Is getting cold after weight loss - result of MORE blood vessels?

[Rootman 1,101]

I was chatting with someone who is a physical therapist the other night, and while they aren't a doctor I was wondering if what they said could be true.

He said that he had known a few people who had a large weight loss like I did and that they were all cold all the time. He claimed that as we get fatter and fatter the amount of skin also grows and with it the amount of blood vessels increase as new vessels are formed as the skin stretched out to service the new larger areas. When a person looses the weight the blood vessels do not quickly (or maybe not at all) get reabsorbed and what we are left with is an increased amount of blood vessels over a smaller area of skin and servicing a smaller mass of muscle and fat.

He explained that besides perspiration the blood vessels near the surface of the skin also play a part in cooling the body, indeed it is the blood itself that delivers the moisture to the skin that collects and is expressed from the sweat glands. So the reason we are all cold is that we have a far more efficient "radiator" than most people of similar size that have NOT lost weight and NOT seen the increased amount of vessels.

While this sounds pretty good I was wondering if there are any Drs or nurses out there that can confirm this?

All I know is I used to be a sweaty guy ALL the time, as I got fatter it got worse, now since +170 lbs of weight are lost I am freezing all the time and rarely ever perspire enough to notice.

[Sassygirl06 962]

i am not a doctor....however i have heard the same thing before.. this is also why we are hard to operate on, due to the excess blood vessels we have an increased chance of bleeding.

[RhondaLynn 10]

VERY INTERESTING!!!! I would like to hear from an expert on this.

Rhonda

[mnbsleeve 87]

I agree with Rhondalynn, this is very interesting! I've never heard about this and look forward to reading some responses on this thread. The only thing that came to mind is my very petite sister in law who was always very cold. For years we would tease her for feeling chilly in the summer. Now, years later, still petite, she is experiencing feeling too warm - probably due to changes in hormones. But how is it different for a person whose always been small? I always assumed it was less fat layers to keep her warm!

[coops 1,790]

For what ever reason, I defo feel the cold more now I am smaller... Interesting...

[LilMissDiva Irene 3,282]

Well, I've heard a lot of theories, but this by far is the most detailed. As far as knowing why myself, I don't. All I know is I'm cold all the freakin time, even in Summer. However, if I do get over heated it's really bad... like heat exhaustion bad.