Energy balance
Acute exercise generally does not increase hunger or energy intake, and chronic supervised exercise in overweight/obese individuals typically fails to trigger compensatory increases in energy intake sufficient to negate the energy deficit, although individual variability exists.
If you are overweight, exercise is likely to help you lose weight or improve your health without making you eat enough to cancel out the benefits. Don't stop exercising because you heard it doesn't work for weight loss; it works for health and often for weight loss, even if the amount varies by person.
The majority of research demonstrates that acute exercise does not increase hunger, the desire to eat or EI... Overall, the evidence suggests that no or only partial compensation occurs in response to an acute exercise-induced energy deficit... These data suggest that there tends to be a lack of an increase in EI to compensate for an exercise-induced energy deficit in overweight and obese individuals.
Why this rating
Based on a comprehensive review of multiple studies (acute and chronic) with consistent findings in overweight populations.
Source
Exercise, appetite and weight management: understanding the compensatory responses in eating behaviour and how they contribute to variability in exercise-induced weight loss
N A King et al. · British Journal of Sports Medicine · 2011
DOI 10.1136/bjsm.2010.082495
More from this paper
- Individual variability in exercise-induced weight loss is significant, with some individuals losing very little weight ('non-responders') despite high adherence, often due to compensatory increases in energy intake or changes in food preference.Good
- Psychological traits, specifically high Disinhibition and low Restraint, are associated with greater compensatory eating and poorer weight loss outcomes following exercise.Good
Related findings · Energy balance
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This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →