Do Cold Packs Burn Fat The relationship between cold exposure and increased calorie burn is not exactly news. I first heard about bodybuilders lowering their household thermostats to increase their metabolisms way back in the early 2000s. Even back then, the concept wasn't new. It is now an accepted fact that "cold environments significantly increase metabolism during rest and exercise...Metabolic rate can increase up to fivefold at rest during extreme cold stress because shivering generates body heat to maintain a stable core temperature."[1] When you're cold, you shiver. And when you shiver, you burn calories. But do you really have to freeze your butt off to get the benefits of artificially increasing your metabolism? Not exactly. Researchers are now realizing that even small reductions in ambient temperature can help your body generate heat by encouraging it to form brown adipose tissue
