Each of us, coming home after physical activity, may experience a strong feeling of hunger, but what to do if after training you don’t feel like eating at all? Is this normal?

Most likely, the problem lies in an incorrect and unbalanced diet under conditions of physical activity. It is possible that you eat significantly more calories before training than your body loses in one exercise session. In this mode you will never be able to get rid of excess weight.

Nutrition depends on two factors:

  1. Time spent training.
  2. Type of training (aerobic or strength training).

For weight loss there will be effective classes on an empty stomach early in the morning. IN given time During the day, the body has the least amount of glycogen, so it will receive all its energy by breaking down fat.

If you play sports to build muscles, then you need to eat a hearty meal an hour before starting your workout. It is best if these are complex carbohydrates (oatmeal, rice or pasta).

After class, you should not immediately pounce on food if you want to lose excess weight. You feel hungry because during physical exercise you have launched the fat burning mechanism. Now you need to wait an hour or an hour and a half until it is most active. Afterwards you can have a light snack.

Avoid fats and caffeine after exercise. These substances prevent the entry of proteins into the blood. Therefore, if you feel hungry after a workout, then wait a little time and eat light food (fresh vegetable salad, fruit, cottage cheese, low-fat yogurt).

Find out why you feel hungry after a workout, whether you should eat after the gym, and how carbohydrates affect your body.

Why do you feel hungry after training?


This problem is especially relevant for novice athletes. Many of them say that the lesson has not yet ended, and they are already hungry. Most people prefer to endure it because they are sure that eating food immediately after training reduces its effectiveness. One of the main reasons for hunger after exercise is an improperly adjusted diet.

Most often, people, having decided to get rid of excess weight or pump up, purchase a gym membership and start doing a lot of exercises. As a result, they return home exhausted and it is quite obvious that the desire for a snack in this case is simply enormous. Such a system will not bring you the success you desire. In order not to feel hungry after training, you need to eat well two hours before the start of the training. As a result, you will have the desire to eat about 40 minutes after training.

First we need to find out who is doing the fasted training:

  • those who decide to train in the morning;
  • if you need to attend classes after work;
  • losing weight, confident in the effectiveness of this approach.
However, you must remember that this approach to organization training process Not only is it unable to bring positive results, but it can even harm the body. Let's look at two situations.

The first example would be a morning jog. The man did not eat until about eight or nine o'clock, and there is no doubt that he will have a strong appetite upon returning home. In addition, people often wake up with a strong feeling of hunger. If in such a situation you do not have breakfast and immediately go for a run, then hunger after training cannot be avoided.

In the second case, a person goes to the gym immediately after a working day. This suggests that between four and six o'clock in the evening he did not eat. We will not focus on those processes that are activated in the body during training. Let us only note the fact that already at the twentieth minute of training there are no glucose reserves left in the body and at the end of the training the body requires them to be replenished in a short time. The most dangerous thing about feeling hungry after exercise is not the appetite itself, but the fact that you can eat unhealthy foods.

How to get rid of hunger after exercise?


As we have already said, first of all you should eat before the start of the training:
  1. If the class is held in the morning, then it’s worth at least drinking a glass of juice (freshly squeezed). The body will quickly process it and increase its glucose reserves.
  2. When you go to the gym after work, at the end of the working day you should eat foods containing complex carbohydrates, such as porridge. Fruits will also work.
Exercising in relatively cold temperatures can also lead to post-workout hunger. This is possible at that moment if you train in temperatures less than 15 degrees. The situation is similar with exercises in the pool. The body must expend energy not only to perform movements, but also to maintain body temperature.

If you have swum in the pool, then you know that after training you really want to eat something, preferably with a high energy value. If you prefer to train on fresh air, then you should take a responsible approach to choosing clothes. When you plan to swim, don't spend more than 30 minutes in the pool.

Severe hunger may appear after high intense workout. The reason for what is happening is quite obvious - high glycogen consumption. The more active you train, the more energy your body has to expend. To avoid hunger after a high-intensity workout, you need to find a compromise. When playing sports, it is important to have a sense of proportion, for example, train for 30 minutes, do not use high intensity, take fruit or cottage cheese with you.

What to do if you feel hungry after training?


Let's see what you should do if you really want to eat after training. Let's start with the fact that your activity should not be the point after which you need to deny yourself food. Moreover, it is even necessary to have a snack. When the body receives nutrients after physical activity, regenerative processes accelerate. Glycogen reserves are quickly restored, and after this, the restoration of microdamage to muscle tissue begins.

To get rid of the feeling of hunger after training, we recommend doing the following:

  • chicken breast (boiled);
  • egg white omelette without adding yolks;
  • low-fat cottage cheese;
  • squid (boiled or steamed);
  • vegetable salads seasoned with olive oil, but in small quantities.
Undoubtedly, proper organization nutrition in general and after training in particular has a lot of nuances. We should not forget about the individuality of each person’s body. For some, the norm is to drink a glass of kefir after exercise, while another athlete says that at this time fermented milk products are not absorbed in his body.

