How different types of exercise affect your appetite

 

Do you find yourself eating everything in sight after a long run or bike ride?

That's a very common occurrence after "steady cardio": studies have always shown that low and moderate intensity cardio for a longer period of time inevitably lead to a higher level of hunger post exercise.

This is part of the reason why many amateur endurance athletes struggle to lose weight (it's not strange to see overweight marathon runners for example).

(Over-eating post-exercise is not the main reason why some endurance athletes struggle to lose weight though, I've talked about the actual reasons in other blogs / videos).

This new study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology compared the impact of different forms of exercise on "appetite".

They split the subjects into 4 groups and compared their appetite (how many calories they consumed and effect on appetite regulating hormones):

Group 1: moderate intensity carido

Group 2: High intensity

Group 3: Sprint (very high intensity)

Group 4: no exercise

All 3 forms of exercise reduced appetite compared to Group 4. However, both High Intensity as well as Sprint training both reduced appetite hormones more than "moderate" intensity exercise.

In fact, high intensity exercise resulted in lower appetite "the next day" as well, while the others didn't (I would speculate that Sprint training didn't impact the next day because such "very" high intensity training tends to be shorter in duration compared to regular high intensity exercise).

Bottom line: impact on appetite (and appetite regulating hormones) is yet another reason why High Intensity exercise is far superior to "steady cardio" for fitness, body composition, and overall health.

Tony

shutterstock_562987876.jpg