Burning more calories through warmth

Here I tell you what Michael experienced and what I was able to feel myself. It’s also about why the body burns more calories when it produces heat.

About a 7-minute read By Dustin Müller · Section: The Method

Warmth in the body: a sign of active energy use

What many people don’t know: Warmth in the body isn’t just a feeling, but a sign that something is actively happening inside. When the metabolism ramps up, the body needs energy not just for movement or digestion, but also for producing body heat. And that’s exactly where the key to burning more calories lies.

Why energy always produces heat too

You can picture it roughly like this: When energy is released, heat is always produced as well. That’s a law of nature.

A car is a good example. When the engine runs and releases energy, it automatically gets hot. It’s the same in the body: As soon as calories are burned, whether through movement, through digestion, or specifically for heating, heat is produced. It’s exactly through this effect that the body also keeps its steady temperature of around 37 degrees Celsius.

Michael’s experience

25 kilos in 2.5 months: Michael’s body became noticeably warmer

While Michael was losing 25 kilos over two and a half months, one of his most important observations was that his body suddenly felt distinctly warmer. It wasn’t like a fever, but like an inner engine that was constantly revving.

For him, this warmth was a direct signal: He knew and felt that his metabolism was active, and really active at that.

Even at night, I could feel the inner warmth so clearly that I had to stick my hands and feet out from under the covers. It was almost like a fever, but without feeling sick. My body was simply warm all the time. That’s when I understood what Michael meant: It wasn’t a theoretical concept — I could feel it directly.

Dustin Müller

How long it takes for the warmth to set in

Important to note: The warmth usually isn’t there constantly from day one, even if you do everything right. The body first has to switch over, and how long that takes varies. For some people it happens after a week, for others after three weeks, and sometimes only after a month. It also depends on how long you’ve already been leaving out gluten. So if the warmth hasn’t really set in for you yet, it’s worth cutting back on the exceptions for now and giving the method time to ramp up.

Allowing exceptions and still losing weight

Even though Michael regularly allowed himself exceptions, the effect held. Two to three meals a week were completely normal, like before, with pasta, döner, bread rolls, or pizza, spread out over different days. In total, over the two and a half months, he drank eight to ten large bottles of cola, so around 1.5 liters a week, and now and then he ate candy, chips, or chocolate. Those were normal amounts, but he never went in for strict self-flagellation either. And still the kilos came tumbling off.

I didn’t cut out cola and sweets completely either: a glass of cola here and there, a piece of chocolate, a handful or two from the bag of chips, or an ice cream in the evening. No gluttony, but no self-punishment either. And I still lost weight, just as Michael had described it to me.

Dustin Müller

Why the body keeps burning anyway

This works because Michael’s method gets the body to be more wasteful with energy. It really “burns through” calories, especially when the metabolism gets into full swing through the combination of the pepper compound piperine, the nutrients, and the sharp reduction of gluten and starch.

For many people, gluten and starch act like a brake. If you largely leave them out, the body can work more freely again. The two to three exceptions a week are okay because the gut has time to recover in between. It’s like a reset instead of a constant strain.

Scientific background: sources on the effects of gluten →

Piperine: how the pepper compound produces heat

And what does black pepper do here? Piperine, the main active compound in black pepper, triggers, via the nervous system, processes that produce heat. Experts call this thermogenesis. The body needs energy for this, and it takes it from its reserves completely automatically, meaning from fat or from its sugar stores.

The warmth mechanism in three steps

Piperine from pepper

Black pepper’s main active compound stimulates heat production via the nervous system.

Heat production rises

Heat is produced. This is a state of energy, not a feeling of being sick.

Fat and sugar get burned for heat

The energy comes from the body’s own reserves, even during sleep.

Schematic representation, not a medical illustration.

A comparison with fever, but without feeling sick

Fever makes a good comparison: When you have a fever, calorie burn rises by several hundred calories a day, depending on your starting point. The body has to actively maintain the higher temperature, and that costs energy.

Unlike with a fever, though, the warmth from the pepper lacks the typical feeling of being sick. That’s because this warmth isn’t a defensive response by the immune system. So the immune system doesn’t send out chemical messengers like cytokines that signal the brain to feel worn out, tired, or sick. It’s a state with lots of energy and warmth, but without weakness.

The body in constant burn mode, even during sleep

For Michael, it was exactly this constantly noticeable warmth that signaled his body was in constant burn mode, even during sleep. That was the main reason he lost so much weight in a short time despite all the exceptions with cola, chocolate, and döner.

This constant feeling of warmth around the clock was new to me, and that was exactly the tangible proof that something in my metabolism was running differently than usual.

Dustin Müller

Why the right combination with nutrients is so important

What was crucial here wasn’t just the warmth itself, but also the right combination around it. Because when the metabolism is revved up like this, a deficiency of vitamins and minerals typically develops. For one thing, the body uses up more of them, and for another, it increasingly excretes old burdensome substances and newly produced waste products. Only with the right nutrients could Michael keep his body in balance through all this. You’ll find out which ones they were on the Helpful Nutrients page.

A note from my own experience

If you try the method yourself: It’s considerably more pleasant in the cooler seasons. In the height of summer, when you’re already running like a furnace inside, it can get uncomfortable under the covers at night.

Please check with your doctor or naturopath first if you:

are pregnant or breastfeeding
have diabetes or insulin resistance (the observations about cola and sweets on this page don’t apply to metabolic diseases)
are going through menopause with intense hot flashes
have high blood pressure or circulation problems
have an overactive thyroid or a tendency toward one
take medications that affect your body’s heat regulation or your circulation

If you want to understand in more detail how gluten and starch slow down the metabolism and why the pepper’s effect doesn’t get through when the system is clogged, you’ll find more here:

The pepper effect and the role of gluten and starch →

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