this post was submitted on 17 Nov 2023
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Funny story.
I lost 50lbs and gained 50 lbs within a year.
I can say, without a doubt, being fat definitely makes the air feel warmer. I don't even think it makes sense, since your skin senses it. But hot damn if my house goes above 72F I have to keep towels around when I'm heavy
It’s not just a fat or muscle thing. Those both contribute of course; fat insulates and muscle produces more heat. But the real player is the surface area to volume ratio.
A bigger person has a lot more volume than they have a bigger surface area, and since heat is lost through the skin this has a major impact.
It makes sense when you learn that your skin doesn't sense ambient temperature at all, but rather it senses the rate at which you are losing or gaining body heat. This is why metal can feel cold at room temperature while something like a blanket actually feels room temp, it's a better heat conductor so it absorbs body heat from you faster.
Having more body mass means you produce more body heat at any given time, so the rate at which you lose body heat to the air is decreased, making you warmer.
Could it just be a weight thing? So not necessarily fat, muscle could also help.
If you're body is heating your whole body, the amount of heat added will increase linearly with volume. But your surface area, i.e. the skin, increases sublinearly with volume. So you get more heat per surface unit?
Nah, it's fat. That's why polar animals have blubber
Yep. I've lost 90 pounds. Finally not sweltering all the time
I don't know... , I've never been fat and I completely disregard the cold like it's not even there