Why do you want to eat more when you exercise? Why does hunger occur after exercise? Wrong time to exercise

Those who are actively involved in sports or fitness know that after you give your best on the simulators, you don’t want to eat for a very long time. Obviously after exercise some mechanism is activated that suppresses appetite and hunger. But what is this mechanism?

Jay-hun Jongu (Jae Hoon Jeong) and his colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine came up with the idea that it was all about an increase in body temperature - we warm up quite a lot due to physical activity.

Thermoregulation, like appetite, depends on the hypothalamus, a small area in the brain that controls a variety of physiological processes. Each process has its own group of nerve cells, but maybe the hypothalamic neurons that regulate eating behavior also sense temperature?

Cells that suppress appetite are found in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus; their peculiarity is that they are able to directly feel the hormones and other substances that float in the blood (the brain, as we know, is protected from direct contact with the blood by the blood-brain barrier).

To find out if these neurons can respond to heat, the researchers treated them with the alkaloid capsaicin, which is found in hot peppers and which acts on heat receptors (which is why we feel how the pepper burns). An article in PLoS Biology says that two-thirds of the cells in the arcuate nucleus have sensed capsaicin - that is, they have heat receptors and are active.

From experiments with cells, they moved on to experiments on mice. When the animals were injected with a burning substance directly into the hypothalamus, into the region of these very neurons, the mice lost their appetite for 12 hours - they continued to eat, but ate noticeably less than usual. If heat receptors on neurons were blocked, then capsaicin did not suppress appetite.

When mice were run on a treadmill for 40 minutes, their temperature rose rapidly (including in the zone of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus) and remained elevated for an hour - and the mice after “fitness” also ate half as much as mice that did not exercise. But if mice ran on a treadmill with disabled thermal receptors on neurons, then they did not have any changes in their appetite - physical education did not affect their appetite.

That is, the hypothesis was confirmed: brain cells that suppress appetite really respond to heat. (To explain why this is necessary, for example, you can do this: a lot of physical activity happens when you have to run away from someone, and the desire to eat a hearty meal here would be inopportune.)

Most likely, the same mechanism has remained with us, and here you can come up with different variants how to use it for weight loss. Although what is there to come up with - you just need to go to the gym.

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Many women and men who are losing weight notice that after cardio training they really want to eat. As a result, some begin to eat and weight loss does not occur. Why this happens and how to overcome yourself we will tell further.

Causes of hunger after cardio training

Cardio training includes numerous exercises for all muscle groups. With them, it actively uses both legs and arms. As a result, after an hour of practice, there is hunger.

This is usually the result of combustion. a large number energy. Sometimes this is the result of doing fasting cardio, that is, doing exercises on an empty stomach and on an empty stomach.

It often happens when before cardio a person saturates his body with empty calories, that is, he does not include proteins in his diet, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates. Also, after exercise, those people suffer from hunger who overload their body, not allowing them to relax.

As a result, not only the stomach suffers, which did not receive the necessary trace elements, but the muscles also suffer the next day. It is important to approach training competently, it is better to connect professionals for this business, working with them.

Attention! Often physical hunger comes from emotions, stress, poor health. Slimming and saving beautiful figure is impossible without an appropriate positive attitude towards classes. Only with cheerfulness and happiness in the eyes can you achieve what you want. It is best to do cardio with your friends or under good music uplifting.

How to eliminate hunger and not get better?

After cardio training, there is a high risk of gaining weight as a result of eating baked goods or various diet bars. which they are not in fact. To prevent this from happening, you should take this moment into account in advance and collect a container of food for training in the gym or prepare breakfast or lunch with dinner on the table in advance.

Often the body after a workout is deceived, telling a person that he is hungry. In fact, he wants water. It is necessary to drink a glass of warm non-carbonated water 10 minutes before eating.

For a snack, it is best to use a salad filled with coarse fibers. , complex carbohydrates in the form of fruits or vegetables (it should be remembered that some fruits and vegetables are very high in calories, see the calorie table).

You can replace the salad and carbohydrates with nuts. 100 grams of nuts of different varieties will quickly satisfy your hunger. You can also try to make a fruit or vegetable fresh cocktail with a blender, but, as a rule, not everyone can eliminate their hunger. For saturation, you need to chew everything thoroughly.

Generally, cardio exercises involve all muscle groups and expend a lot of energy . As a result, a person wants not only to drink, but also to eat. To help your body and at the same time not suffer from hunger, you can use a light snack with complex carbohydrates, as well as drinking plenty of water.

