Does body fat keep you warm versus no body fat?

Answer 1

Fat is a better insulator, but muscle is what creates the heat. The more muscle one has, the more heat they generate, but the heat dissipates quickly without any insulation (fat). Arctic seals have a lot of fat on the outside of their body but a large central core of dense muscle, enabling them to get warm and stay that way.

If one has a high amount of body fat and low muscle mass, one will slowly become cold and take a long time to heat back up. If one is the opposite (e.g., high muscle and low fat) one will get cold fast but heat up quickly.

Answer 2

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2000-08/967757097.An.r.html says:

"Fat is the way people, and animals, store some of the extra food they have

eaten. Because the fat does not have another routine job, like the

muscles and bones do, the fat deposits do not have very many blood vessels

in them. Anything that slows down the heat escaping from your body helps

keep you warm. That is why you wear more clothes when it is cold

outside. Clothes slow down the heat loss from your body to the air around

you. Your fat layers perform the same work because of the low blood flow

through them. The fat keeps some of your blood from getting too close to

the skin where it can quickly lose heat. The result is almost like

carrying a blanket around with you under your skin. One large, thick

layer of fat is just under the layers of muscle across your abdomen

(stomach area). There are a lot of blood vessels in your abdomen

associated with your intestines and other internal organs. This fat

layer, called the greater omentum, is a very good use of body fat to

preserve body heat.

People whose ancestors developed in cold climates (like the Eskimos of the

Arctic), have more body fat and the fat is distributed over much of their

bodies uniformly. This protects more of their bodies from heat loss.

People whose ancestors developed in hot climates (like the African

natives), have fat deposits in more localized parts of their bodies,

leaving large areas of skin with many blood vessels near the skin. This

allows these people to cool off more quickly if they become overheated.

You also asked if there are any other ways fat helps keep us warm. Fat is

the most concentrated source of energy of the three basic food types (fat

9 calories per gram, protein 4 calories per gram, and carbohydrates 4

calories per gram). Your body burns some of your stored fat when you have

not eaten enough food to supply all of your body's needs. So, not only

does a fat layer help keep you warm by preventing heat loss to the air but

it is one of the primary fuels that your body burns to produce the heat in

the first place!" there is a protion for you to get 5-a-day healthy diet

Answer 3

You burn calories and some from fat to keep warm. Particularly when it is cold, your body uses more calories.