Cravings intensify when I workout?

QueenofHearts023

I usually just walk, but this morning I did my first ballet beautiful workout for 60mins. It's basically bodyweight exercises.

I ate a good meal afterwards, eggs, seed bread toast, a banana and yoghurt. Also a multivitamin.

I'm not physically hungry now, but I'm craving all sorts of carby things. Mostly sweets and pizza.

Interestingly, when I used to gym 4 days a week, this would also happen. Gym days were always days where I overate. Like almost 2 times my maintenance calories. After I stopped going to the gym, it stopped and I was able to diet normally.

Does anyone have any idea why it happens? Or how to stop it?

WrenTheCoffeeAddict

How much water are you drinking? I found that something similar happened because I wasn't drinking anywhere near what I needed to. I started drinking electrolyte drinks at the gym, and drinking squash in water after, up to about 10 pints, and my cravings for bad food stopped.

QueenofHearts023

I drink enough. Up to 2.5 litres. (Sorry idk how much that is in pints but it's about 10 glasses) I don't want to drink too much because I don't eat a lot of salt (never have, I hate salty food), and last time I lost weight I got really ill with electrolyte imbalances because of that.

WrenTheCoffeeAddict

I've done some googling, and apparently, the average food craving only actually lasts for 3 minutes. I should point out I don't know if this is true, but thats because I use liquids to stop mine. Although, if I'm REALLY craving chocolate, and it happens multiple times in a day, I'll have one square of Dark Chocolate with Sea Salt - it's really nice, and is known to curb cravings.
Is there some way of you creating some sort of distraction to see if that somehow helps?

jacklifts

maybe save most of your calories for after working out.

QueenofHearts023

I'll try drawing. Google is talking BS! hahaha my cravings can last like the whole day

QueenofHearts023

jacklifts wrote: »

maybe save most of your calories for after working out.

That's in the morning at 7am

tiny_clanger

How did you feel immediately after that meal? From an initial read, it looks a little high GI - the toast is unlikely to be as low GI as you might think, especially if it's commercially bought, the banana has a lot of starchy sugar in, so will the yoghurt. The egg is a good choice, but not necessarily as filling as you might think. I think your body may have used the sugar immediately to replenish stores (correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the ballet workout quite anaerobic, so relies on sugars to fuel muscles?) and now you're having a bit of a slump. I get this a lot with yoga, and if I'd eaten as you described after an equivalent yoga class, I'd feel sick immediately, then be ravenous again after about an hour.

I would try having a small, protein rich snack immediately after class, with water. Something like a handful of nuts and the banana, or a commercial protein bar. Then have the eggs on toast after an hour or so, when your body is physically hungry and you are feeling a bit more balanced.

You should also be mindful of sodium. Do you sweat a lot in ballet class? I find after a sweaty, hard class, I benefit from mixing in a rehydration powder to my post workout water - something like this http://www.dioralyte.co.uk/. Your body will excrete any of the electrolytes it doesn't need, and the glucose will provide immediate post workout fuel for your recovery.

QueenofHearts023

tiny_clanger wrote: »

How did you feel immediately after that meal? From initial read, it looks a little high GI - the toast is unlikely to be as low GI as you might think, especially if it's commercially bought, the banana has a lot of starchy sugar in, so will the yoghurt. The egg is a good choice, but not necessarily as filling as you might think. I think your body may have used the sugar immediately to replenish stores (correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the ballet workout quite anaerobic, so relies on sugars to fuel muscles?) and now you're having a bit of a slump. I get this a lot with yoga, and if I'd eaten as you described after an equivalent yoga class, I'd feel sick immediately, then be ravenous again after about an hour.

I would try having a small, protein rich snack immediately after class, with water. Something like a handful of nuts and the banana, or a commercial protein bar. Then have the eggs on toast after an hour or so, when your body is physically hungry and you are feeling a bit more balanced.

You should also be mindful of sodium. Do you sweat a lot in ballet class? I find after a sweaty, hard class, I benefit from mixing in a rehydration powder to my post workout water - something like this http://www.dioralyte.co.uk/. Your body will excrete any of the electrolytes it doesn't need, and the glucose will provide immediate post workout fuel for your recovery.

This particular workout is more body sculpting. There's no cardio involved. Also, its a lot more intense than yoga. IT BURNS!! And I didn't feel hungry afterwards, and felt normal after the meal. I'm not feeling any physical hunger though. Just cravings.

