Ice Hack For Weight Loss 2024: What Is It? Does It Really Work?

Recently, the ice hack for weight loss has been all over the internet. Influencers and viral videos are touting it as the simplest, easiest way to lose weight. The ice hack involves cooling your body down so that it has to burn fat to return to its ordinary body heat. 

It can be as fun and simple as drinking smoothies and detox water and eating cool foods like salads and fruit instead of cooked foods. Or it can be more intense, like immersing yourself in an ice bath or a cold shower or even applying ice packs around your body.

In this article, we’ll look into the ice hack and what it means for your weight loss, answering questions like whether it works and how to do it most effectively. We’ll also discuss the other ice hack because, yes, there are two. Let’s get started.

What Is The Ice Hack For Weight Loss?

• Definition of the ice hack for weight loss.
• Why understanding the ice hack for weight loss is important.

If you are looking for a simple and effective way to lose weight, you might have heard of the ice hack for weight loss. This method claims to help you burn fat by lowering your internal body temperature. The idea is to use a variety of methods, like drinking ice water, eating cold foods, and taking cold showers, to lower your body temperature and burn more calories. 

What is the Ice Hack weight loss diet? The ice hack is based on the idea that your body has to work harder to maintain its core body temperature when you are exposed to cold. This means you burn more calories and fat, even when resting, to promote weight loss.

The ice hack involves drinking ice water, eating ice, or applying ice packs to your body. Some people also follow a diet that consists of cold foods and drinks, such as smoothies or protein shakes, salads, and detox water.

The ice hack is not a new concept, but it has gained popularity recently as a weight loss hack, thanks to social media and online testimonials. Many people claim that the ice hack has helped them lose weight, improve their metabolism, and enhance their health.

Alpine Ice Hack

This can be confusing, though, because there’s another kind of ice hack. It is sometimes called the Alpine Ice Hack for weight loss, AKA Alpine Ice Diet, AKA Alpilean. This supplement has been advertised widely through questionable and clickbait marketing, including fake versions of reputable news websites. 

There are also lots of fake ice hacks for weight loss reviews, using clickbait titles like “This weird ‘ice hack’ takes five seconds and melts away pounds.” They’re trying to make you think it’s just a life hack with ice, like this article when instead, it’s an ad for their supplement. 

There also have been numerous complaints about how it doesn’t work. No research has been found to support the ice hack for weight loss, either. 

Once again, this is not the same ice hack this article discusses. We’re talking about cooling down your body so it burns more calories to heat itself back up. This ice hack isn’t known to be effective and doesn’t have tons of research supporting it, but at least it’s free.

How Does The Ice Hack Work?

The ice hack works by exploiting your body’s temperature balance. Your body burns fat to keep you warm, so when something cools you down, your body has to warm you up more to maintain its internal temperature. This means that you burn more calories and fat, even when you are not exercising.

There are many different ways to cool your body down to achieve this effect. The best results might come from a combination that works for you. Here are some popular methods to cool down your body.

Drinking Ice Water

This is the simplest and most convenient way to do the ice hack. Drinking ice water can lower your body temperature by about 0.5°C,^[1] increasing your calorie expenditure by about 50 calories per day. That’s not a lot, and while it can add up over time, is it really clinically significant? 

Also, drinking water helps you stay hydrated for energy to move more and lose more body weight.^[2]

Eating Ice

A lot of people really like eating ice. It’s similar to drinking ice water, but it just feels more satisfying. 

However, this habit can cause teeth and fillings to crack. Because of this, it is recommended that you choose a different method for ice hack weight loss.

Applying Ice Packs

Applying ice packs to your body can also lower your body temperature and force your body to burn fat for heat. You can also apply ice packs to your whole body or immerse yourself in cold water or ice baths. 

Directly exposing your skin to extreme cold for long periods of time can cause skin irritation. Try not to spend extended periods of time in ice baths, and use a towel to keep ice packs from directly touching your skin.

Following A Cold Diet

Following a cold diet means eating and drinking foods and beverages that are cold or have a cooling effect on your body. These include smoothies, salads, fruits, vegetables, yogurt, milk, iced tea, and iced coffee. 

A cold diet can help you lower your inner body temperature, but it can also be low in nutrients like protein. Look for supplements or even diet pills that contain the necessary nutrients, and know that you’ll probably have to eat warm food like meat and healthy fats at least once in a while. 

Just Going Outside

In the winter, just spending time outside can cool your body down and force it to burn fat. Besides, being outside has numerous benefits^[3] for your mental health. It gives you a chance to walk, run, or do any kind of exercise for extra calorie burning. 

