Here’s something to contemplate next time you’re weighing up whether to choose that tough hill run you’d planned or sit and watch another Come Dine With Me re-run.
You’ve heard a million reasons why you should choose the workout but maybe not this one. It will make you eat less – yes less. That’s especially true if you choose the most seriously sweat-worthy workout you can, says a new study.
The research has found that all exercise had the eat fewer calories after effect – high intensity workouts were found to curb appetite the most.
The study, published in The International Journal Of Obesity, found that overweight participants ate 200 fewer calories after a tough workout than when they chose the rest – read, lying on the sofa – option.
In the past, previous studies have shown high intensity exercise may suppress appetite and some scientists have linked this to the changes caused by exercise in levels of hormones such as ghrelin and leptin that regulate hunger and fullness.
The study subjects did four weekly 30-minute sessions: in one they only rested and in the other three they cycled at either moderate, high or very high intensity.
In the moderate sessions they cycled slow and non-stop, in the high intensity options they alternated between short bursts of speed and longer stretches at lower speeds.
They ate fewer calories after both the high and very high intensity workouts compared to after rest sessions but the days they ate least were after the very high intensity workout.
Even more encouragingly, the subjects ate less on the days after their highest intensity sweat-fests than they did after any of the other workouts – 2,000 calories the day after the very high intensity workout compared to a rather greedy 2,600 calories on days following their resting sessions.
Want a tough workout to try? Jane Wake’s super fat-burn circuit ticks all the boxes – don’t worry, it’s over in 15 minutes
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