5 Easy tricks to ward off hunger after exercise & bull; hello healthy

After a bikram yoga class, you've burned hundreds of calories after sweating a "baked" sweat in a hot room for an hour and a half. So … It's okay, right, to indulge in a bowl of mixed ice on the way home? Eits, wait a minute.

Research shows that we tend to reward ourselves with large portions of empty calorie snacks after exercise, and that often the number of calories consumed after a blind meal due to hunger after exercise is just as large - if not more - than what is burned.

Why do we starve after exercising?

Research shows that low-intensity exercise (a score of 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is the most intense) can suppress post-exercise hunger. The only downside is that the appetite-suppressing effect of exercise is strongest in sedentary people, so the fitter you are, the less you will experience the appetite-suppressing effect after exercise.

Post-exercise hunger occurs because our bodies are programmed to survive. As the day progresses, your body automatically realizes that you need more food and then stimulates the hunger hormone.

“Your hunger hormones spike dramatically, making you want to eat. At the same time, your body's satiety hormone - which indicates that you are full - decreases, "said Barry Braun, PhD, professor of kinesiology and director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts, quoted from Fitness Magazine.

The desire to eat more after exercising affects women more often than men. The theory is widely circulating that the female body is designed not only to survive but also to hold energy for reproductive purposes. So when your body senses that you are burning so much energy from exercising, it wants to make sure you replace it as quickly as possible.

How do you deal with hunger after exercising so that your diet is not in vain?

It may take an hour to burn at least 500 calories but only five minutes to get them back. If you are not wise in dealing with your urge to eat after exercise, you can cancel all the benefits of your training session in just one portion.

Fortunately, there are clever ways to fight hunger. Use this strategy and, with any luck, get ready for a flat stomach from your training session - not a bloated stomach.

1. Exercise before eating

If you're always starving after exercise - regardless of what you've eaten before or how many calories you've burned - try to schedule your workout before your main meal. That way, you can refuel with calories that you'll still consume later, without having to add extra snacking sessions to your day.

This strategy works, no matter whether you are a morning, afternoon, or evening sports enthusiast. Snack on small meals as soon as you wake up and eat a bigger breakfast after your morning jog; head to the gym for lunch and a camil sandwich on the way back to the office; or prepare your dinner in advance so you can warm it up when you get home from the evening yoga class.

2. Choose snacks that are full of protein and balanced carbohydrates

When you need a snack to recover from a tough sweating session, experts suggest a 1: 2 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. "This will allow you to start replenishing your energy and repairing exercise-induced muscle damage," says Emily Brown, RD, a health dietitian at the Mayo Clinic and a former professional runner.

For exercise that doesn't exceed an hour, choose a snack that contains 150-200 calories, such as a slice of bread with peanut butter, block cheese and fruit, or a handful of baked beans. If your workout is longer than an hour and you won't be eating a big meal right after, choose a snack that weighs in at least half a gram of carbohydrates per half a kilogram of body weight. A person who weighs around 63 kilos, for example, should refuel with 70 grams of carbohydrates and 18 grams of protein (a slice of an energy bar or protein shake, and one snack option above, will suffice).

For sports that last more than two hours, such as bicycle trekking or a marathon, the energy drink or energy gel during exercise is sufficient to combat hunger after exercise.

3. Drink more

Most people don't drink enough before, during, and after their workouts. Dehydration confuses the brain between lack of fluids and not eating enough, which can lead to hunger pangs. So, drink before you decide to eat - above all, drink water as soon as possible after you've finished exercising. The guidelines are simple, drink a quarter liter of water before snacking to make sure you are really hungry, not thirsty. People who drank 7 glasses of water a day ate nearly 200 calories less than those who drank less than one glass a day, says the latest research from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, reported by Prevention.

Low-fat milk is another option for an after-workout hunger-relief drink that's also fortified with protein to help you stay strong until your next meal. Studies show that refueling with low-fat milk, especially chocolate flavor, helps improve athletic performance in a subsequent way to be even better than drinking only energy drinks.

4. Snack throughout the day

It may seem a little unreasonable, but a snack that is divided regularly throughout the day can really help you to combat the increased appetite after sweating. Including 2-3 healthy snacks throughout the day will help regulate hunger between meals, increase energy, and keep your metabolism up. Apples are an example of a healthy stomach-filling snack, as is a whole wheat bread sandwich with peanut butter and banana slices.

5. Eat in the next 30 minutes

Research reports that exercise before meals helps suppress hunger. In studies where large meals were served 15-30 minutes after exercise, people were more likely to eat less than those who had to wait an hour or more after exercising. Other research has also shown that people eat fewer calories after exercise when they consume carbohydrates during exercise.