Exercise lasted 30–120 minutes at 36–81% of maximum oxygen uptake, and test meals began zero to two hours later. Researchers analyzed both actual food energy and “relative energy intake,” which subtracts energy expended during exercise.
Short-term energy balance
Food intake changed little, leaving an average short-term deficit of about 392 kcal after exercise expenditure was subtracted.
Hunger is not the same as intake
Feeling hungry after exercise does not mean that people immediately replace every calorie they expended.
Across 51 trials, the average effect of exercise on actual food intake was small and not statistically clear. A hungry afternoon does not automatically mean that the activity has been “cancelled out.”
Long-term change is a different question
The meta-analysis does not answer how food intake or body weight changes over several weeks.
Trials lasted two to 14 hours and included a median of 11 participants. Responses may differ with exercise type, intensity and habitual activity. The 392 kcal average is not an eating allowance for a workout or a weight-loss forecast.
Test your own pattern
Place three active days side by side and check whether meal timing and hunger move in the same direction each time.
How MorselFlow fits
Compare “I ate more because I exercised” with the meals that were actually there.
MorselFlow does not measure exercise. It can still place the timing and content of meals from active days in one view, so you can compare the memory of hunger with the record.
The point is to see several days of life, not to cancel intake and expenditure meal by meal.
This article explains research for a general audience. It is not diagnosis, treatment, exercise prescription or individualized nutrition advice. Match activity and food to your health and goals, with professional support when needed.