Why does cardio make me so hungry?

Ravenous,
Truly insatiable,
My hunger this week has been higher than my standards,
Lols ok,
Higher than yours.
 
I’ve actually been running a bit since I got to Austin on Sunday,
And after a couple of 40 minute outings,
I don’t think it’s a stretch to say I’m a regular Paula Radcliffe.
 
If you follow me on Instagram,
You’d be forgiven for expecting this email to be about the question I got asked when I said I was eating muffins to actively avoid any weight loss with said running,
Which read,
“Why do you not want to loose weight when you’ve been leaner before?”
 
I know what you’re thinking,
It’s ‘lose’ not ‘loose’,
But the only people I have expectations of getting this right are personal trainers who advertise fat loss,
And all the weight their clients loose.
 
If you want to see my response to that,
You can read it here,
But let’s not digress from the topic in hand,
The cardio-appetite relationship.
 
Despite my running,
I’ve probably been in a surplus since I got here because of my hunger,
Because no matter how much I eat,
The protein and fibre I pack my diet with,
The levels of mindfulness I offer as I sit in the garden listening to next doors chickens as I eat my meal,
My plant-based self feeling virtuous AF,
I am hungry almost every hour of the day.
 
This is because I’m not used to cardio,
I don’t run much at home,
This is a vast increase in my exercise energy expenditure,
And my body is confused AF.
 
When you look at the research around exercise and appetite, 
It seems conflicting,
The general consensus being that exercise on average doesn’t seem to have a net effect on hunger levels.
But let’s dig a little deeper.
 
There was this one study done in women with obesity,
It looked at individual variability in compensatory energy intake following cardio that equated to 400 calories,
And although on average energy intake didn’t differ, 
The range between people was huge.
 
In fact,
There was nearly a 600 calorie difference between the top and bottom responders,
Some people had a reduction in appetite (and energy intake) compared to when they didn’t exercise by nearly 300 calories,
Some people had an increase in appetite (and energy intake) compared to when they didn’t exercise by nearly 300 calories.
 
Your hunger in response to exercise,
Stress,
Emotions,
It’s super individual and highly variable,
Largely because of genetics,
Amongst other things.
 
Loads of you do more and more cardio thinking it’s helpful for your fat loss,
To maintain your body composition,
But often,
It’s counter-productive. 
 
I see this with many of you who say you have ‘hollow legs’,
That you’re ‘always hungry’,
A lot of the time it’s because you’re way more active than you realise,
And that’s your body’s natural response. 
 
That used to be me,
‘I’m jusy hungrier than everyone else’.

No Emilia,
You run, walk and weight train and eat like a bird,
And have body fat levels that are lower than average so your leptin levels,
A key hormone responsible for reducing hunger and promoting satiety,
Which is predominantly stored and released from body fat,
Is really fudging low.
 
This is one of many reasons why we need to focus on exercise for our health,
Not our calorie burn,
And it’s one reason why you need to stop trying to ‘compensate’ in some way for what you eat with movement,
Or indeed feeling guilty when you don’t move so much.
 
Our bodies are incredible vessels,
They work to maintain an equilibrium,
But sometimes they can get out of whack or a little overzealous,
Which is why eating intentionally,
Rather than simply intuitively,
Is the way I like to support you and my clients.
 
For now,
I’m off to eat my second breakfast of the day and remind my body that I’ve ditched the running for weight training again so she can really just chill the hell out.

Get curious about your body's response,
Not judgemental,
And be mindful of how you honour that.