You’ve probably heard about the importance of recovery foods after a workout. The right nutrients help your muscles rebuild and repair so you can take on more miles the next day. But even if you were looking forward to a postrun snack, you might not have the urge to eat after taking off your running shoes.
Not feeling hungry after a workout—whether it’s a short-but-intense interval session or a long, arduous run—is fairly common, says Pam Nisevich Bede, M.S., R.D., C.S.S.D., author of Fuel the Fire.
In fact, a 2020 study found that when participants exercised for 60 minutes, their risk of overeating afterward was cut by more than half, to only 5 percent. And for every additional 10 minutes of exercise after the 60-minute mark, the chances the participants would overeat dropped by 1 percent. In short, working out can indeed suppress your appetite.
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Plus, according to a recent poll of nearly 3,000 people on Runner's World Instagram, 61% of respondents find it difficult to eat after a long run or hard workout, therefore it isn't a completely bazar scenario.
So what do you do if you’re not hungry after a workout? Experts offer tips, plus explain why it might happen in the first place.
Why don’t you feel hungry after a workout?
When you exercise at a high effort or for long periods of time, the body prioritizes getting blood to the working muscles, such as the legs and heart. That means digestion, which requires blood flow, slows down. Slowed digestion is the reason for a suppressed appetite postworkout and for GI distress during a run, Bede says.
“If you’re running long and introducing gels, bars, et cetera, that don’t agree with you, the intolerance leads to feelings of nausea and vomiting,” says Bede, a decorated marathoner who works with distance runners of all levels. “And a lack of appetite can affect your food intake after a long run.”
Hormones also play a huge role in not feeling hungry after a workout, Bede says. Ghrelin—the hunger hormone—stimulates appetite, increases food intake, and promotes fat storage. And research has shown both long and short bouts of exercise can suppress the release of this hormone, thus killing your appetite.
“Depending on what your goals are, that’s one of the benefits of exercise,” says Bede, whose clients include runners trying to lose weight.
Exercise also increases the hunger-suppressing hormone, peptide YY, says Kelly Hogan, M.S., R.D., a runner and New York-based dietitian. A 2023 review and meta-analysis published in the journal Heliyon suggests sprint interval training, HIIT, and moderate-intensity continuous training, all decrease ghrelin—and your appetite–while increasing peptide YY. Working out at higher intensity seemed to have a greater affect on reducing ghrelin, too, when compared to moderate-intensity activity.
Perhaps not surprisingly, external factors—including weather—can play a role in how you feel about a postrun snack. The hotter the temperature, the less likely it may be that you want to eat.
“[A lack of appetite] is more common in warm weather, and that’s also when you’re more likely to become dehydrated,” Hogan says. “And sometimes that makes you feel nauseous when you’re finished.”
What should you do if you’re not hungry after a workout?
Even if you’re not in the mood to eat, it’s important to refuel after a workout to help your body recover and prepare for the next training session. How do you do that if you can’t stomach the thought of eating? Bede emphasizes the importance of getting something into your system after a run.
“Nutritional recovery is really important. It makes the difference between performance, prevention of injury, and refueling for the next workout,” she says.
There are three parts of nutritional recovery, Bede says: rehydration, replenishment, and restocking. When it comes to hydration, liquid nutrition, like a smoothie or a protein shake, can be really beneficial.
“Protein is really critical for stopping muscle breakdown and soreness,” Bede says.
Restocking your muscle’s glycogen stores is important after a workout especially if you have another workout in the next day or two. That’s why you want some carbs.
The critical refueling window is within 30 minutes to an hour of finishing a workout. (For fitter athletes, that window is smaller—closer to an hour or less—because their bodies have more efficient metabolisms, Bede says.)
But keep in mind that if you need to wait a little longer, that’s okay. It won’t derail your progress or performance. “Your body doesn’t operate on a 24-hour clock,” says Hogan, who practices a non-diet approach with her clients. “It doesn’t just shut off at midnight, and if you didn’t get enough nutrition that day you’re screwed. It’s more fluid than that.”
In other words, do what you can. If liquids are all you can stomach, that’s something.
“If you can rehydrate—get your urine to return to a light lemonade color—within two hours, you’re going to be okay if you can’t stomach a lot of food that day,” Bede says. “You have enough energy stores [to hold you over].” But, she points out, that you may be sore the next day due to a lack of protein.
Hogan recommends runners prepare a smoothie for quick rehydration—she likes hers with frozen berries, a banana, Greek yogurt, and milk—before they head out. Smoothies, she says, are easy to sip even if you don’t really want anything.
“Get that first little bit in, and then it’s okay to wait an hour or two to want to eat a meal, which you will,” Hogan says. “The symptoms don’t last too long.”
Should you see a doctor if this happens a lot?
While this feeling of being unable to eat may happen just once in your running career or be something you’ve come to expect, Bede says it’s not anything for which you necessarily need to seek medical care.
“I don’t know that a doctor is going to be able to help you,” she says. “But if you’re vomiting and have diarrhea that’s a whole other issue [that may require medical attention].”
For runners who experience this feeling regularly, Bede advises they plan their day-before and day-after meals accordingly to ensure they’re getting the nutrients they need. That means fewer “junk” calories—packaged snacks that don’t provide much nutrition, for example.
Making sure you fill up on necessary foods throughout the day (even if not right after a workout) will help you recover and perform at your best.
Heather is the former food and nutrition editor for Runner’s World, the author of The Runner’s World Vegetarian Cookbook, and a seven-time marathoner with a best of 3:31—but she is most proud of her 1:32 half, 19:44 5K, and 5:33 mile. Her work has been published in The Boston Globe, Popular Mechanics, The Wall Street Journal Buy Side, Cooking Light, CNN, Glamour, The Associated Press, and Livestrong.com.
