Do People With Low Activity Levels Eat as Much as People with High Activity Levels?

Are you less active during quarantine? 

Do you have a job where you sit most of the day?

Or maybe you just normally are not very active in general.

As humans, we are meant to move around.

But the world we live in makes that tougher to do on a regular basis.

If you have a job where you are sedentary, you must seek out activity otherwise you could find yourself in a spot where a typical day looks like:

Wake up 

Drive to work

Sit down for 8 hours

Drive home

Go sit down on the couch

Sit down and eat

Lay down until bed

 

While this is an extreme example, this isn’t too far out of the ordinary. 

Something that is supposed to be normal and something that we are meant to do now becomes rare.

So you would have to think this is going cause some issues somewhere down the line in the body. 

 

What happens when you are less active?

A study by Hopkins and Blundell (2016) showed that people who live a very sedentary lifestyle (low movement throughout the day) eat just as much as people who live a very active lifestyle. Not only is this a problem from an energy balance standpoint (less movement = less calories burned throughout the day than someone who moves more) but…

The authors propose that this could lead to some appetite dysregulation as well. Essentially with higher levels of physical activity, we improve our ability to detect whether we have under eaten or overeaten, compared to those who are sedentary. 

So the less you move the more likely you are to give into bored eating, stress eating, and things like that. Not to mention you are burning fewer calories than someone who is staying active. 

I’m sure you have had those days where you have not gotten much activity in and you just cannot seem to keep yourself full or cannot seem to get food off of your mind.

So could low activity be the culprit of your hunger and craving issues?

Yes.

Let’s figure out how to get more activity in. 

 

Practical application

If you have a job or lifestyle where you sit most of the day it’s important to seek out activity daily. 

Doings things like:

 

-20 minute walks throughout the day

-Park further away 

-Take the steps whenever you can

-More chores around the house

-Walk around when you talk on the phone

 

Another great option is getting a step tracker. Track your steps for 7 days and get the average. 

There is no magic step number. If for example, you only get 2,000 steps per day, then you could start to aim for 3,000-4,000. The goal is to not go from 2,000 to 10,000 per day. 

This would NOT be sustainable in the long run. 

While these may not seem like much, if they are done consistently they will add up over time. It also kills two birds with one stone, you get more activity so you can burn more calories, and you can control your hunger and cravings better.

You have two options:

1. Continue to try and do more intense cardio, restrict yourself, and/or lower your food intake even more to lose body fat, and tell yourself losing weight is impossible.

OR

      2. Stop making excuses and find ways to get more activity throughout your day doing            things you enjoy and keep you productive.

I know which one I’m choosing.

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