Exercise: Be Wary of Compensating With Diet
Recent research compared the impact of a 12 week exercise program on overweight and obese sedentary men and women.
Despite doing identical exercise regimes - the outcomes were very mixed.
As an average, each person in the group of 35 people lost around 3.5 kg (7.7 lbs) over 12 weeks. However closer analysis showed there was enormous variability: one lost 14.7 kgs right up to a person that actually gained weight!
The supervised exercise was designed to burn 500 calories a day on treadmills, bikes and rowing machines.
If everyone was doing the exact same exercise - why the massive variation?
The study identified two kinds of people: Compensators and Non-compensators: which were "characterized by their different metabolic and behavioural compensatory responses."
Compensators: Ended up eating 270 more calories per day.
Non-compensators: Ate 130 calories less.
The Bottom Line
Extrapolating pounds lost by measuring the amount of exercise done is flawed. Some of us compensate by eating more food. There may also be metabolic processes at work that are beyond our control.
Be aware of increased appetite from exercise (if your goal is weight loss). Also remember that exercise is about so much more than simply weight loss.
Shortcomings
The study was small. There was also no mention of body composition or the kinds of foods that the subjects were eating.
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Even the compensators only ate 270 cals more food but did 500 extra in exercise. We burn a mixture of sugar and fat but I think we only eat to replace lost glycogen. This is certainly my experience with very long walks--yes, I'm hungrier but nowhere near to the extent of eating to replace ALL the energy burnt in exercise.
I convinced we only eat to replace glycogen :-)
Cheers
ReplyMike.
The study is kind of worthless if they don't measure body composition. How do we know they didn't gain muscle and lose fat?
ReplyAerobic exercise typically does increase appetite somewhat. Anaerobic exercise suppresses appetite temporarily.
ReplyI'm guessing it's psychological (or at least chemical), but I am overall less hungry and tend to eat less when I exercise aerobically regularly. To be fair, I try to get some weightier exercise in when possible, but I currently can't afford a gym membership or a set of weights. I've always been baffled reading the reports of compensation eating because that has never been my experience.
Can anyone else relate to this? I tend to drop weight effortlessly when I make exercise a part of my routine because I eat less as a matter of course.
ReplyI do feel that when I exercise, regulraly I do tend to be more conscious of my eating. I am not likely to head from a spinning class to go eat a cheeseburger. That said, I have been exercising 2-3 times a week for over 6 months (2-3 times a week Spinning or Running 5 miles plus weights) and 2 sessions a week of Pilates, and I haven't dropped any weight since February. That said, I am much more toned and just feel better.
ReplyI do believe eating healthy is important but exercise should be a foundation as it aids many benefits besides weight loss. Dieting is extremely important for monitoring your calories but cardio improves metabolism, increases lean muscle and helps energy causing less stress. Exercise is vital.
ReplyI do tend to eat more when I increase my exercise, esp when doing heavy weight lifting. This gets even worse at certain times of the month. When I do a full body weight training with 6 rep max sets I want to eat a house for the next 2 days. Doing more cardio doesn't seem to affect my appetite as much as heavy strength training.
ReplyAs you said, the study was flawed. If the study was done to determine the effect of aerobic exercise on weight loss, they needed a control group for both exercise (those who did none) and calorie intake (those who consumed the same number of calories as prior to the study).
ReplyI find that for me, running suppresses my appetite quite a bit. On days I don't run, I am a lot hungrier than on days when I run 12 miles or something. I don't think I "overcompensate" with food though...otherwise I probably wouldn't be underweight.
They still should have checked these people's body composition so they could track their body fat levels.
ReplyAlso, be aware of all those workout supplements, energy bars and sports drinks. They're nothing but processed fat, sugar and caffeine.
Gal
ReplyI've been on a master's swim team for seven years, and I know I compensate for the 1.5 hour morning workouts. I come home INCREDIBLY hungry and just stuff myself.
I joined a running team about four months ago, and I've lost right around ten pounds (from 175 lbs. to 164). My weight does not vary much, so it was very noticeable. I work just as hard, but I'm not very hungry after running.
Looking at my two teams, it's obvious that runners have much leaner bodies than swimmers.
It's purely anecdotal, but I'm convinced that the TYPE of exercise can influence whether you compensate with calories.
ReplyI have a good friend who also runs long distances. He is constantly asking how I stay so thin...he's quite overweight. I told him I eat a clean diet and don't pig out much and he said "Oh, that's my problem then. I drink probably enough beer to wipe out any calories I burned running". It's true...it doesn't take a whole lot to undo an hour of cardio. Couple of pieces of pizza will undo it just like that. :)
ReplyVery interesting, Dr. J! I forgot about the temperature difference. I thought the hunger might have something to do with using literally every muscle in my body when I'm in the pool.
