What's wrong with my appetite?

 

Can you relate?

You finish a long or hard workout and you have no appetite. You'd think you'd be ravenous after a tough training session but eating is the last thing on your mind. Even worse, the thought of food leaves you feeling nauseous. But come the evening or the next morning, you are starving and you can't seem to stop the nagging hunger pangs and fill the bottomless pit in your stomach. 

If you said "that's me!" you are not alone. Having a decreased appetite after certain training sessions is very common. However, just because this is a normal phenomenon, this doesn't mean that its ok not to eat. The food you eat post workout provides the fuel to power future workouts and gives your muscles the nutrients needed to properly recover from the previous session. 

Here are a few reasons why your appetite is blunted post workout: 

• Internal body heat - Contracting muscles produce heat. Around 20% of the energy produced by contracting muscles is used for muscle contraction and the rest is convereted into heat energy, which results in an increase in body temperature. 
• Blood flow - A normal effect of exercise is the diversion of blood away from the gut so that more oxygen can go to the working muscles. Less blood flow to the gut means less hunger sensastions. 
• Dehydration - Staying hydrated is critical for optimal body functinoing. Dehydration can make you feel tired, nauseated, fatigued and sleepy. 
• Nutrient deficiency - A decreased/poor appetite is common in several nutrient deficiencies such as iron, magnesium, B vitamins, folate and zinc. 
• Hunger hormones - Ghrelin is a peptide hormone predominantly produced by the stomach. It plays a key role in stimulating appetite and energy intake. Intense or prolonged exercise supresses ghrelin. 
• Dieting and/or body image concerns - You are disconnected from your body's cues. You've conditioned yourself to ignore your hunger cues and undereat to meet your body composition goals. 

For athletes focused on performance, health and sport longevity, consuming nutrition and fluids post-exercise is critical. Insufficient energy intake may impair tissue repair, induce excessive fatigue and reduce the ability to stay consistent with training. While counterintuitive, you need to take in calories even when you aren't hungry. 

This is called Mechanical Eating and it's the opposite of Intuitive Eating. 

Intuitive eating means eating only when you are actually hungry and honoring your body's hunger and fullness cues to make food decisions. While this may work for the normal population, avoiding food after intense/long training due to not being hungry will compromise training adaptations and your ability to perform well in your next workout. 

Mechanical eating means having a specific plan as to what and when you will eat when you don't experience hunger cues. 

Because proper recovery can help with performance gains, building lean tissue (strength gains), optimizing health and reducing the risk for injury, it's important to have a plan for post workout nutrition when you lack an appetite to eat post workout. Consider liquid calories as a start and aim to eat smaller carb/protein portions every hour in the 4 hours post workout to help with recovery. If you continue to struggle with your intake post workout, reach out to a sport RD to help create a personalized plan for your needs. 

Confused by your appetite? Break the hunger cycle

Mmmmm, homemade pancakes for breakfast.

Are you one of the many athletes who feels that something is off with your hunger?


-You don't feel hungry before a workout OR you feel starving before a workout but you stop yourself from eating "too much" because you don't want to feel too full during your workout
-You feel really hungry in the middle or toward the end of a workout
-You have little appetite post workout OR you are starving post workout
-When it's time to eat your meals, you don't feel hungry enough to eat but in between meals and in the evening, you are starving

If you are an athlete who knows that there are times when you should/shouldn't be so hungry, but you just can't seem to understand or fix your hunger, something needs to change.

I've worked with many athletes, just like yo,u and it's not just an annoying feeling to be hungry during your workouts and during snack time but have no appetite during meal time or befor/after workouts, but it can also be performance limiting when you are not eating appropriately before, during and after your workouts, as well as throughout the day.

In my experience, for the athletes who are stuck feeling hungry at the wrong times, it's very common to eat/fuel too much during a workout because the hunger is too much to handle when training. While there is nothing wrong with eating a little something to satisfy hunger while training, if this is happening often, it's hard to:

1) Fine-tune your sport nutrition strategy to meet metabolic needs.
2) Fuel properly. You may end up overfueling, thus eating more than your body can digest and absorb.
3) Break the cycle. You are making your cycle worse because every time you eat too much during a workout to satisfy hunger, this causes you to not feel hungry after the workout, thus enabling this cycle to continue.

