Does being in the cold burn fat?

Short answer

A little. Cold raised calorie burn by about 190 kcal on a daily basis, but 2 hours of cold a day for 6 weeks cut body fat by only 0.7 kg, and body weight stayed the same. After exercising in cold water, people ate 44% more.

Does being in the cold burn fat?
'Cold → brown fat → fat burned → weight loss' — does this formula hold?
Your body has brown fat, which burns fat to make heat. That is why people say staying somewhere cold or getting into cold water makes you lose weight. We checked how many extra calories cold actually burns, and whether body fat really dropped.
Do you burn more calories in the cold?
Yes, about 190 kcal on a daily basis
A 2022 analysis that pooled 10 randomized trials found that at 16 to 19 degrees C, people burned 188 kcal more (on a daily basis) than at 24 degrees C. Brown fat size and activity also rose.
What is the most you can burn without shivering?
300 kcal a day, or 125 kcal with more body fat
21 people stayed in a hospital unit for 13 days while the temperature was lowered to just above shivering. 12 lean people burned 300 kcal (17%) more than their baseline metabolism on a daily basis, and 9 people with more body fat burned 125 kcal (6%) more. The more body fat, the less extra the cold burned.
With bearable everyday cold?
About 10 kcal in 1 hour
44 people wore a cooling vest set just above their shivering point for 65 minutes. The extra burn was 9.56 kcal per hour. The researchers themselves called it a very modest increase.
What about cold every day?
7 kg of fat in 6 weeks, body weight unchanged
Of 22 people, 12 spent 2 hours a day in a 17 degrees C room for 6 weeks, and 10 lived as usual. The cold group lost 0.70 kg of body fat, while the usual group gained 0.03 kg. Body weight did not change.
On the flip side, cold made people eat more
44% more food after exercising in cold water
11 people cycled for 45 minutes in 20 degrees C cold water and in 33 degrees C water. Calories burned (505 kcal vs 517 kcal) did not differ, but after the cold water they ate 877 kcal, 44% more than after the 33 degrees C water. An analysis pooling 11 trials on cold also found people ate more after cold.
Summary: cold burned a little fat
The formula weakens at 'fat burned → weight loss'
Cold raised calorie burn by about 190 kcal on a daily basis, but 2 hours a day for 6 weeks cut body fat by just 0.7 kg, and body weight stayed the same. After cold water exercise, people ate 44% more. Cold did burn fat, but its weight loss effect was small.