10 TIPS ON HOW TO AVOID OVEREATING AFTER WORKING OUT

10 Tips on how to avoid overeating after working out

When you’ve had a good workout, it’s tempting to think that you deserve a big treat. After all, you must have burned off enough calories, right? Well, be careful, because research has shown that people often over indulge after a workout and eat more calories than they just burned off. If you are worried about that and if despite all your hard work, you are still not losing weight fast enough, check out these ten tips that can help you avoid overeating after exercise.

1. Eat a small snack before you work out

Eating a healthy snack before a workout will give you more energy for your exercise and it will help your muscles to recover, post workout. It will also help to avoid feeling too hungry after your exercising and so, will help you to eat less.

2. Time your workouts to be just before a regular meal

How to avoid overeating after working out? If you always feel hungry after a workout, try timing your meals to be just before you would normally eat anyway. That way, you can satisfy your post-workout hunger with the same number of calories that you would have eaten anyway.

3. Don’t overestimate the calorie burn

Most people overestimate the amount of energy and calories that hey burn in a workout. It might feel that you’ve worked hard enough to have burned a huge number of calories, but researchers have found that people tend to hugely overestimate the amount of energy they used by as much as 400% and consume three to four times the amount of food that they need really to account for this.

4. Keep yourself hydrated

Although water doesn’t keep you feeling full for very long, it is easy to confuse thirst with hunger. So our next tip on how to avoid overeating after working out is to drink plenty of water during the day and, especially, when you are working out. Water will give you more energy to exercise and it will help you not to feel so hungry after a workout.

5. Make exercise more fun

Some interesting research was done at Cornell University that suggested that post workout hunger is more of a physiological thing than a real need for food. When they told a group of people that they were going on a walk for exercise, that group ate far more food after the walk than another group who were told they were going on a walk for pleasure. It would seem then, if you make your workouts less of a chore, then you won’t feel like eating so much afterward.

6. Drink a glass of milk (or soy milk)

A glass of low-fat milk (or soy milk) will provide you with all the protein that you need to help rebuild your muscles and it will help to satisfy your hunger too. It is also better for your long term athletic performance than sports drinks, which only have a short term effect.

7. Eat regular snacks through the day

Another tip on how to avoid overeating after working out is to eat often, but small portions. If you have a snack, every three to four hours, during the day, then it will keep your body topped up with fuel for exercise later. You will still need to be calorie conscious with your snacks, but it has been shown many times, that people who eat regularly eat less overall.

8. Break the habit

It could simply be that you have got into the habit of eating after every workout and you always eat the same thing, regardless of how strenuous your workout. Most people do agree that a post-workout snack is good for replenishing your supply of nutrients to the muscles, but still pay attention to how hungry you feel and how hard you have exercised.

9. Snack when exercising for any real length of time

If you are going on a long walk or bike ride, then our next tip on how to avoid overeating after working out is to eat and drink, as you go. If you take on board some nourishment during any type of exercise that lasts for more than two hours, then you won’t feel so ravenous at the end.

10. Only eat if you really need to

Having said that it is good to eat something after a workout, you still should be listening to what your body is telling you. If you are not hungry, then don’t force yourself to eat just because you read you need to, somewhere on the internet!

How to avoid overeating after working out? What are your best tips?

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