise fads. He also experimented with cold exposure therapy, inducing weight loss throughout the body using prolonged contact with the cold.
Common methods like taking a cold shower or sitting in an ice bath, are extremely uncomfortable. That’s why he invented The Cold Shoulder, which is a vest that has ice draped over the shoiulders and across the back to promote weight loss of about a pound a week. After trying dozens of prototypes to find the best one that was most effective and comfortable, Dr Hayes and his wife Jocelyn, but their product on the market.
Dr Oz took a closer look at the Cold Shoulder Vest to find out how it works to help people burn more calories and whether it’s worth it to purchase one. (alancleaver / Flickr)
The couple kick-started a campaign to raise money for mass-production.
Dr Oz: Cold Exposure Burns Calories
Dr Hayes joined Dr Oz and explained that we’ve known for decades that mild cold exposure burns calories. The challenge for them was to find something that would be comfortable to wear. There are two basic kinds of fat, white fat and brown fat. Brown fat actually burns calories while white fat is storing calories. Babies have a ton of brown fat to keep themselves warm, while adults only have a small amount of it. When you’re cold, the brown fat is activated, causing you to burn calories.
Ronata joined the show after having tried the vest out for herself for two weeks, two hours a day. Ronata found it surprisingly comfortable, saying she was never “overly freezing” and it even gave her chest some support. She said she was inspired to eat healthier while wearing the vest, so that Dr Oz viewers could take that into account when thinking about how much weight she lost while wearing the vest.
Dr Oz: Calories Burned Wearing Cold Shoulder Vest
Dr Oz’s team measured Ronata’s calorie burn and her basic rate was about 2,200 per day. With the vest on, her caloric burn was upped to 2,750 calories per day. Ronata actually lose three pounds in three weeks, which is consistent in what Dr Hayes has seen in his studies. If you stop the wearing the vest, it’s likely you will gain the weight back, because your body will go back to normal. There are two versions of the vest sold online, retailing for about $199.
Jocelyn and Wayne Hayes are the authors of “The Cold War On Fat.”
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