If this is you, your appetite/hunger cycle needs to be fixed.

To help break this cycle, it would be most beneficial to work with a sport dietitian who can analyze your current daily diet and sport nutrition regime. Sometimes, all it takes is better meal planning (ex. more balanced meals), betting timing of meals and snacks or a different fueling regime around and during workouts.

If you think you can break this cycle on your own, I suggest to spend 72 hours during the week (when you are training consistently in the morning and/or at night) and make yourself eat similar meals, at similar times throughout the day (even if you aren't hungry). If a workout is more than 60 minutes, use some type of sport nutrition during the workout and make sure you eat before and after your workouts with a small pre/post workout snack. 

After this temporary period of being consistent with your eating, you should notice that your body is more in sync with your workouts and you are hungry at the right times during the day (with less hunger, during your workouts).

Ultimately, the goal of timing your appetite appropriately with your workouts is to help you best fuel and refuel from workouts, stay nourished with healthy food options during the day and to feel energized during your workouts without feeling limited by intense hunger. 

Understand your appetite

Do you struggle with your appetite?

While it is important to create a diet that meets your training, health, metabolic and daily needs, many athletes struggle with their appetite - not fully understanding, respecting or acknowledging hunger and satisfaction cues. 

Whereas some athletes eat mindlessly out of emotions, boredom or stress, use food as a reward or overeat for fear of not having enough energy for a workout, other athletes have a disconnect with the body and will many times go too long without eating, ignore hunger cues or undereat due to fear of feeling too full or uncomfortable.

If you feel hungry all the time, feel that you are constantly eating or grazing or feel that you have no or little appetite and food simply doesn't interest you, something needs to change.

It's time to better understand and fix your appetite.

As an athlete, food is your fuel. Therefore, it is important to recognize that you need to eat a lot more than the sedentary individual. However, what, when and how much you eat is important.

Recognizing that it is normal to feel more hungry on certain days of the week when it's reflective of higher intensity or longer workouts, it is also normal for athletes to lose the appetite after a strenuous, long or intense workouts.

Because of this, it's understandable that athletes will often struggle to honor hunger in a smart, proactive, performance-enhancing and healthy way.

The athlete who has no appetite after a workout misses a prime opportunity to rehydrate, refuel and recover from a workout. Whereas the athlete who eats all day, may feel too full or uncomfortable before a workout and may restrict sport nutrition or the intake of any additional nutrition while training and this can make it difficult to understand if energy needs are being met properly before, during and after workouts.

It is important that you learn how to create an eating style that works for your body, your life and your needs.
No diet fad will do this for you.
You have to take the necessary time to understand your body, your appetite and your hunger.

Use the next few weeks to understand your appetite. Learn to create meals that will not only keep your body energized and well-nourished but will also satisfy your biological hunger so you feel comfortably full and satiated. 

On Tuesday evening, Karel and I did a group ride on our tri bikes which started at 6pm and we followed the 1:40 hr ride with a 15 min run. This was a very hard workout for me and even though we didn't finish our workout until close to 8pm, I didn't have much of an appetite due to the intensity and warmer weather. However, I started with liquid nutrition (2 scoops Clif Recovery protein + water) first as I knew that would be easiest to digest. Then on the way home (25-30 minute drive) I had a banana and a few dates that I brought with me.
When we got home, it was close to 9pm by the time we cleaned up from the workout and our bedtime is around 10pm. To ensure easy digestion, I made the most delicious sandwich with rosemary bread, melted Swiss cheese, arugula, hummus and smashed avocado with a glass of 1% Organic cow's milk.
It was a delicious dinner.
Even though I understood that I didn't have much of an appetite, I knew that after a hard workout, eating nothing is not performance enhancing.
The recovery drink + sandwich did the trick and I was able to wake up Wednesday morning with my normal appetite to eat something before my Wed am workout (I always, 100% of the time, eat before I workout).

Appetite Awareness tips

If you missed the last two blogs, I recommend to read before continuing on:
Appetite Awareness
Is hunger a bad thing?

APPETITE AWARENESS TIPS: 

-In reference to the above hunger rating chart, numbers 4 and 5 are ideal when you think about when you eat and how you feel when you eat. It is normal to feel number 3 as an athlete and often times, you may experience number 6. You should be able to identify the numbers that you do not want to experience as an athlete and if you do experience an unwanted number, recognize how to prevent that from happening again. Feeling very full or irritable are not enjoyable outcomes from eating (or not eating). 

