Hungry After Workout? 3 Tips To Avoid Overeating

Do you worry about overeating after your workout? Can't control your urge to eat a cheeseburger or pancake?

Don't worry, you are not alone.

Read on to learn about why you go hungry after exercising and what to do about it. If you would prefer not to red about the reasons, scroll to the bottom of the article for the three very helpful tips. 

Reason #1: Low-Intensity Workouts

One of the several reasons why you go hungry after a workout session could be the nature of workout you are doing. 

Research on the subject has shown that our bodies produce less of the hunger hormone ghrelin if the exercises are more intense.

This means that a long but low-intensity session could possibly be the reason why you feel the hunger.

Doing high-intensity interval training (or HIIT) can help. Such bursts of energy can prove helpful in suppressing your hunger hormone.

A research study showed that HIIT demonstrates positive results in appetite suppression, weight loss, hormone balance, and energy expenditure.

High-intensity workouts are also better for improving your physical strength and controlling the metabolism too.

Reason #2: Low levels of Hydration

If you feel hungry after an intense workout session, it could be a sign of dehydration. It's likely that your body may mistake thirst for hunger, which is why you need to be hydrated during the workout.

Dehydration also leads to more wear and tear in the muscles, so you should avoid it at all costs.

If you find it challenging to keep a track of your water intake, there are mobile apps available on the app store which will keep reminding you of drinking water at your chosen intervals and also note the amount of water intake on a daily basis.

Here's how to maintain adequate levels of hydration:

Reason #3: Workout Psychology

You can change the results from your workout regime just by altering your perception about exercising.

Researchers at the Cornell University have figured out a link between your psychology and food cravings post-workout. According to the study, if you think about working out less as a task and more as something you enjoy doing can help reduce the post-workout cravings.

Researchers asked volunteers to walk 1.4 miles. Half of them were told it was for the purpose of exercise and the other half were told that it was just a stroll to enjoy the scenery.

The "exercise" group ended up eating 35% more dessert (chocolate pudding, in this case) than the "scenic stroll" group. Another experiment showed similar results when volunteers were given post-walk snacks.

The "exercise" group consumed 124% more calories as compared to the other group.Adding zeal to your workout routine may also help a lot.

If you love music, find the right pair of headphones to amp up your mood. Create the perfect environment and mindset for following the routine, so that you look forward to working out instead of just "showing up".

Reason #4: Low Glycogen and Energy

Our body tends to burn a good deal of calories during a workout session and hence the cravings to make up for that loss. The reason behind this is the depletion of Glycogen levels in the body.

Glycogen is responsible for the sudden boost of energy in the body in the moments the situation demands it.

Such situations include fight-or-flight encounters and working out too. In order to replenish the Glycogen levels, you need to eat foods high in calories.

So even if you've taken care of the top 3 reasons, chances are you may still go hungry and overeat.

It's advisable to eat a pre-workout snack at least half an hour before your workout session. This will help not just improve your performance but also avoid depletion in energy stores of your body.

Make it a habit of eating a low calorie, high-protein, high-carb snack after working out and eat your dinner at a little later time. Here's a list of 20 snacks that burn fat too.

Taking care of this aspect of your body's requirements will:

If you decide to stick with this plan of action, you will feel satiated by eating less. Slowly and gradually, your body will adapt to this new healthy eating habit.

Reason 5: Habit of Mindless Eating

Many of us have developed a habit of eating mindlessly while being busy with our lives. Multitasking and distractions have ruined the meal.

If you put aside all the distractions of the modern life, from TV to smart phones—you will spend more time deriving satisfaction out of your meals, which in turn will make you feel less hungry later on in the day.

At times, you may feel as if you really need to increase your daily intake.

But if you are not running more than an hour per day, you probably don't need to increase your diet. Having said this, you still need to ensure that you are recompensating the body adequately post-workout.

A high-intensity interval training (HIIT) session can use up your body's glycogen reserves, so you will need to increase the ratio of carbs to protein. It's advisable to go for a 3:1 to 4:1 ratio (carbs to protein).

For supporting an intensive weight-training workout that usually results in microtears in the muscles, the body needs a meal that has a ratio of carb to protein around 2:1 or 1:1.

One of the best solutions is to mix fruits (which act as fast-acting carbs) and high-fiber whole grains (slower-acting carbs).

Such a blend will be helpful in restoring the glycogen levels pretty quickly, since adding protein to carbs is proven to increase the process of glycogen resynthesis. This will support the refueling of muscles and repairing any tissues damaged during the day.

Consuming low-fat dairy is also a great option as a recovery food. It provides a decent amount of protein to fill you up until your next planned meal.

In addition to this, studies have shown that drinks like low-fat chocolate milk can help improve athletic performance much better than regular sports drinks.