Enter your body weight and cold plunge duration to calculate your calories burned doing a cold plunge. A typical 10-minute cold plunge often burns about 30 to 60 calories, with higher totals in colder water and during stronger shivering.
Cold Plunge Calorie Burn Formula
Use the following formula to calculate calories burned during a cold plunge.
Calories Burned = BW * M * F * 0.0175
- BW = body weight in kilograms
- M = minutes in the water
- F = cold plunge factor
The basic calculator uses a typical cold plunge factor of 3.5. Advanced mode changes the factor based on water temperature and shivering level.
What Is a Cold Plunge?
A cold plunge is a short immersion in cold water, commonly around 37 to 59°F or 3 to 15°C. Most sessions last 2 to 15 minutes, and calorie burn rises as body weight, exposure time, and cold intensity increase.
How to Calculate Calories Burned During a Cold Plunge
- Enter your body weight.
- Enter your cold plunge duration in minutes.
- Use Basic mode for a typical plunge, or Advanced mode to add water temperature and shivering level.
- Multiply body weight in kilograms by minutes, the cold plunge factor, and 0.0175.
Typical Cold Plunge Calories
The values below use the basic calculator’s typical cold plunge setting.
| Body Weight | 5 Minutes | 10 Minutes | 15 Minutes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 150 lb | 21 kcal | 42 kcal | 63 kcal |
| 180 lb | 25 kcal | 50 kcal | 75 kcal |
| 200 lb | 28 kcal | 56 kcal | 83 kcal |
Example Calculation
For a 180 lb person doing a 10-minute cold plunge in Basic mode:
Calories Burned = 81.6 * 10 * 3.5 * 0.0175 = 50.0 kcal
That works out to about 5 calories per minute during the session.