QueenofHearts023

Oh, I also don't look much at Gi levels...but this particular toast is low G.I from checking the label.

jacklifts

i don't know how you feel about working out on a full stomach, but you can also try eating before working out (like at 6am) - then try some high fat stuff afterwards, like peanut butter, bacon, etc. but then you'll be forced to a small lunch and dinner. i'm not sure...that's tough. hungry all day sucks.

you can also try training fasted. tell yourself you won't eat after you workout at all, other than maybe a protein or bcaa shake. maybe you won't feel cravings if you decide you won't eat anything at all for like 6 hours after you workout.

QueenofHearts023

jacklifts wrote: »

i don't know how you feel about working out on a full stomach, but you can also try eating before working out (like at 6am) - then try some high fat stuff afterwards, like peanut butter, bacon, etc. but then you'll be forced to a small lunch and dinner. i'm not sure...that's tough. hungry all day sucks.

you can also try training fasted. tell yourself you won't eat after you workout at all, other than maybe a protein or bcaa shake. maybe you won't feel cravings if you decide you won't eat anything at all for like 6 hours after you workout.

Interesting the last part... I do actually train fasted...but I eat a moderate sized breakfast afterwards. I should try that.

tiny_clanger

]but this particular toast is low G.I from checking the label.

There's no legal definition (in the UK at least) for Low GI, so it's a claim manufacturers can make. The only way to know is to read the label, and even then, depending on how they choose to supply nutrition information, it can be very difficult to tell. Worth watching out for (and hopefully something that the EU will tackle in its current nutrition work!)

The thing is, there's no such thing as "physical hunger" and "cravings". You may have a psycho-social association between an exercise and a food that triggers routine desire for that food - for example, if you always have a banana after exercise, but on one day you have an apple, you may experience a strong desire for a banana. However, that will usually go away once the body processes the apple, as it's a learned association rather than an actual desire.
If the craving sensation is not going away, it's likely that the body wants something additional to that which you are supplying it. The sensations of hunger connected to an empty stomach (rumbling, etc) aren't there, because the stomach is full, it's just the body isn't getting what it wants.

The problem is, our conscious minds are not great at interpreting the signals our autonomic systems send, so can't easily translate what the body wants. Life would be much easier if your body could output current stats like a computer, so you could see what's short and what is required! That's why a good place to start is to provide immediate recovery fuel (protein, and accessible sugar, in the case of this class) then provide more sustained fuel a little later on. Once you gauge your responses to a small change, you can tell how to adjust your post-workout nutrition to fulfill your body needs.

QueenofHearts023

tiny_clanger wrote: »

]but this particular toast is low G.I from checking the label.

There's no legal definition (in the UK at least) for Low GI, so it's a claim manufacturers can make. The only way to know is to read the label, and even then, depending on how they choose to supply nutrition information, it can be very difficult to tell. Worth watching out for (and hopefully something that the EU will tackle in its current nutrition work!)

The thing is, there's no such thing as "physical hunger" and "cravings". You may have a psycho-social association between an exercise and a food that triggers routine desire for that food - for example, if you always have a banana after exercise, but on one day you have an apple, you may experience a strong desire for a banana. However, that will usually go away once the body processes the apple, as it's a learned association rather than an actual desire.
If the craving sensation is not going away, it's likely that the body wants something additional to that which you are supplying it. The sensations of hunger connected to an empty stomach (rumbling, etc) aren't there, because the stomach is full, it's just the body isn't getting what it wants.

The problem is, our conscious minds are not great at interpreting the signals our autonomic systems send, so can't easily translate what the body wants. Life would be much easier if your body could output current stats like a computer, so you could see what's short and what is required! That's why a good place to start is to provide immediate recovery fuel (protein, and accessible sugar, in the case of this class) then provide more sustained fuel a little later on. Once you gauge your responses to a small change, you can tell how to adjust your post-workout nutrition to fulfill your body needs.

Ugh. Human bodies. Such inefficient programming. if only we were half machines...but maybe one day when I'm 80...

Francl27

PMS maybe?

QueenofHearts023

Francl27 wrote: »

PMS maybe?

Nope! I checked

WrenTheCoffeeAddict

I've just started taking Chromium Picolinate, which apparently helps suppress sugar cravings. I have no comment on it, as only started on it today, to see what it's like.

Becky_charles29

If I exercise in the morning I crave pretty much anything....I am like a walking dustbin. If I workout at any other time of day, I'm fine so I tend to stick to afternoon/evening workouts unless absolutely necessary

arditarose

That's life. You'll get used to it/find ways to eat that won't break the calorie bank. You should see me the day after I deadlift. I could eat a gallon of ice cream.

mbaker566

i work hard, my body needs more fuel

cityruss

Hard work = more fuel expended = more fuel needed.

There's a car analogy here somewhere.