Use this chart to think about your current eating habits on a daily basis and if you are eating too much or too little, focus on that one specific meal/snack in your day to try to tweak. Ideally, you should be eating three meals that leave you satisfied for at least 2.5-4 hours. Although a mid morning snack may be needed to honor a little biological hunger, almost all athletes would benefit from having an afternoon snack to avoid lower numbers on the hunger rating scale and additionally will prevent 6+ numbers in the evening. For many athletes, there is often a missing link in a meal that is causing hunger too soon after a meal. Often a little more carbs, fat or protein to a meal will help you feel more satisfied. Neglecting fueling before, during and after workouts may be causing you to not meet your energy needs which leads to more fatigue during/after workouts and to overeating, overindulging or ow blood sugar.  

Before you blame a food or food group, reflect on your typical diet. Do not overthink the chart - become aware of how your current eating style is working (or not working) for you.

-Every athlete/individual has an appetite control switch, even if you think you don't. Depending on what you eat, you may not receive the signal to stop eating and depending on your energy, mood, emotions, sleep or stress level, you may ignore that signal. Processed foods are much more calorically dense than real foods and per bite, it takes much longer to feel satisfied with processed food despite providing your body plenty of "energy" while eating. A diet rich in nutrient density, like fruits, veggies, high quality proteins, healthy fats, grains/high fiber starches and low fat dairy will help to control your appetite so that you feel more satisfied without over-exceeding your energy needs.

-A little hunger is not always a bad thing. For example, if your belly feels empty before a workout this may, in no way, affect your performance because your liver and muscles are stocked with available fuel, along with thousands of calories worth as stored body fat to use for energy. Also if you allowed 1 hour to digest your pre training snack, you may not only feel light but you will also more effectively metabolize fat for fuel (yes, even if you have a pre training snack). Many athletes prefer going into a workout feeling "empty" in the gut for the sake of feeling lighter, less bloated and less uncomfortable while working out. However, you can still feel this way and eat before a workout but allow time for digestion and consume low residue/fiber foods which clear the gut in less than an hour.

-If you experience a drop in blood sugar and ignore #3 on the hunger rating chart and find yourself into a place of #1 or 2 on the chart, you are putting your body into a dangerous and uncomfortable situation as you have low blood glucose levels with extreme hunger and it isn't until you eat food that will raise your blood sugar (not nuts, fat or fiber but instead, sugar/high glycmic carbs) that you control your irritable mood, depressive/angry state and extremely weak/vulnerable body. Don't keep putting yourself in this situation!!! Many times, the athlete who has let their blood sugar drop (intentionally or unintentionally) will find themselves overeating at the next snack/meal which is no less uncomfortable than low blood sugar. Consuming a low glycemic index diet has not been shown to solve the issue of low blood sugar but instead, a balanced diet that is timed appropriately with your life. Many high glycemic foods are healthy and when combined with protein/fat, they do not affect blood sugar levels and can leave you satisfied and nourished.

-Sleep, stress and exercise intensity/volume all after your appetite. Sleep deprived athletes will often find it harder to feel satisfied when it comes to diet and will additionally seek pick-me-up options that are often not healthy (ex. energy drinks, sugar, sweets, etc.) Regulate your appetite by focusing on restful sleep most days per week. Ideally 7-8 hours per night and an additional 30 minutes after very intense or long workouts. 

-We all know that cortisol increases belly fat as the commercials have embedded this into our brain. But it is true that stress affects appetite and hormones. Food doesn't solve problems so seek a healthy alternative to alcohol, sweets, processed food or overeating when you feel stressed out. I like to watch cute doggy videos on YouTube. 

-As exercise volume/intensity increases, you will receive a natural increase in the appetite as this is a signal that your body requires more energy to support the increased training load. Although you may feel like you are eating all the time compared to your co-workers/family, it is your  responsibility to meet your nutrition/health and energy needs through your diet and sport nutrition regime. If you don't understand how to do this on your own (and fear gaining weight or overeating/causing GI issues) consult a sport RD to help. 