Some compare hunger with thirst, arguing that if you drink enough water throughout the day, then your body will not drink more than what it needs. We can absolutely say that after training, water is necessary, but hunger may not immediately disappear. We can recommend that you conduct an experiment and determine what is best for you.

Fasting and exercise


Today there is a lot of talk about the system of intermittent fasting. If you analyze the reviews about it, you get the impression that it is quite high efficiency. Let's try to figure out how sports can be connected with fasting.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting for Athletes

Let's start with the advantages that fans of this technique talk about:

  1. Insulin sensitivity increases, and the body responds better to carbohydrates from food.
  2. Research has found significant improvements in health, affecting all systems of our body.
  3. Metabolic processes are accelerated.
  4. The body synthesizes norepinephrine more intensively, which leads to an increase in energy reserves.
  5. The production of somatotropin accelerates, which leads to a restructuring of energy metabolism to use fat, and protein compounds are used exclusively to solve plastic problems.
  6. Appetite decreases, although many are sure of the opposite. If you fast properly, your appetite will not increase.
  7. Convenient from a practical point of view, because there is no need to carry containers of food with you.
Quite often you can hear complaints from athletes that split meals do not allow them to reduce their appetite and everything happens exactly the opposite. Not every person can be satisfied with small portions of food and it may be better to eat less often, but eat a lot of foods at once. Only one thing is obvious in this matter - each person must find the optimal diet for himself.

Is it necessary to exclude carbohydrates from the diet?


The effect of hunger on human performance is directly related to evolution. Our ancestors did not have the opportunity to refuel with carbohydrates before hunting or collecting plants. They were forced to alternate periods of fasting with times when food was plentiful.

However, even on an empty stomach it is necessary to look for food, because otherwise it is impossible to survive. Scientists are confident that our genetics have not undergone major changes since the times of the caveman. This allows us to assume that even today we can perform a large amount of work without additional carbohydrate fuel.

To obtain energy, the body is able to use not only carbohydrates, but also fats. In the average person's body, the carbo reserve is about 500 calories, but the fat reserve can be much higher. For example, your weight is 75 kilos and a quarter of this weight is fat. Thus, the energy reserve in the body will exceed 160 thousand calories.

Aerobic exercise activates the processes of utilization of adipose tissue and fats are burned first. The body is able to adapt to physical activity and a person becomes stronger, faster and more beautiful. When you fast and train against this background, the body begins to use its existing fat reserves more efficiently. We again come to the logical conclusion that exercise combined with a carbohydrate deficit can help you lose fat. The situation is similar with the intermittent fasting system.

The body creates glycogen reserves from carbohydrates supplied with food. Moreover, they are stored not only in the muscles, but also in the liver. If muscle glycogen is needed only to provide muscle energy, then the substance located in the liver is used to nourish the brain.

There are a lot of studies, the results of which prove the importance of consuming sources of carbohydrates before the start, during and after completing the exercise. It is important to consume enough carbohydrates during high-intensity training. In this mode of operation, the body primarily uses carbohydrates. Fats become the main source of energy only if leisurely movements are made.

When doing an intense workout lasting more than an hour, scientists recommend taking 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates every 60 minutes. One of the main reasons for the lack of progress when losing weight is the high frequency of replenishing carbohydrate stores. Say, to burn all the calories contained in a regular bottle sports drink, you may need about 30 minutes of leisurely work on an exercise bike or treadmill. If you eat immediately after training, you may well gain weight.

If you have heard about the intermittent fasting system, then you probably know its basic principle - you fast for 16 hours, and during the remaining 8 you eat three times. It should be noted that this technique is actively used not only for weight loss, but also for gaining muscle mass. If you don't trust the reviews that are on the official website of the intermittent fasting system, then there are results scientific experiment. It was conducted by British scientists and confirms the fact that during fasting, growth factors are activated and it is easier for an athlete to gain muscle mass.

Ring! This is exactly the sound that appears in the mind after a workout: hunger has “woke up”, “stretched” and is ready to “sit down at the table”. Today on the weight loss portal “Lose Weight Without Problems” we talk about why it occurs, whether you need to relieve hunger or whether you should be patient. Let's work together to develop a strategy for the correct behavior in this case.

Why does the workout end with a strong appetite?

Many who are just starting to hone their figure complain that before the workout is over, they already want something. At the same time, they try their best to endure it, because it seems that otherwise the efforts in the gym will be in vain.

One of the reasons is poor nutrition. Having decided to lose weight at all costs, you buy a gym membership and begin to intensively perform all the exercises you can, without missing a single one. group lesson and you literally crawl home. And I want to eat. This is the wrong scheme.

To avoid feeling very hungry after a workout, you need to eat 2 hours or an hour before it. Then hunger will arise forty or even ninety minutes later.

Wrong time to exercise

Let's figure out who trains on an empty stomach:

  • those who choose to study in the morning,
  • those who go to classes after work,
  • who decided that this was the right thing to do, because it would help them lose excess weight faster.

Let us immediately note that such training is not only not useful, but even harmful.