Unfortunately, many novice athletes do not pay due attention to proper nutrition. They mistakenly believe that growth muscle mass you just need to exhaustingly train, and nutrition is a secondary matter. If you are one of these people, then we have to disappoint you: food before training and food after training plays a huge role in the process of bodybuilding! Here you can draw an analogy with the construction of a house: if workers during construction use cheap and low-quality materials, then they are unlikely to ever finish this house. The same is with bodybuilding: if a person eats everything, then he can forget about a beautiful and slender physique forever! The purpose of today's article is to tell you what to eat after a workout to gain mass or lose weight, as well as to bust a few myths associated with nutrition. Interested? Then we wish you a pleasant reading!

Why should you eat right after a workout?

We have already briefly said that a good diet is necessary to build a beautiful physique, but now we will reveal this issue in more detail. Proper post-workout food is key good recovery and muscle growth. Intense physical activity depletes water and energy reserves in the human body. In addition, while working with iron muscle fibers athletes are destroyed, and high-quality products are needed to restore them. Some people who want to get rid of extra pounds at all costs mistakenly believe that if they do not eat at all after a workout, then this will benefit their body. In fact, such a serious restriction in food, on the contrary, can seriously harm your health! In order to have good health throughout the day and strength for the next workouts, you need to replenish your energy reserves.

Protein-carbohydrate window

Almost every athlete who is actively involved in strength training V gym, sooner or later comes across such a concept as a "protein-carbohydrate window". According to supporters of this theory, within an hour after a workout, it is imperative to give your body those vitamins and microelements that it "lost" during intense physical activity. They believe that at the end of this time, catabolic processes are launched in the body that destroy our muscles, and do not contribute to their increase. It so happens that not all people have the opportunity to take food after training during this time. In such a situation, many athletes strongly recommend using some kind of sports nutrition(proteins, gainers, etc.). Many fitness portals and publications write about this theory, but is everything really as they claim? From here we smoothly move on to the next section, which has the answer to this question.

Post workout food for muscle growth. When should you use?

To answer this question, a group of athletes decided to conduct an experiment. They refused to use the gainer immediately after physical activities and instead began to eat regular protein food an hour after training. At the end of the experiment, its participants did not show any deterioration in the results, but, on the contrary, noted that such a meal after training had a positive effect on muscle growth. On top of that, the subjects noted that during the experiment their work improved. gastrointestinal tract. We can easily find an explanation for this in medicine. The fact is that after intensive work with iron in the next hour there is an outflow of blood from the muscles to internal organs(including to the gastrointestinal tract), which favorably affects the process of digestion of food.

Post workout food for weight loss

If your goal is to lose a few pounds excess fat, then the first 40 minutes you are strongly advised to refrain from eating. And the point here is not only in the better functioning of the gastrointestinal tract (as we wrote earlier), but in the fat-burning processes that take place during this period of time. For the first half an hour, an exhausted body takes energy reserves from the fat layer, thereby reducing it in size. If at this time you eat tightly, then the body will burn the calories received from the food eaten, and not the extra fat, which the training was aimed at combating.

Main principle proper nutrition For weight loss it sounds like this: you need to eat fewer calories than you spend, but not less than you need for the full functioning of the body. For people who are shedding excess body fat, post-workouts should focus on eating foods that contain a lot of protein (for example, eggs, cottage cheese, or other low-fat dairy products). You can also add protein shakes to your diet.

You should also not forget about carbohydrates (we are talking about slow carbohydrates, and not about fast ones, which are found in excess in sugar and sweets). In this case, fresh fruits, vegetables, berries and whole grain flour products are perfect. Do not forget about fruit and vegetable fresh juices, dried fruits and unsalted nuts.

When it comes to eating after workouts for weight loss in the evening, you can't help but say a word about fats. Many experts argue that fatty foods after exercise have a negative effect on your figure. In addition, fat and alimentary fiber slow down the digestion process. And you know what? They are absolutely right! But despite this, you should not completely exclude this element from your diet. After exercising in the gym, it is recommended to consume fats in an amount of no more than 10 grams.

Gaining muscle mass: what to eat

Eating after a workout to gain muscle mass is a topic that interests many athletes no less than food for weight loss. In fact, the difference between these diets is that when gaining muscle mass, a person should not limit himself in calories, but, on the contrary, consume them in sufficient quantities.

