You’ve heard it! If you exercise, you will lose weight simply because you are burning calories AND your appetite decreases. I know personally that my hunger increases during certain parts of the day (usually when I don’t eat consistently every 3 hours) However, throughout the day, I’m not desiring heavy foods - I’m more inclined to eat smaller, healthier foods.

Studies are showing that while YES exercising does reduce hunger - it ONLY reduces hunger in LEAN women, not obese women.

Check out the study:

Exercise Reduces Hunger In Lean Women But Not

Obese Women

ScienceDaily (Jun. 19, 2008) — Exercise does not suppress appetite in obese women, as it does in lean women, according to a new study.

“This [lack of appetite suppression] may promote greater food intake after exercise in obese women,” said Katarina Borer, PhD, a University of Michigan researcher and lead author of the study. “This information will help therapists and physicians understand the limitations of exercise in appetite control for weight loss in obese people.”

Borer and her co-workers sought to better understand how changes in body fat level influence appetite and a hormone called leptin, which in animals curbs appetite when body fat increases. When leptin levels rise, it supposedly shuts off appetite and motivates physical activity to burn calories. However, as obese people become fatter, their leptin levels rise, but they become resistant to the actions of this hormone.

“The hormone doesn’t do the job it’s supposed to do in lean people,” Borer said.

In research funded by the National Institutes of Health, Borer’s group studied 20 postmenopausal women: 10 lean and 10 obese women. The women ate three weight-maintenance meals a day while participating in three experiments on three separate days. During one experiment they did not exercise. Read the rest here.

Fitness isn’t always fair.