Valentin Bosioc
As you know, getting proper exercise is essential to maintaining your fitness and living a healthy lifestyle. Some people work out to lose weight, others to gain weight, and some just want to live a healthy and active life. Regardless of why you work out, to achieve the best possible results, you must mix a nutritious diet in with your fitness routine. However, eating right and getting the right nutrients can be a struggle even for people who exercise regularly. One of the things that makes it hard for people who exercise regularly to eat right is they often feel hungry after an intense workout.
What do you do when you’ve just burnt a lot of calories and your stomach starts growling? After all, you don’t want to work your butt off and then eat away all your fitness gains. However, you don’t want to starve yourself as part of your fitness strategy. We understand that many people deal with post-workout hunger, but did your exercising cause your hunger? Continue reading to learn if exercise can make you hungry and get some tips to prevent and handle the post-workout munchies.
Does exercising arouse your appetite?
So, the question of the hour is, can exercising make you hungry? In short, the answer is yes, but probably not for the reasons you think. It only makes sense that an intense workout would leave your body wanting calories to replace what you lost, right? Wrong. In fact, whether you feel hungry and how hungry you feel after a workout has little to do with how many calories you burned. If you feel hungry after a workout, a probable cause could be a drop in your blood sugar, which could explain why you reach for your favorite candy bar or gummies after a workout. If you feel like you need to increase your blood sugar after a workout, ACV gummies are a healthy alternative to other sugary foods that could hurt the progress you’re making.
Your post-workout hunger is likely (at least partly) psychological.
Even though exercising can cause hunger, your hunger could also be a mind thing. Your mind knows after a workout that you’ve burned a lot of calories, and it may feel that it needs to replace them. However, that’s not always the case. Part of living a healthy lifestyle is exercising discipline. So, if you find yourself picturing your favorite meal after a workout session, try replacing that image with one of you squeezing into some new arrivals from Chico’s, including denim jeans a waist size smaller than what you wear now.
There are ways to prevent post-workout hunger.
The good news for people who suffer from post-workout hunger is that there are ways to prevent your appetite from taking control after burning calories. One way is to ensure you eat the proper nutrients before your workout. Many experts say it’s a good idea to eat whole grains and fresh fruits before a workout, as they’ll provide the body with the carbs it needs, reducing the chances of your body pulling from its sugar reserves.
Snack on this after a workout.
Even though we’ve pointed out that your post-workout hunger could be in your mind, we’re not saying you shouldn’t eat after a workout. As we mentioned earlier, it’s about making sure you don’t eat away the progress you’re making. However, there are plenty of healthy post-workout snacks and meals that will help optimize the work you’re doing in the gym. Foods high in protein, such as eggs, chicken, fish, nuts, and legumes, make great after-workout meals. It’s a good idea to consult a dietician to learn about more post-workout food options.