In the summer, this doesn’t work as well, but swimming pools and ice rinks will still give you the opportunity to cool down and exercise at the same time.

Does The Ice Hack Diet Work For Losing Weight?

The ice hack diet can work for losing body weight, but only as a short-term and supplementary strategy. It may help you burn more calories and fat, but the effects will be relatively small, and it cannot replace a healthy diet and exercise. 

On the other hand, studies have shown that lower temperatures decrease the effectiveness^[4] of your immune system, which is one reason why winter is cold and flu season. There are other reasons, like close indoor proximity to more people and a lack of vitamin D. Still, the ice hack basically simulates the conditions of cold and flu season, just for you. That’s not the best decision you can make for your health.

The ice hack diet is not a magic bullet for losing body weight, and it’s not really healthy for sustainable weight loss. Plus, all of that extra energy your body is burning for heat will probably translate to an increased appetite. You could end up back where you started, or worse, because you compensated by eating more. 

Empty Promises?

The ice hack diet promises a lot, and it’s easy enough that it might be worth trying for a while, as long as you don’t expect too much from it. But the ice hack struggles to deliver results that are worth even the small amount of time you put in. 

Sure, you can start drinking ice water, which might burn about 50 extra calories a day. Remember, though, that the average adult eats about 2,000 calories a day. If you do the math, those 50 calories are only about 2.5% of your total expenditure. 

So, before you start searching for an ice hack recipe for weight loss, take a minute to temper your expectations. And remember this general guideline: diets and weight loss hacks trending on the internet, even if they’re effective and supported by evidence, are never as good as their proponents claim.

Should You Try The Ice Hack Diet?

If you like trying new things, then giving the ice hack a shot may be appealing. However, it is hardly a proven way to lose weight, and it is probably not worth your time. A combination of diet and exercise will be much more effective. 

While things like belly fat burners may help support your weight loss efforts, pills and things like the ice hack won’t help you lose weight on their own. Weight loss occurs when numerous small changes are made in your daily life that add up to greater success.

The ice hack is appealing because it’s so easy to try it. It sounds like all you have to do is drink a glass of iced water occasionally or spend more time outside. Making small changes like those is easy enough, but it also might be ineffective, and you won’t see results very quickly.

The ice hack diet is not a substitute for a healthy diet and exercise, and it’s not a long-term or sustainable solution for weight loss. The ice hack diet is not suitable for everyone, and it should be done only with caution and moderation. 

Side Effects Of The Ice Hack

If you have type 1 or 2 diabetes, you should definitely not try the ice hack. Diabetes, of either type, is correlated with a lower ability to regulate^[5] your own body temperature. Cold temperatures allow the cold virus to flourish^[4] as your immunity declines.

This means that when you cool yourself down in an ice bath – or whatever you decide to do – your body might struggle to warm you back up. Usually, this is probably not very noticeable, but it might get dangerous if you’re deliberately cooling your body down. 

The biggest problem with the ice hack plan is that you can just compensate for the lost calories by eating slightly more food. Without controlling your diet, burning more calories usually means you just eat more calories. Focusing on cool foods like salads and fruit can partially help with this since they’re more satiating for the calories they give you, but those alone also probably can’t give you sufficient nutrition.

For most people, the ice hack diet is probably not worth trying. There are more effective ways to lose weight. These include eating a balanced and nutritious hypocaloric diet, drinking plenty of water, exercising regularly and moderately, sleeping well, and managing your stress. 

Is It For You?

If you’re excited to try new things, you can go ahead and try the ice hack diet and see if it works for you. Nonetheless, this is not the best bet for people looking for effective, evidence-based strategies.

Conclusion

The ice hack for weight loss is a method that claims to help you burn fat by lowering your internal body temperature. The ice hack involves drinking ice water, eating ice, or applying ice packs to your body. Some people also follow a cold diet that consists of cold foods and drinks, such as smoothies, salads, and detox water.

The ice hack exploits the thermogenic effect of cold, which means that your body has to work harder to maintain its core body temperature when exposed to cold. This means that you burn more calories and fat, even when you are resting.

However, the ice hack is not a safe or effective way for everyone to lose weight. The ice hack can lower your immunity and endanger people with diabetes, and exposure to extreme cold can irritate the skin. While you may lose a bit of weight by employing this method, it will likely not help you reach your goal.

For most people, the ice hack is probably not worth trying because it’s not likely to be effective. However, if you’re excited by the idea, you may still want to give it a try.