Does Working Out Make You Hungrier?
By Sara Butler
Sometimes, when you get home from a workout at the gym, you can feel like a bottomless pit, racking up additional steps as you go in and out of your kitchen to eat. Anecdotal evidence aside, the question remains if working out makes you hungrier. According to a new study, even high levels of exercise may not make you hungrier. Here’s what you need to know.
People Tend to Compensate
Between the two groups studied, the group with the higher level of exercise didn’t tend to eat more than the group that exercised less. Regardless of how much exercise they got, they still ate about the same. One of the interesting things that came out of the study is that people, no matter their exercise level, tend to compensate calories throughout the week -- something many people don’t even realize they’re doing.
Find Your Style
As far as compensation for calories goes, there are a few different approaches people tend to take. Some people overcompensate, which leads to weight gain even while being active. Some people compensate just a little and manage to work slowly toward their health and wellness goals, while another group of people doesn’t compensate at all and achieves results faster. The key is to figure out what kind of compensator you are and adjust what you’re doing to be more in line with your health and wellness goals.
In the End
If you want to achieve and maintain a healthy weight, there are two things you can do. The first is to simply exercise five to six days a week and forget counting calories or changing your eating habits. The second is to keep track of how much you eat each day while you only work out a little bit. If you choose the latter, then you must keep a log of everything you eat so you can be aware if you’re compensating for calories or not. It will help your efforts to work toward a healthy weight.
Achieving a healthy weight and maintaining it isn’t always easy but analyzing your patterns and habits can help you understand why something may not be working. Being aware of what you’re doing in the first step toward better health. If you have questions, discuss it with the chiropractors at The Joint!
To learn more about your health, wellness, and fitness, see your local chiropractor at The Joint Chiropractic in Austin, Tex.