Cardio & Appetite: Does Cardio Make You

Fat?
Cardio & Appetite: Does Cardio Make You Fat?
Does endurance-training (cardio) increase or decrease your appetite? What about
resistance training?
Some might say that exercise increases appetite, while others say the opposite. The plain
truth is that since exercise burns calories, you should think appetite increases to make up
for those burned calories. For those who want to lose weight, that might come as a shock.
What sounds logical is not always true. The media have done a great job of convincing the
public that exercise increases your appetite and that you end up eating more and getting fat.
I have read and looked into the latest reviews and meta-analysis, which should sum up
nicely what we know to date. The research that has been done is mostly short-term. The
authors of the studies admit some limitations of the studies mainly sub-optimal study
design and small sample sizes.

Short term
A meta-analysis by Schubert et al, 2013, looked at acute energy intake up to a maximum of
24 hours post-exercise (1). Twenty-nine studies, consisting of 51 trials were included.
Exercise duration ranged from 30 120 min at intensities of 36-81% VO2max. Test meals
were offered 0-2 hours post-exercise. If subsequent meals were presented, they were 4-5
hours apart, from 1-4 meals. The overall results suggest that exercise is effective in
producing a short-term energy deficit. Meaning that the subjects did not compensate for the
energy they expended during exercise, in the 2-14 hours after exercise. Forty-five studies
reported relative energy intake after exercise. They showed that participants compensated
for the energy used in exercise by around 14%. All trials reported absolute energy intake.
Despite large energy expenditures, the absolute energy intake was only slight higher in the
exercise group compared to the no-exercise group, with a mean increase of about 50kcal.
These results are in line with a review of Deighton et al 2014 (2). Namely, that an acute bout
of exercise does not stimulate any compensatory increases in appetite and energy intake on
the day of exercise.

Short and long term

A review by Donnelly et al 2014, included 103 studies in their review (3). The study design
included cross-sectional- , acute/short-term- , non-randomized- and randomized-studies.
Exercise duration ranged from a single 30-min exercise bout to daily exercise over 14 days.
Energy intake was measured from once post-exercise up to 72 weeks. Overall, the energy
intake was reduced in participants doing exercise compared with participants not doing
exercise. As noted by the authors: our results from both acute and short-term trials suggest
that any observed increase in post-exercise energy intake only partially compensates for the
energy expended during exercise. Thus, in the short-term, exercise results in a negative
energy balance.
As for long term, only 2 out of the 36 non-randomized and randomized trials, in duration
from 3 to 72 weeks, reported an increase in absolute energy intake in response to exercise.
Moreover, 30 of the studies reported no change in calorie intake, while five of the
randomized studied reported significant decreases of 200-500 calories per day in response
to training.
Blundell et al, 2015, agrees that exercise has little effect on energy intake within a single day
(4). However, in the long-term, there seems to be a raise in compensatory energy intake,
ranging from 0 % to 60 % compensation in energy intake for the exercise expenditure.

Low, medium & high fitness level

The meta-analysis by Schubert et al, 2013, indicated that individuals of low and moderate
fitness reduce energy intake more than those with high fitness level (1). They reference
previous work that agrees that individual who are more physically active more accurately
regulate their energy expenditure. The researchers write that active individuals compensate
for about 23% of energy expended while inactive individuals actually had a negative
compensation of -35,5%. In Donnelly et als review, they found no difference in fitness level
and energy intake (3).

Resistance training:
Five interventions in Schubert et als meta-analysis utilized resistance training (1). The
sessions were between 35-90min with 10-12 repetition maximum and 2-4 sets. Acute
energy intake up to 14 hours were reduced compared to energy expenditure; however, it
was not as reduced as the groups with endurance training. Worth noting is that energy
expenditure of resistance training is difficult to quantify precisely. So dont stop doing
resistance training, there are a lot of other positive advantages, like improved body

composition. In addition, the review by Donnelly et al found no difference between energy

intake post-exercise in endurance exercise and resistance training (3).

Intensity & duration

An effect of exercise intensity was not found in Schubert et ats meta-analysis (1). However,
the researchers mention in the text that others have found that intensities above 70%
VO2max appears to reduce appetite but with minor changes in absolute energy intake. In
contrast to this finding, Donnellys review found no significant difference in exercise intensity
and duration on energy intake (3). Deighton et al also concludes that high-intensity does not
reduce appetite more than low-intensity (2). However, if you look more into the studies
analyzed in Donnellys review you will see that high-intensity might have some advantages
concerning reducing energy intake.

Compensators & responders

The mean (average) in Schubert et als meta-analysis showed a short-term reduction in
energy intake (1). However, some actually increased their absolute energy intake postexercise. Some of the trials in Donnelly et als review also increased their energy intake,
meaning that some compensate more after the energy deficit the exercise gives (3).
Compensators have showed an increase in hedonic response to food, which means they
are more sensitive and weak to food that give more pleasure eating.

How does exercise influence appetite?

As stated in the start of this article since you burn calories through exercise you should
expect to increase appetite and make up for it with eating more. As the research says, in
most people it does not.
The reason might be because exercise suppresses ghrelin levels (a hormone that stimulates
energy intake), while increasing hormones that increase satiety, such as peptide YY (PYY)
and glucagon-like-peptide 1 (GLP-1) (1). This is in line with data from Blundell et al, 2015,
which means that increased physical activity improves satiety signaling and appetite control.
And that this system gets deregulated in sedentary people, thereby permitting
overconsumption, as shown in the illustration (4).

Exercise does also make adjustments other than with gastrointestinal hormone response
and gastric emptying: blood flow, muscle cellular metabolism, adipose tissue biochemistry
as well as brain activity gets adjusted by exercise.

Why do individuals lose less weight than would be expected during

long-term exercise interventions?
Several theories exist regarding why individuals do not lose as much weight as expected
during an exercise program (1).

Some might change their dietary intake in response to exercise, especially the compensators

Some prefer sweet and high-fat food post-exercise

Energy intake may not increase per se, but rather a compensation of physical activity outside
the exercise program decreases

The research mentioned in this article, stated that there is a highly individual difference
between how much you compensate with energy intake, if you compensate much you will
see little difference in weight

The bottom line is, on average, exercise will not make you eat more. Moreover, exercise is a
tool you can use for losing weight. Energy expenditure of exercise is the strongest predictor
of fat loss during an exercise program, according to Deighton et al (2).