Many runners experience hunger after running, known as the “rungries.” Perhaps it has happened to you. After a run, you may feel hungry again soon after eating a meal or snack.
So what’s a hungry runner to do? If you’re finding yourself hungrier than usual after runs, it may be helpful to explore the reasons why and then use some simple tips to help address the issue. This way, you can ensure that your body stays healthy and that your running program stays on track.
Causes of Post-Run Hunger
You should try to understand the potential causes of your hunger before you try to address it. One of many of these scenarios may sound familiar.
Hormonal Changes
The effects of running and other forms of exercise on hunger and food intake have been studied by scientists. The controversy over whether exercise increases or decreases ones’ desire for food is due to the conflicting findings of various studies. Some research has suggested that exercise stimulates appetite, while other studies have found that it has the opposite effect of suppressing appetite.
There are several different hormones that can stimulate feelings of hunger, including ghrelin, leptin, and peptide YY (PYY). The levels of these hormones fluctuate and have an influence on how much we want to eat.
One study has shown that hunger-boosting hormones are actually lower after running, causing decreased food intake. A different study showed that hormones that promote feelings of fullness also decrease after long-distance runs.
The hormone levels are complexly affected by the exercise according to the study. Many factors, including the duration and intensity of your workout, as well as your body fat percentage, can affect your hormone levels and how your body responds to them.
The bottom line? Your hormone levels are probably impacted by your run. Your body may respond to fasting with decreased hunger, but you may also respond with increased hunger.
Dehydration
You are likely to feel somewhat dehydrated after you finish your running workout. Many athletes finish a run feeling thirsty, even if they hydrated well during the run. If you run in severe heat, it is more likely that you will become dehydrated because you will sweat more and lose more fluids.
Some of us interpret thirst as hunger. Even though you need fluids, you may feel hungry instead. The result? After you finish your run, you go to the fridge instead of the drinking fountain.
Poor Nutrition
You’ll probably burn several hundred calories during your run. You need to eat enough calories before your workout so you have enough energy. If you’re not eating enough calories, it can affect how well you run and how hungry you feel afterwards.
The type of calories you consume also affects your health. Eating foods that are high in sugar or starch will give you a quick burst of energy, but you’ll probably feel hungry again soon after because your body will burn those calories quickly when you’re running.
If you make poor food choices before you run, you may find yourself hungrier afterwards.
Habit
Many of us eat out of habit, rather than in response to hunger, whether we are runners or not. For example, you might go to the kitchen at lunchtime even if you don’t need food.
This may happen after a run as well. Many people feel that they deserve a large meal or an indulgent snack after completing a difficult workout. It’s not uncommon to eat or drink twice or three times as many calories as you burned during your workout, even if it was short and you only burned a few hundred calories.
Hunger Coping Tips
There are a few different strategies you can use to manage the feeling of hunger after you finish your run.
If you want to manage post-run hunger, it can help to pay attention to what, when, and how you eat.
Spread out Your Calories
You should eat five to six small meals throughout the day instead of three large ones. If you wait too long to eat a large meal, you will be so hungry by the time you eat that you will overeat.
If you want to feel fuller for longer and maintain more control over your eating, try eating smaller meals more frequently throughout the day. If you want to maintain control over your calorie intake, it’s a good idea to keep some snacks that are only 100 calories each. That way, you can snack without overeating.
Do not think that by not eating meals, such as breakfast, you will end up consuming less calories overall. The converse is typically the case, as you end up consuming more food later in the day than you would have if you had eaten a nutritious breakfast.
Eat High-Fiber Foods
In order to stay healthy, it is important to eat foods that are high in fiber throughout the day. Fiber is important for keeping the digestive system working properly and can also help to lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels. High-fiber foods often require more chewing, which can help to reduce feelings of hunger. High-fiber foods tend to be bulky, so they can help fill you up and delay the emptying of your stomach.
Many high-fiber foods are also low in calories, so you can feel satisfied while consuming fewer calories. Fiber can be found in whole grains, vegetables, and fruits.
Drink Plenty of Water
Be sure to drink plenty of fluids, especially water, in the hours after your run. If you’re still hungry after a meal, try drinking a glass of water. If you think you’re hungry, wait a couple of minutes to see if the feeling goes away. If it does, you were probably just thirsty.
Make sure to drink water throughout the day to avoid feeling thirsty, which can be mistaken for hunger. You can check if you’re well-hydrated by doing a urine test. Your urine should be a light lemonade color. If your urine is dark yellow, you need to drink more water. You can also drink water before or with your snacks and meals to help prevent overeating.
Slow Down Eating
It takes approximately 20 minutes for your body to register that it is satiated. If you eat too quickly, you’ll consume more calories than you need while your body is figuring out whether it’s hungry.
Your body doesn’t realize it’s full until after you’ve eaten more than you needed. You should slow down your eating after a hard workout or long run, even though you may be tempted to give in to post-run cravings.
When you eat slowly, your brain will send signals to tell you when to stop eating. One more reason to distribute your calories over the course of the day is to avoid being ravenous when it’s time to eat. This way, you can take your time and savor your meal.
