High Intensity Exercise Helps Curb Appetite, Study Says

In a new study published in June this year, researchers at the University of Western Australia discovered that high intensity exercise helped suppress appetite in men who don’t exercise regularly.

The study recruited 17 overweight but otherwise healthy young men in their 20s or 30s and were asked to complete four 30-minute workout sessions on separate days.

Day 1 – Time is spent idly reading or otherwise resting.

Day 2 – Ride exercise bike continuously for 30 minutes at a moderate pace (65% of VO2Max).

Day 3 – 30 minutes of intervals (1 minute @ 100% of their endurance capacity followed by 4 minutes of easy pedalling)

Day 4 – Toughest 30 minutes interval session (15 seconds @ 170% of their endurance capacity followed by 60 seconds @ 30%)

Participants were found to eat much less after an intense workout and also displayed significantly lower levels of the hormone ghrelin, as well as elevated levels of both blood lactate and blood sugar, which have been shown to lessen the drive to eat when compared to Day 1 and Day 2.

According to the New York Times, “The appetite-suppressing effect of the high intensity workout also continued into the next day, as stated in the food diaries that the men completed. They consumed fewer calories during the subsequent 24 hours after the very intense 15-second intervals than after any of the other workouts.”

“This study provides some promising preliminary support for this notion, but further research is needed to investigate this in a longer-term study,” study author Aaron Sim, a graduate student at the University of Western Australia, said.

The research was published in the International Journal of Obesity. Another study with similar results published last year can be found here.

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