You would think exercising can help you lose weight by burning more calories. However, exercising can also make you want to eat more. This could be one reason why some people find it hard to lose weight.
Obesity Problem
Over 42 percent of Americans are considered obese. Physical exercise is important to help people burn calories and lose weight. But what if exercise also influence your eating habits and make you want to eat more?
Unfortunately, that can be the case. But don’t worry, we’ll show you how to overcome that problem and get you on your way to losing weight.
Scientists at the Technical University of Munich and the University of Nebraska did indeed find that people do overeat after physical exercise.
Exercise Can Make You Want to Eat More
They surveyed forty-one healthy participants (23 women, 18 men) aged between 19 and 29 years with an average BMI of 23.7. The participants were asked before exercising, immediately after exercising, and then 30 minutes after exercising about their hunger level and the amount of food they feel like eating.
It turns out that physical exercise can entice you to eat more food quickly after the exercise session. Even 30 minutes after exercising, the participants felt like eating more. This may be counter-productive for losing weight. Since many people exercise to lose weight, they may lose motivation if they don’t see any results.
The study was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nutrients (January 2021).
Does this mean you’ll have a hard time losing weight even with exercising? Not really, we’ll tell you how to benefit from exercise and keep burning those calories.
Plan Your After-Exercise Food Intake
You don’t have to sweat off the calories and then end up gaining them back by eating more after exercising. The secret is to plan out what and how much you want to eat afterwards before you start to exercise. And then stick to that plan. This way you don’t succumb to the effect described in this study. One way is to pre-make your food.
So keep up your exercise regimen and benefit from the exercise. With some self-control, you’ll be on your way to achieving your weight loss goals.