Post-workout meals should contain enough protein, slow carbohydrates, not be too high in calories and, most importantly, make you feel full. This is especially true for people who play sports in the evening and eat before bed. Here is a list of the best post-workout foods to increase muscle size:

Eggs (in the morning).
Seafood.
Yogurt.
Cottage cheese.
Boiled chicken.
Herbal teas.

After a meal, you should not feel hungry, but this does not mean that you should overeat and forcefully stuff food into yourself.

What should not be eaten at night?

As mentioned earlier, most people tend to train in the evening, after the end of the working day. The list of foods that we mentioned earlier can be consumed 1-2 hours before bedtime, but there are some foods that are best avoided if you eat after a workout at a late time. Their use may not have a very positive effect not only on the figure, but also on the quality of sleep. These include:

Meat products with a high content of calories.
Foods high in saturated fat.
Sweets.
Mushrooms.
Coffee and products containing cocoa.

Do you need sports nutrition?

This topic causes a lot of controversy among both beginners and professional athletes. Some argue that it is impossible to do without sports nutrition in bodybuilding and fitness, while others talk about its uselessness and absolute uselessness. Still, do you need to use sports nutrition? In fact, the answer to this question is as simple as 5 cents. Protein, gainer, creatine, etc. - that's it sports supplements(the key word here is "additives"). If you are able to provide yourself with good food containing a lot of proteins and high-quality carbohydrates, then there is not much point in buying a sports nutrition. But if, for example, you live very far from the gym and get home for a long time, or you have a busy work schedule in which you can’t even give yourself time to eat fully, then sports nutrition can really help you.

Protein: myths and reality

The importance of protein in the process of bodybuilding, we think, no one will dispute. Many beginners are ready to absorb tons of it so that their biceps increase at least a centimeter. Some athletes believe that after a workout you need to take a shock dose of protein, because only at this time it is well absorbed. In fact, that proteins and carbohydrates are normally synthesized by our body throughout the day, and therefore there is not much difference when exactly you take your protein product. This can be done both an hour after work in the hall, and during the next day.

The best product for the night

We have previously mentioned how important this product is, complete casein protein, which is ideal for a night's sleep. Casein fills muscle fibers with amino acids for 8 hours, promotes their growth and significantly slows down catabolic processes. As an alternative to cottage cheese, you can use a special casein mixture.

Importance of water

During exercise, the body loses a lot of water through sweat. Besides than more mass person, the more fluid he will release during training. With the departure of water from the body, the athlete gets tired faster, which is why productivity gradually decreases. Therefore, it is very important to drink enough liquid both during classes in the gym and after them.

We have already discussed with you the topic of food after training, gaining muscle mass and losing weight. Now it's time to give you some very important tips:

Make a diet based on your physical data, and not the data of other people. Do not forget that each person is individual and each needs a different approach in terms of nutrition and training.
Don't drink alcohol after your workout. Studies show that alcohol drunk after working with iron accelerates the catabolic processes of the body by 40%.
If you feel that changing your diet is getting worse every day, then be sure to consult a doctor! It is very important to consult with a specialist on the topic of dietary changes from the very beginning in order to avoid problems in the future.

Your attention was presented an article on the topic: "Food for muscles after training." We hope that in this publication you have found a lot of interesting information that answered your questions.

Post-workout snacking is a common mistake: it's hard to accurately estimate the number of calories burned per session, so some people go too far in their desire to replenish energy reserves. Artyom Sokolov got acquainted with the results of the research and is now ready to explain why you so want a piece of cake after the hall.

Researchers from the University of Massachusetts conducted a study: they observed the behavior of 88 students who were shown pictures of pastries and cakes interspersed with pictures of everyday items such as light bulbs or clocks. During the exercise, each of the participants held a joystick in their hands, and the authors of the study assessed the position of the joystick relative to the body at the moment the pictures on the screen changed. Sympathy for one or another object in the image was expressed by the movement of the hands towards the body. Then half of the participants had to pedal for several minutes on an exercise bike, the second - to perform some memory development exercises and start viewing images again.

As a result, the group of participants who performed the exercise on a stationary bike showed great liking for the different kinds of sweets shown in the picture. The researchers theorized that this change is due to a desire to replenish the calories burned during exercise.

It is important to note that the way to find out the liking for certain foods was not chosen by chance: this way you can track people's implicit food choices. Such phenomena underlie the behavior of each person and do not depend on the type of personality, goals or attitudes towards certain products. It is with this that the desire to drink a milkshake as a reward for the work done in training is connected.