For the next week, use these tips to better understand how you are eating and how it affects your quality of life. As I do with my nutrition athletes that I consult with, I encourage you to plan out your day before it happens. Write down what you will eat before during and after workouts, what meals you will eat and when and what snacks. Once you have this plan, you can then hold yourself accountable to this plan by preparing food ahead of time, thus consciously preventing overeating or underfueling. 

If  you can eat in a way that improves your quality of life, we can assume that health, happiness, performance and a better relationship with food/body will also improve. 

Happy eating! 

Is hunger a bad thing?

                 

(Source)

Although perfecting the appetite control centers seems overwhelming, there are a few ways to help you become more aware of your appetite and to better manage your hunger, all in an effort to help you meet your energy and nutritional needs for a quality-filled life. 

But before I go into these appetite awareness tips (next blog), I want to touch on a topic that I mentioned in my last blog.
Appetite. 

Appetite is the desire to eat. Often times, we associate appetite to hunger. 

There are so many diet pills on the market marketed to "stop hunger". Just take a pill and you will not be hungry.
You may have recently heard a friend or training buddy say that since they started their new diet, they are never hungry. They can go long hours without eating, they have no cravings any more and they are just never, ever hungry!
Sounds too good to be true, right? 

What lucky people to never feel hungry!

Wait a minute....why are we applauding this? 

Since when is not feeling hungry a good thing? 

As I mentioned before, hunger is interesting and for athletes, it is extremely misleading.
For example, think about what you feel between lunch and dinner. From around 2-5pm, how would you rate your hunger? Do you feel like you are always hungry yet you are just sitting around at the computer, only moving your body to answer the phone, go to the restroom or walk down the hall?
Yet when you workout, hunger is gone. You are burning hundreds if not over thousands of calories and the thought of even eating a gel or drinking a sport drink sounds unappetizing. Heck, I bet there have been times when you have worked out for over 2 hours on only water (not that I am endorsing that!) yet when it comes to after dinner, you constantly struggle with saying no to the late night snacks.

Interesting, right? The times when you are burning the most calories, appetite can go away yet sitting around is often the time when you are reaching for energy-giving (pick-me-up) foods.
Certainly much of this has to do with how we metabolize our fuels and blood sugar control but nonetheless, the point is that our appetite/hunger cues can often be misleading as to when we need to eat/fuel. And more so, athletes are often "fueling" their bodies at the wrong times, eating energy dense foods when sedentary and underfueling when the body does need fuel - even when you don't feel that it does.

Let's get real here. In our society, we have formed such an unhealthy relationship with food. Seriously, how many people do you know have peace with food, see eating as a positive experience and do not follow a "diet" that heavily restricts food or food groups? 

 Hunger is seen as something that causes overeating, sugary cravings and obesity. But then again, for the weight loss seeker, hunger is also seen as a necessity - if you aren't hungry, then you aren't doing your diet correctly. 

In a world of voluntary food restriction, many people try to ignore (or trick) hunger in an effort to change body composition. 

Yet in other parts of our country (and even in the US), hunger is a real problem. A hungry child, parent, animal or grandparent suffers from food insecurity and malnutrition is a very serious condition.

Hunger is an important and positive part of eating. Because when you are hungry and you eat, you feel better. Or you should feel better because food tastes better when you are hungry. 

There are many concerns that I have in our population as it relates to how people honor their hunger and control their appetite. There are grazers who never allow the body to actually become hungry or feel full, there are individuals who mistake emotions for hunger (ex. lonely, bored, stressed, hormonal). Then there are those who choose food restriction and try to mask feelings of hunger with calorie-free chemically-made products (ex. diet coke, Crystal Light, sugar free candy/gum, etc.) because it isn't the "right" time to eat.

But you see, if you truly want to understand your hunger, you have to stop worrying about everyone else and focus on yourself. You have to honor your body and what it is telling you. You need to learn how to honor your hunger and create a diet that allows you to feel hungry at the right times and satisfied when the meal/snack is over. I call this eating with a purpose. This is not done with a diet fad but instead, simply making ongoing dietary swaps/additions so that you create a diet that works for you and your lifestyle. 

If this seems troublesome for you, send me an email or reach out to another RD.
This is an area that I specialize in and it is my goal to help athletes/fitness enthusiasts understand how to develop a healthier relationship with food and their body and to let food enhance their life, not control life.