Hi all...

I have a question...When you exercise on a regular basis like 5 times a week, do you find you lose your appetite over all??

Like sometimes when i come in from exercising, I am hungry and eat a little but since I've started exercising regularly my appetite is not as much of an issue anymore...In fact, it's pretty much gone. I have to remind myself to at least get in 600- 800 calories a day, ( per my surgeon ) but she also said, if you're not hungry, don't eat. Is this exercise related or because I have some restriction or both???

I hope this made sense....

Thanks,

Meg

I am preband. I swim laps an hour a day seven days a week. I Normally eat dinner after exercising. I try to stay around 1,000 calories a day and I am always hungry after working out.

Excercise, particularly really intense exercise can reduce appetite in some people. For me, I find the really hard stuff like boxing will mean I'm not only not hungry but my band is too tight for me to eat for several hours anyway. And I think overall exercise makes me eat better and more regularly rather than nibbling on crap all day.

Walking and other lower intensity exercises can often make you hungrier, without the benefit of huge calorie burn to mean you can eat the extra. That's a generalisaton of course as there are loads of people on her that have lost weight really well with walking.

what exercise doesnt do is make you not hungry at all, our bodies dont work that way. Real lack of appetite is usually a sign of someting wrong, but for us banded folk, it can also be restriction related.

Significant exercise stifles my appetite as well for the period immediately after the workout. I'd be concerned long term though with that low of calorie intake.

Brad

Meg:

Exercising 5x a week and the amount of calories depends on the intensity. I ran into this when I started running and now doing triathlons. I am now down 140 pounds. I have found that I needed to up my caloric intake for performance of the workouts. I found, as you will read in the literature, if your calories are too low, you risk lossing muscle, and sending your body into starvation. Try a recovery drink (Recoverite, etc) after you work out and then wait about an hour or two and try to go with some light, nutrituous foods. Good Luck, ROb

What I've found is that if I'm not really hungry- but just "bored-hungry," exercise makes that go away. But it doesn't make my real hunger go away. If I'm a little hungry before exercise I won't feel hungry during the workout, but it'll return soon after. And when I am doing distance running, or training for endurance stuff- I get really hungry, really often.

And swimming is a whole other thing-- it makes me feel crazy hungry. It's weird.

jen: I found the same thing about swimming, therefore, i did not swim early on. I have found so far that my high intensity (speed workouts) or longer duration (endurance workouts) I am not really hungry. I generally take a recovery drink and found that I am not hungry for an hour or two. When I added swimming (for triathlons) I am starving when I am done. After speaking with some friends who competed in college or beyond, these responses are typical.

Good luck.

I think there is an anatomical response to strenuous exercise that reduces hunger for a while. If it's intense enough you might even puke. I know I can not eat for a while after a heavy workout.

But, as far as long term - sorry that just isn't going to happen.