In 2014, scientists from Cornell University were able to prove that those who think of exercise as work are more likely to overeat after they finish, while people who enjoy exercising are less likely to eat something. that's superfluous.

Brian Vansink

professor at Cornell University, author of the study

Listen to music, watch videos or work out - whatever you do, try to feel relieved that you don't have to sit in the office right now. Anything that makes you smile and feel satisfied will eventually encourage you to eat less.

Vadim Krylov

nutritionist, founder online systems proper nutrition "Right Diet"

In fitness clubs we often meet people with overweight who have been going there for quite some time. They exercise regularly, but they can't seem to lose weight. To solve this problem, it is necessary first of all to understand how our body works during physical activity. In the first 40 minutes of training, a store of carbohydrates is burned. Fat begins to burn after these 40 minutes. That is why many whose workouts last 20-30 minutes cannot reduce their own weight, although the benefits of playing sports are undoubtedly present - the muscles are strengthened and maintained in good shape. The difference is absurd - you can just walk in the park for 45 minutes, of which five minutes will burn fat, while an active 20-minute workout in the gym does not help burn even a gram of fat.

The problem of overeating after a workout begins with the fact that a person may not eat before a workout, in which case the body will not receive enough energy for active work. I recommend eating carb-rich foods about 1.5 hours before a workout. It is important to understand that eating immediately before going to the gym or jogging will not be beneficial - the food must be digested.

After training, the body will not have enough carbohydrates, and it will require them. In fact, the desire to eat cake after class is dictated by animal instincts. But unlike animals, we can limit ourselves and choose food that will bring more benefit. Since most of us exercise in order to lose weight or keep our body in good shape, a large amount of carbohydrates after a workout will not be of any benefit. After exercise, I recommend eating some fruit (but not a banana) and some protein food to give the muscles the necessary nutrients. You should not completely abandon carbohydrates either: you can eat a small amount of carbohydrates that will be digested for a long time - rice, buckwheat and other cereals. You can also trick the body and eat vegetables to fill the satiety phase. Thus we saturate the body useful products, while our instincts require us to eat fatty, sweet or fried foods.

Damn what to do??? I don't want to eat after my workout. ZERO appetite. and got the best answer

Answer from Yoergey Ermakov[guru]
I don’t remember where, but I read that “only the program that wakes up your appetite suits you.” I myself choose a program for myself and after each workout I have a brutal appetite. Maybe you need to adjust the program (reduce the number of sets or the number of repetitions, or change the training time or the duration of the workout itself, etc.) Or you can try to work out not for the result, but just pumping with very light weights until the appetite returns. Before, when I did not know about these techniques, the drug LIV-52 and pickled cucumbers, and tomatoes and their rosol helped me.

Answer from Alexey Goryunov[guru]
stop exercising!

Answer from Єarhat[active]
Yes, this is always the case if endurance training ... I sometimes just drink plenty of water or eat a little ...

Answer from Sarald the Harsh[guru]
you are an unreal mutant

Answer from inca[guru]
you have to force yourself, but who is it easy? (replenish water)

Answer from Yovetlana Goncharova[guru]
You are strange people, like you all do sports, but you don’t know basic things, it’s normal that after a workout you don’t want to eat, moreover, after a workout you can’t eat for two hours, by the way, it’s also advisable not to eat two hours before a workout.

Answer from Synck[guru]
Try to eat three or four hours before training.

Answer from Ludmila Rozyaeva[active]
Whenever you train, be it endurance training, you never want to eat, in addition to this, it is not allowed to eat for 30 minutes to 1.30, as this can damage your health ... and the fact that you do not want to eat is good, it means that you trained and it is considered correct

Answer from Alexander B.[guru]
What don't you want? Somewhere in 1-1.5 hours I sit down to eat after a workout, immediately, as soon as I left the gym, of course, the food won’t fit.

Answer from Yovoya Game[guru]
It happened to me, rarely of course, when there were any problems (outside thoughts, the program did not fit, etc.) - I ate through force because it was nada! 😀

Answer from Peter Alesandrov[guru]
.... sequence is important.... First of all, you lost energy and water, so first drink sweet tea, but not with flour, but maximum marmalade... . And after that, after an hour, I think your appetite will visit you))

Answer from Irresistible handsome[active]

Answer from Refugee Nikita[newbie]
Immediately after a workout, you need to take a shower as cold as possible, this will lower the body temperature and provoke the production of the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for the feeling of hunger.