An Easy Trick to Control Your Post-Workout Appetite
Hungry after a workout? Here’s an easy trick from Get-Fit Guy to keep your post-workout appetite in check. Don’t let your voracious appetite get in the way of your fitness goals.
Ben Greenfield
You’ve no doubt been there: you finish a fantastic workout, burn a ton of calories, and feel really great about the work you’ve put in. You pat yourself on the back, but when you arrive home, you’re suddenly famished. Before you know it, you stuff your face with everything in sight. Remorse sets in, and then you start thinking about ways to burn off all those calories you just ate with an even tougher workout the next day . But the vicious cycle starts over.
If this describes you, don’t let a voracious post-workout appetite undo your hard work get in the way of your fitness goals. Here’s a quick tip to keep yourself from getting hungry after a workout: Avoid long, slow workouts and instead go short and go intense.
A recent paper titled “Creating an acute energy deficit without stimulating compensatory increases in appetite: is there an optimal exercise protocol?” investigated the influence of exercise on appetite and energy intake (i.e. calorie face-stuffing) responses. The researchers reported that evidence suggests that low volume, supramaximal exercise, such as a long aerobic bike run or jaunt on the treadmill, may stimulate an increase in appetite perceptions during the subsequent hours.
In contrast, you’ll find that by getting in and out of the gym, or wherever else you happen to be exercising, as quickly and intensely as possible leaves you with a great workout, but less of a post-workout appetite. So what’s the minimal amount of exercise you can get away with? Get started with the strategies and workouts I describe in the article “What’s The Minimum Amount Of Exercise You Can Do?”
Do you have more questions about how to keep yourself from getting hungry after a workout? Then join the conversation over at Facebook.com/GetFitGuy!
Exhausted female runner image courtesy of Shutterstock
About the Author
Ben Greenfield received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of Idaho in sports science and exercise physiology; personal training and strength and conditioning certifications from the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA); a sports nutrition certification from the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN), an advanced bicycle fitting certification from Serotta. He has over 11 years’ experience in coaching professional, collegiate, and recreational athletes from all sports, and as helped hundreds of clients achieve weight loss and fitness success.