Do you believe that exercise is a poor way to lose weight? Perhaps a hard session at the gym makes you feel like eating everything in sight.
There are certainly mixed thoughts on this one. Some people don’t even want to look at food following a workout. But, others feel totally starving post-workout.
It really seems like a bit of a cruel joke if you’re trying to lose a few pounds, and all the exercise does for you is to make you feel hungrier.Studies have actually shown that both normal weight and obese individuals, who workout for a significant periods of time, do not increase their hunger, nor do they eat more to compensate following a good workout.
Perhps your own experience would beg to differ on these results, though.
Some of the reasons exercise may lead to disappointing effects in terms of weight loss, include:
- Inappropriate food choices overall.
- Self-reward following exercise — i.e. eating a chocolate bar after being “so good at the gym!”
- Misjudgements about the rates at which energy can be expended (by exercise) — for example, it would take around 25 minutes running to burn off the calories consumed in a piece of chocolate cake (250 calories).
Overall, exercise can help you lose weight, but unless you’re working out a couple of hours a day at the gym, you still need to pay close attention to what you’re eating.
What has been your experience — does exercise make you crave unhealthy foods? Do you overeat following a workout? What tips would you give to people who struggle with this?
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hmm interesting i have never felt that way. A good way to prevent that if you do feel hungrier after a work out is to eat 6 meals a day every 3 or so hours have a snack or meal. That way your always full but not over loaded at once. Another thing to do is a after a work out your body needs proteins so a protein shake might be a good choice plus it will keep you full for a good while.
Very valid point Helpful.
Your experience sounds identical to mine, especially whether or not I have to fix the food. Regardless of other circumstances, if I have to fix food any time, I either don’t want to eat it or eat very little. My mom was the same way.
I see this too with other people. I have a friend who was cardio train with me and finally gave up because the was gaining weight. I could not talk to him about diet for some reason? I found he was stopping at a sub shop after training and he would suck down a 12 inch sub, chips and soda. He was also eating a full dinner before comming over to train. When I asked him why are you eating after training, he said he feels hungry and that he is treating himself for working out. I also noticed he did not drink any water while and after training. I personally think he was getting thirst confused with hunger. Some people are their own worst enemy because they pamper themselves too much! I think when people get into self indulging moods they should strip nude and stand in front of a full lengh mirror and ask themselves is it worth sucking down the pie, candy, ice cream and family size bag of chip, just to have their pants fit abit tighter the next day? Some how they do it any way and wake up one day and wonder how did I gain a 100 plus pounds, gee this is not my fault, I will go make myself feel better by sucking down this half gallon of ice cream before I go get my party size pizza, wait a minute thats too much effort, I will have it delivered.
I think it depends on the type of exercise, the weather, and if you have to fix your food before you eat it.
Swimming–always hungry because of being cold, even in a warmish pool.
Hiking/Backpacking all day–hot weather, not hungry, but even in cold weather, was fine with soup or a hot beverage, not big on cooking when you have to set up camp as well. Maybe just before going to sleep a handful of trail mix.
I am a gymnast and a dancer and after 2 to 3 hours of work I get very hungry. I eat 6 times a day and dont gain a pound. So i think if you exersise hard for hours you do infct get soo much hungrier.
Here’s a cautionary tale that goes the other way…
I gained a lot of weight a few years back, and picked up a martial art (judo) and started jogging for exercise. At first everything was fine; I dieted a little and got back down to my original weight over the course of a few months (which was healthy; I didn’t lose very quickly). I never dropped more than 5 pounds below my high school weight, but at one point last year I started feeling really lethargic. It was like if you put the pedal to the metal in your car but got no response. Someone tipped me off to counting calories online, and I kept tabs over the course of a month. The data showed that although I was eating 1800-2000 calories a day, my net intake after subtracting for exercise was between 800 and 1000 per day. I adjusted (yay, cookies!) and things are going well now. Just be careful and listen to your body, guys!
My experience is that exercising everyday has a profound effect on fat loss, which is different from Ryan’s experience. One has to exercise fairly vigorously at least for an hour every day and this will definitely help many people lose weight. One should aim to burn at least 500 calories each and every day from exercise for it to help one to lose weight. I was over 200 for at least 10 years and once I started exercising everyday, my weight eventually got down to less than 160 at 6 foot, which is the lowest I ever got to in High School. Improving the quality of my diet, such as eating enough fiber from fruits and vegetables also helped keep excessive hunger at bay, as well as keeping a careful budget of my calories. I never really was on a very low calorie diet, but I really attempted to find the right number of calories to eat. Counting calories helped me to eat just the right amount of food, not too much, not too little. Now that I am past my original goal weight, I find that the hunger that I may feel at times from exercise is actually earned hunger, and it doesn’t cause me to gain weight at all.
My experience is that how much muscle you carry is largely determined by exercise. How much fat you carry though is unrelated to exercise.
I fought back down to my high school weight over a long period of time. I hit many plateaus, and every single one of them was broke by an increase in food quality. Increasing exercise and counting/reducing calories, either by themselves or in concert, never sped up the process. I changed the type of food I ate, not the amount. Since I finally learned enough about endocrine disruptors in food, I’m thinner now than I was in high school.
I find I do need to eat a small snack (and drink a lot of water!) after a great workout, but only 100-200 calories. The best part is, working out in the morning helps keep my blood sugar on an even keel the rest of the day. That means less chance of my grabbing junk food in the afternoon.
Nice post indeed.
Haha, how timely. I just decided to visit this blog after having a post-exercise binge. I can get very hungry after I work out, although I tend to eat healthier foods, just in huge amounts. For instance, after a 2.5 hour walk today, I ate leftover black bean chili from last night, 2 pieces whole grain toast with avocado on it, a large apple, and some kalmata olives. All good stuff, but just way too much of it. Now it’s time for my post-exercise nap!
Working out doesn’t make me hungry. If anything, it curbs my appetite a little bit. When I was first starting out with my exercise routine, I was guilty of the “Well, I worked out, now I can have ice cream!” mentality. When I realized just how much I was putting in my body vs. how much I burned off, I stopped “treating” myself with food. I think a lot of people get frustrated by starting a workout program where they don’t lose weight because they’re cancelling out the work they do with extra cookies.
I think that there’s many people who feel that because they’ve worked out, it gives them license to eat more or indulge in something. I’ve known many who do just that, me included. I also think many people are fooling themselves into thinking they’ve worked out hard when they really haven’t. I see people at the gym all the time just lollygagging around, strolling on a treadmill, or leisurely riding a stationary bike while reading a tabloid magazine. I guess its better than nothing (I’m guilty of dogging it at times), but they lose perspective.
“weight”, I meant. Not “wait”.
Gah, idiot.
Longer, less intense workouts seem to make me hungry; Like a three hour walk. But running for an hour and a half or so seems to blunt my appetite. I won’t gain wait if I pig out after a long walk, but I won’t lose weight either.
I breathe and exercise and I gain weight. I have yet to find the right balance. But I can eat and gain 20 pounds in a month, so to counteract this, I found that eating low carb at least gives me a bit more control.
Exercise actually helps CURB my cravings for unhealthy foods! When I don’t exercise it’s a double whammy; not only do I miss out of the benefits of exercise but I find myself fighting intense ice cream cravings!!
Very good post, Mel!
Many people automatically assume that exercise makes you hungry.
As you say it varies between individuals and the majority of research shows that this isn’t the case. There are what resaerchers call “hyper-responders” that are more prone to becoming hungry post-exercise.
It also depends on the intensity of exercise. In some cases, exercise can blunt appetitie.