  • Let's imagine situation number one. Morning running. You haven’t eaten for about eight to ten hours anyway, it’s clear that after a run your appetite will be simply brutal. And many people already wake up with a feeling of emptiness in their stomach. How can you go for a run instead of breakfast and expect that hunger will not arise?
  • Situation number two. You go to classes immediately after finishing your work day. That is, you haven’t eaten for four to six hours. We will not delve into all the processes that occur in the body at this time and are activated during exercise. Let’s just say that since from about the twentieth minute the body begins to feel a lack of glucose, by the time the lesson ends it will require you to replenish your reserves.

What are the benefits of training on an empty stomach? The most dangerous thing is that you want not just to eat something, but to eat something harmful, sweet, in huge quantities.

Work on mistakes

In order not to get the opposite effect to the expected one, you need to eat before training.

  • In the morning, at least drink a glass. It is digested once or twice and gives your body the necessary supply of glucose.
  • After work - at the very end of the working day, before going to the fitness club, eat porridge or some fruit rich in carbohydrates. For example, banana.

Too cold

Working out in cool temperatures also makes you hungry. These are outdoor activities when it is 10 to 15 degrees Celsius. Or classes in the pool, the same water aerobics. In such cases, energy is spent not just to move, but also to keep warm.

That’s why, after swimming a lot in the pool or doing aqua aerobics in a group, you want to eat something high-calorie and fatty. Who said that hunger is not a problem? An auntie, and what a one: with an excellent appetite. Provided that you exercise in the cold. Then you will want to throw a whole feast after such a load.

The way out of this situation is this.. If it is a swimming pool, then let the training not last longer than half an hour.

High intensity training

The feeling of extreme hunger after an intense workout is due to the fact that you spend a lot of glycogen from a large amount of exercise and increased heart rate.

The way out of this situation is measure in everything or compromises. The measure is a workout from an hour to an hour and a half, not too intense, at medium “powers”. Or a compromise: to have a snack right after class, take fruit or boiled meat in a container.

What should you not eat or drink, although you really want to?

When your workout is over, you may want to, if not eat something sweet and fatty, then at least drink coffee. All this will definitely not benefit you.

What is allowed?

Training should not be some kind of boundary, after which it’s all over, not a bite in your mouth. On the contrary, it is better to satisfy your hunger. Yes and muscle will recover faster.

Fuck, what should I do??? I don't want to eat after a workout. ZERO appetite. and got the best answer

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

Answer from Alexey Goryunov[guru]
stop training!


Answer from Yarhat[active]
Yes, this is always the case when training for endurance... 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 has it easy? (replenish water)


Answer from Yovetlana Goncharova[guru]
You are strange people, you seem to be doing sports all the time, 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 Sync[guru]
Before training, try to eat three or four hours before training.


Answer from Lyudmila Rozyaeva[active]
Always when you are training, be it endurance training, you never feel like eating, in addition to this, you are not allowed to eat for about 30 minutes before 1.30 as it can harm your health... and the fact that you don’t feel like eating is good, it means that you trained and it’s considered correct


Answer from Alexander B.[guru]
What don't you want at all? About 1-1.5 hours later I sit down to eat after training, immediately as soon as I left the gym, of course the food won’t work.


Answer from Yovoya Game[guru]
This has happened to me, rarely of course, when there were any problems (stray thoughts, the program was not suitable, etc.) - I ate through force because I had to! 😀


Answer from Petr Alesandrov[guru]
....consistency is important.... You first of all lost energy and water, so first drink sweet tea, but not with flour, and marmalade at most.. . And after that, in an hour, I think your appetite will visit you))


Answer from Irresistible handsome man[active]

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

Those who are actively involved in sports or fitness know that after you've worked hard on the machines, you don't feel like eating for a very long time. Obviously, after exercise, some mechanism is activated that suppresses appetite and hunger. But what kind of mechanism is this?

Jae-hoon Jonggu (Jae Hoon Jeong) and his colleagues from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine came up with the idea that it’s all about an increase in body temperature - after all, we warm up quite a lot due to physical activity.

Thermoregulation, like appetite, depends on the hypothalamus, a small region in the brain that controls a wide variety of physiological processes. For each process there is its own group of nerve cells, but perhaps the hypothalamic neurons that regulate feeding 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 sense 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 see if these neurons could respond to heat, the researchers treated them with the alkaloid capsaicin, which is found in hot peppers and which specifically targets heat receptors (which is why we feel peppers burn). An article in PLoS Biology states that two-thirds of the cells in the arcuate nucleus sensed capsaicin - that is, they have heat receptors and are active.

From experiments with cells we moved on to experiments on mice. When animals were injected with a burning substance directly into the hypothalamus, in the area of ​​these same 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 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 with thermal receptors on their neurons turned off ran on a treadmill, then they did not have any changes in appetite - physical exercise did not affect their appetite.

That is, the hypothesis was confirmed: brain cells that suppress appetite actually respond to heat. (You can explain why this is necessary, for example, like this: large exercise stress happens when you have to run away from someone, and the desire to eat a hearty meal would be inappropriate here.)

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

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