Is it normal to be really hungry after working out?

angelanicolelove

When I'm done at the gym, I'm always hungry. I usually eat a salad or a smoothie

jlapey

I'm usually pretty hungry after, but I usually wait until dinner which is only about 2 hours later. If it's really bad, I'll make a protein smoothie.

shining_light

I just finished my run. Pre-workout, I had greek yogurt with an apple, flaxseed, and cinnamon. Came back and had 1 oz. walnuts, 1 oz. almonds, a cup of soy milk(not my first choice, btw. I like almond milk more, but it was sold out), and will dig into raw veggies with hummus shortly.

First real meal after my workout will be shrimp with steamed green vegetables(spinach, kale, and swiss chard).

I know when I'm typically hungry and structure my meals accordingly around my exercise.

blackcloud13

Not sure whether hunger is the right word, but when I go for a long run early in the day, I typically feel like I need to re-fuel (i.e. a bit weak; but not classic stomach rumbling hunger)

sunglasses_and_ocean_waves

Weirdly I find my appetite is reduced after I've exercised. However, the day *after* weights?? Er yer I'll eat anything and everything if you put it in front of me.

Same.

ATT949

Broscience. FYI.

Nope.
http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TFPostProtein.html

It has its place.

12 weeks, 13 participants. Is it science, or reality tv? :-)

That's a small population but that doesn't necessarily rule it out.

It's an opinion piece with selective quoting and a little "broscience" of its own.

The studies are not named, only referenced.

There's one quote but there's no context (talking about the first paragraph).

And the statement "to maximize fat burning" is very concerning because, to the best of my knowledge, elevated post-exercise calorie consumption occurs only after sustained exercise at high VO2 rates (70% VO2 Max) (I use software that tracks EPOC so I've had a little exposure to that metric).

ATT949

After working out, I get really, really hungry. Is it normal? Should I eat? Any suggestions on what I should eat?

"normal" - absolutely. It's also very "normal" to have zero hunger and to not be thirsty (yours truly).

I try to follow a standard post run routine - a couple of hundred calories of carb and protein in a blueberry and yogurt smoothy. CW calls for 3:1 or 4:1 to "maximize replenishment" of glycogen stores but Noakes illustrates that, even after a glycogen-depleting activity such as a marathon, the body will restore CHO levels within 24-36 hours. That sounds like a long time but folks should understand that includes running 26.2 miles where there's almost no glycogen left - vastly different from a "mere" half marathon (13.1 miles) or, much, further down the scale, 45 minutes of weight lifting.

Protein? I get protein from the yogurt in my blueberry smoothie and I'll often add in a Lindora Ready to Drink (15gm protein IIRC).

This isn't a "do or die" thing so, if you don't refuel for 60 minutes or a couple of hours, the impact is that you're not getting "optimal" recovery from exercise. We're still getting a lot of benefit because we're exercising our body, clearing our head, and doing something we love. Can't beat that!

bwogilvie

For me, it depends. Endurance exercise often leaves me not very hungry; on bike rides longer than 4 hours I often have to force myself to eat in the later parts of the ride and afterwards. But not always.

This Saturday I had a bagel and cream cheese at 8:45 am and set out at 9 on a ride. I had a bottle of Gatorade in the morning (plus plenty of water) and was fairly hungry when I arrived at lunch around 12:45. I ate a turkey sandwich and a small bag of chips, and set off again around 1:15. I got to the finish line around 4:20 pm, having had half a bottle of Gatorade and two pickles in the afternoon. About 45 minutes later I had a small plate of BBQ pork, a biscuit, some salad, and a beer. I was eager for the beer; the rest of the food tasted good, but I was eating primarily out of duty. I figured that I had burned about 3200 calories on the ride (very hilly), and had eaten about 1400 by the time the ride ended, including breakfast. At home I got moderately hungry and ate a little bit of sausage and cheese before bed.

The next morning I was ravenous.

Sometimes, though, I can be seriously hungry after a ride. The one time I rode 200K, I inhaled a pizza when I got home.

bwogilvie

...CW calls for 3:1 or 4:1 to "maximize replenishment" of glycogen stores but Noakes illustrates that, even after a glycogen-depleting activity such as a marathon, the body will restore CHO levels within 24-36 hours. That sounds like a long time but folks should understand that includes running 26.2 miles where there's almost no glycogen left....

This isn't a "do or die" thing so, if you don't refuel for 60 minutes or a couple of hours, the impact is that you're not getting "optimal" recovery from exercise. We're still getting a lot of benefit because we're exercising our body, clearing our head, and doing something we love. Can't beat that!

^This is spot on. Noakes (Tim Noakes, a South African sports physiologist) is a reliable source, and the takeaway at the end is important. If you're an athlete hoping to get the best performance, recovery meals are significant, and timing them can be important. For the rest of us, not so much.

meerkat70

Broscience. FYI.

Nope.
http://www.hussmanfitness.org/html/TFPostProtein.html

It has its place.

12 weeks, 13 participants. Is it science, or reality tv? :-)

That's a small population but that doesn't necessarily rule it out.

It's an opinion piece with selective quoting and a little "broscience" of its own.

The studies are not named, only referenced.

There's one quote but there's no context (talking about the first paragraph).

And the statement "to maximize fat burning" is very concerning because, to the best of my knowledge, elevated post-exercise calorie consumption occurs only after sustained exercise at high VO2 rates (70% VO2 Max) (I use software that tracks EPOC so I've had a little exposure to that metric).

That's a small *sample*. I think you'll find the population is quite big. :-)

Unfortunately, I do think that a study relying on statistical calculation of difference is prone to errors. This is because reliability is compromised by the small sample. Small sample = low statistical power. This increases the likelihood of falsely detecting significant differences.
Much sport science relies on tiny samples, and unfortunately simply accruing more and more of them doesn't actually fix the problem of statistical power - indeed, if it is simply a meta review, then accruing more studies will likely compound rather than fix the problem.

And yes, I agree. The site uses research in a very unhelpful way.

annlondon

I get starving hungry after any exercise which I didn't do when I was younger.

Interesting about eating after exercise. Depends on what you want to achieve. I was told recently that if you want to lose weight, the latest findings say that you should leave it as long as possible before you eat after exercise. Building fitness is probably different.

kayveebee7

So glad I saw this! I have been soooooooo hungry! Protein it is!

GradatimFerociter

Yes.

I always have a bunch of whey right after a workout. You should do whatever works for you, and you only find that out by experimenting.