Exploring why people eat more after exercising

This project builds on a scoping review we recently completed on eating after exercise. A scoping review is a study aimed at providing an overview or map of the evidence available for a particular topic.

During our study we found that when people experience or see exercise as unenjoyable or hard, they are more likely to eat more or choose unhealthy food once they finish exercising. This is defined as post-exercise licensing.

We also found that people have certain beliefs associated with eating after exercise. These include needing to refuel their body’s energy stores and recover through eating.

Project aims

Based on the results of our scoping review we have now designed a proof-of-concept study to explore whether how people understand hunger and appetite may influence what they choose to eat after exercising.

For this project, we will recruit 118 adults from across the University of Bristol and the local community. We will divide participants into two groups. Both groups will be asked to complete a short questionnaire and exercise in a laboratory. We will then measure how much participants from each group eat at a buffet.

Participants will also rate their appetite and mood:

• before they exercise
• immediately after they exercise
• after they eat

What we hope to achieve

We hope this study will help us understand why eating more or choosing unhealthy food options happens after exercise.

Understanding this may show us how we can target this behaviour in future research.

We will use the findings of this study to develop a pilot intervention to disrupt eating after exercise and educate people about hunger and appetite.

This research is part of a Master of Research project led by Ruby Pallon supervised by Dani Ferriday and Alice Porter.