Using the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating to Avoid Feeling Hungry After Workouts
In a world where you don’t have to diet or count calories to be healthy, you can focus on enjoying your food. There are no “forbidden foods” with intuitive eating, so you can eat whatever you want. You learn how to eat mindfully and listen to your body’s cues about when to eat and when you’re satiated.
What is intuitive eating?
Intuitive eating is a way of eating where you focus on your body’s signals to guide your food choices. This gentle nutrition is all about self love. In 1995, two dieticians in California, Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch, developed the model for intuitive eating.
As we age, we become less mindful of what we eat. As children, we were taught that if we wanted dessert, we had to clean our plates or behave ourselves. The lesson we learned is that there are good foods and bad foods. And the result of these lessons? Eating “good” foods as an adult makes you feel good about yourself. If we eat foods that are not considered healthy, we feel guilty about it. IThe goal of intuitive eating is to change our relationship with food. This process can take time to learn.
Intuitive eating is not about following a specific diet; it’s about eating whatever you want. You don’t have to keep track of how many calories or how many grams of fat, protein, and carbohydrates you’re eating. All foods are allowed. If you eat based on how you feel, you will become more in-tune with the signals your body is sending you. Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full. You’ll notice what your body needs. The food could be a salad or a piece of chocolate cake. And that’s totally okay.
7 Benefits of Intuitive Eating
There are many studies that show the benefits of intuitive eating. This is an example of how intuitive eating has been linked to both better physical and mental health outcomes. A 2006 study found that people who practice intuitive eating tend to have a better overall sense of wellbeing, while also demonstrating less body image issues. Moreover, intuitive eating has been linked to:
- More self confidence
- Healthier body image
- Greater well-being
- Positive impact on mental health
- Reduced rate of eating disorders
- Higher “good” cholesterol (HDL)
- Lower triglycerides
Learn to listen to your body
If you’ve been using apps to count calories or trying different diets for years, If you’re used to eating a certain way and suddenly all the rules are gone, it can be difficult to know how to eat. Try to listen to your body and see how it feels after eating different foods. Ask yourself what you need at the moment. It takes some practice to understand the signs.
The 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating
The principles are as follows: Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch lay out the ten principles of intuitive eating in their book, Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program that Works . The principles are:
1. Reject the diet mentality
Most diets are not successful in the long term and are not a good way to achieve a healthy weight. And when you finally give up on a diet, you make up for all the lost time (and weight) by overeating. (ƒ 2 ) After years of trying different diets, I realized that the reason they didn’t work for me was that I would always feel deprived. (ƒ 3 ) Most diets don’t work in the long term because you eventually feel deprived and end up overeating. I realized this after years of trying different diets.
2. Honor your hunger
Hunger is not the enemy. Your body protects itself from starvation by storing fat. Many of us have been advised to drink a big glass of water to help distract ourselves from feeling hungry or to help suppress hunger pangs. Forget it. You should eat when you’re hungry, no matter how recently you last ate.
Signs of hunger:
- Growling stomach
- Fatigue
- Shakiness
- Inability to focus
- Restlessness
- Mood swings
3. Make peace with food
Stop thinking about food as being good or bad. Everything is allowed. When you eat mindfully, you eat what you want. Pay attention to the flavors of your food and how you feel afterwards.
Ask yourself:
- Did it taste good?
- Am I full?
- How does my body feel after eating?
You’ll see, intuitive eating will get easier with practice.
4. Challenge the food police
This is an important step in your journey of mindful eating. The food police are the thoughts you have that tell you how you should feel after you eat. Make them stop and don’t keep blaming yourself for snacking on some chips.
5. Discover the satisfaction factor
The goal of eating is not to get full. Food should satisfy you and make you happy. Have a seat and relish a meal with all your senses.
6. Feel your fullness
Your body will let you know when you’re full. Pay attention to the signals it’s sending you. If you eat slowly, you’ll be able to feel quickly when you’ve had enough. You haven’t cleaned your plate yet? No problem. Wrap up the unfinished food and save it for another mealtime. Don’t make yourself eat it all now just because it’s there.
Signs of fullness:
- Feeling pleasantly full
- Signs of hunger disappear
- Appetite is reduced
- Fatigue
7. Cope with your emotions with kindness
When you’re feeling stressed out or sad, what do you do to make yourself feel better? Reach for chocolate, perhaps? It’s okay to feel any and all of these emotions. A lot of people use food as a way to make themselves feel better. However, it is important to keep in mind that food won’t actually solve any problems. Find other ways to cope with your feelings. A few things that may help you feel better are: going on a long walk, doing a yoga session, talking to a friend, or keeping a mindfulness journal. There are plenty of other ways to feel good besides just eating chocolate.
8. Respect your body
Remember: to thine own self be true! Accept your body and learn to love yourself. This is the most important principle of intuitive eating.
9. Movement – feel the difference
Think about which activity is the most fun and makes you feel great instead of which kind of exercise burns the most calories. The important thing is that you continue to move your body . No matter what type of exercise you do, it is important that you keep your body moving. If you enjoy it, you’ll stick with it.
10. Honor your health – gentle nutrition
You should try to eat foods that are both healthy and delicious, as well as those that make you feel good mentally and emotionally. You don’t have to eat a perfect diet to be healthy. There is no food that will make you sick if you only eat it once or twice. It’s all about progress.
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