I'm excited to research your explanation!
ReplyThe idea of exercise suppressing hunger seems unheard of to me. When I went from rarely working out to running and lifting regularly, I went from being generally hungry to famished constantly.
What extra weight I was carrying did come off, but it was at a rate of about 1 pound a month. Hey, slower is better, right? And the fact that what seemed like an unheard of pace two years ago is now a moderate jog? Nothing beats that.
I really think it's important to think of exercise as its own end and not solely as a means of weight loss. If you do the latter, it'll never really be a part of your life just another obligation.
So what if some people get hungry and eat more. Maybe sometimes it comes from the idea that one can indulge, but in plenty of cases it's from hunger. And I think that not eating anything when hungry as a regular habit is a really, really bad one.
ReplyI used to have that problem. I'd exercise and then eat twice as much as I normally ate. But then I came up with a solution. If you eat a substantial meal 30 mins before exercise then you don't feel hungry at all. For me its come to the point where I only need to eat a banana beforehand and I don't feel hungry at all after a workout.
It is definitely possible to train your body not to feel hungry after exercise, just like its possible to train your body not to feel hungry every 20 minutes. The key is to restrain yourself. And then after a few difficult days you settle right into it and it comes naturally.
ReplyMaybe for someone else, whose goal is to lose a large amount, of weight that would help. My goal is to run faster and lift heavier weights. Yeah, I'd like to not gain weight (unless it is muscle), but I've hit the point where I'm happy and healthy where I am (to be fair, I hit healthy awhile ago, but the happy took much longer).
But for me? Why would I want to? My body is asking for the food. It's perfectly understandable it wants it. It knows that I've just run four miles and all I've eaten so far today is a banana! (because much more than fruit before exercise makes me cramp and/or feel nauseated)
One of the great things exercise does is speed up the metabolism. It certainly does that to me, so to prevent things from going horribly wrong (in the short run blood sugar drops, dizziness, sweaty palms, faintness and in the long run a slower metabolism), I follow the signals I am getting. Did it lead to weight loss? Yes, but it took a very long time. All the better - I now have sustainable habits, a MUCH faster pace, a lifestyle that includes exercise, and a lot more faith that those 15-20 lbs won't come back.
I did manage to train myself to eat a bit less frequently, but when I started dropping down into serious hunger, I became an obsessive wreck who couldn't think about anything but food. I guess my point is to focus on the habits as their own end rather than a means to weight loss.
ReplyI think a lot of it is relearning how to interpret your body's signals. My body is always hungry at certain times of the day, and if I don't eat then, I get nauseous.
I think the swimming thing has more to do with body temperature than the fact that it burns more calories. Swimming burns slightly fewer calories than running, but since you don't get your body so overheated when you swim, you get hungrier. This is one reason I'm kind of glad I don't swim for exercise.
ReplySince the study didn't include the eating patterns of every individual, the variety of weight lose was most probably caused by the amount and variety of food that the subjects ate during that period.
ReplyEntangled, I didn't mean a person should eat very little. I meant, a person should eat something before exercising because in my case, it gets rid of my post-exercise hunger completely.
If, however, you're not able to eat much before exercise, then it's ok to eat a large amount after exercise (provided that you don't overdo it) because you continue to burn calories efficiently after exercise. If you didn't exercise and ate a lot, then you'd put on lots of weight, but if you did exercise, you have nothing to worry about.
And like you said, its very important to listen to your body's signals of hunger.
But with the case of people who feel hungry all the time, they really do have to restrain themselves to eating only, say, 3 times a day, with nothing in between. This is just an initial period where you train yourself to recognise when you're hungry and when you're merely craving stuff. After this period, people can go back to eating normally (but hopefully be slightly less controlled by the urge to cinstantly eat).
ReplyI believe that our bodies don't react the same way as others do. We should find something that works well for us and avoid comparing it with others.
ReplyIsn't it always?
I think the point of the study was just to point out that people doing the same workouts had different reactions to it. I immediately recognized myself as a 'compensator', as I always eat more after an aerobic workout.
I motivated myself to work out by enrolling in an independant study course (circuit training for an hour, 3 times a week - check out your local college - it was much cheaper than a gym!), and at the end of the semester, had put on a pound with no obvious body change (my clothes weren't fitting better, etc). I had to experience it myself (instead of believing my doctor when she tried to tell me) to understand that no amount of exercise will counteract a horrible diet. What works for me is to treat diet and exercise separately - and to work with a doctor I like and trust!
ReplyAlso, be aware of all those workout supplements, energy bars and sports drinks. They're nothing but processed fat, sugar and caffeine
Reply