Guest post by Robert Braun of Treadmill-World.com
If you didn’t want to eat so much, you’d lose weight, right? A 2008 study gives some ideas about how to do this.
The Study
The American Physiological Society says that treadmill running works better than weight training for reducing appetite. They published their findings in the American Journal of Physiology — Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.
A study conducted at England’s Loughborough University had 11 male students do three types of exercise. In the first type, the subjects ran for sixty minutes on a treadmill and then rested for seven minutes. In the second type, subjects did ninety minutes of weight lifting and rested for six and a half hours after that. The third group of subjects did not exercise at all. Each group ate two meals during a session and then reported their hunger levels. Two appetite hormones were measured, ghrelin (an appetite stimulant) and peptide YY (an appetite suppressant).
The Results
During the treadmill workout, ghrelin levels decreased and levels of peptide YY rose, suggesting that appetite was suppressed by the hormones. During the weight training workout, ghrelin levels decreased, but there was no significant change in peptide YY levels. These hormonal appetite effects lasted for a few hours or both types of exercise. The researchers concluded that both types of exercise suppressed hunger, but greater appetite suppression occurred from the treadmill use.
“The finding that hunger is suppressed during and immediately after vigorous treadmill running is consistent with previous studies indicating that strenuous aerobic exercise transiently suppresses appetite,” said Dr. Stensel, the study administrator. “The findings suggest a similar, although slightly attenuated response, for weight-lifting exercise.” Stensel said that such research may lead to more effective ways to use exercise to reduce weight.
Treadmills versus Running
Is it better to run on a treadmill or outdoors? An advantage of treadmills is you can walk, jog, or run on them. You will get virtually the same workout on a treadmill as you would running outdoors. Of course, when you are outdoors you are able to see more scenery, but indoors allow you to watch television or listen to the radio while you are running.