When you finish a hearty meal, your body seeks to repair and replenish itself. In order to do this, your body secretes hormones that make you feel full and cause you to feel less hungry. This is called your satiety response, and it’s supposed to last for about an hour. But what happens once you’ve eaten the last piece of your meal? Your body continues to digest the food you’ve just eaten for another half-hour. As a result, you’re constantly “sitting” after meals, which can lead to abdominal fat stores. Here’s what you need to know about sitting after eating.
Does sitting after eating make your belly fat
When you finish a hearty meal, your body secretes hormones that make you feel full and cause you to feel less hungry. This is called your satiety response, and it’s supposed to last for about an hour. But what happens once you’ve eaten the last piece of your meal? Your body continues to digest the food you’ve just eaten for another half-hour. As a result, you’re constantly “sitting” after meals, which can lead to abdominal fat stores. Here’s what you need to know about sitting after eating.
Why Does Sitting After A Meal Cause You To Gain Weight?
- When your stomach is full, it signals to your brain that you’ve had enough to eat. But as soon as you start eating again, the signal from your stomach goes down.
- As more time passes after you’ve eaten, your body becomes less sensitive to the satiety response and starts storing fat because of all the extra calories (and fat) in your system.
- When you’re sitting on a chair for half an hour after eating, all of those extra calories can be stored as fat around your belly and hips.
- Sitting causes a rise in blood sugar and insulin levels in the bloodstream, which causes you to become more hungry than normal after eating a meal. This can cause overeating, and overeating can lead to weight gain!
- Sitting also makes it harder for blood sugar and insulin to get into cells which can cause an increase in appetite hormones such as ghrelin (which is responsible for hunger).
- Sitting can also cause a drop in the brain chemical serotonin which causes the brain to think that you’re full when you’re not and so your body is less likely to stop eating.
- When you sit after a meal, your digestive system slows down and stops absorbing nutrients so they don’t get into your bloodstream as quickly as they would if you were standing or moving around. This can cause nutrient deficiencies which can lead to weight gain!
Why Does Sitting After A Meal Cause You To Store Fat?
- When you sit down after a meal, your body secretes hormones that make you feel full and cause you to feel less hungry.
- These satiety hormones cause your body to store fat because there’s no longer a signal from the stomach telling your brain that you’ve had enough to eat.
- Because of the additional calories (and fat) in your system, it takes longer for all of these extra calories to be used up, and so they’re stored as fat instead.
- When you’re sitting on a chair for half an hour after eating, all of those extra calories can be stored as fat around your belly and hips.
- Sitting causes a rise in blood sugar and insulin levels in the bloodstream, which causes you to become more hungry than normal after eating a meal. This can cause overheating, and overeating can lead to weight gain!
Ways To Stop Sitting After A Meal
- Start your day with a full stomach and a healthy breakfast. This will help you feel fuller longer and prevent you from sitting too long after a meal.
- Get up and move around every 30 minutes or so to give your body time to repair and replenish itself.
- Avoid watching television or reading in bed for an extended period of time.
- Eat smaller meals throughout the day rather than eating one big meal later on in the day.
- Avoid eating large amounts of fast food or heavily processed foods that contain a lot of sugar and saturated fat.
- If you’re on a diet, make sure you’re eating lots of healthy foods and not too many unhealthy foods.
- If you really need to sit after a meal, try using a hand-held foot-pedal exerciser or one of those stationary bikes that you don’t have to pedal.
- Avoid sitting for long periods of time if possible, and don’t let yourself get too comfortable in your chair!
- Always keep an eye on the clock, so that you can make sure you get up and move around every 30 minutes or so.
What To Do Instead To Stop Sitting After A Meal
- If you want to stop sitting after eating, try standing up as soon as you finish your meal.
- Instead of sitting down after meals, try doing some light exercise like walking, jogging, or doing jumping jacks instead!
- When trying to lose weight and keep it off, try some high-intensity interval training (HIIT). This will speed up the metabolism and burn more calories than if you’re just doing steady-state cardio like running or cycling.
- If you have a job that requires sitting for long periods of time, try setting an alarm on your phone so that when it goes off, it reminds you to get up and move around!
- If this is something that’s hard for you to change because of work or other commitments, consider getting an adjustable desk so that when your body needs extra support for digestion or other bodily functions, it can adjust accordingly!
Conclusion
The above information can help you get back on track to reach your fitness goals. It’s important that you don’t eat after every meal, but you can still snack on healthy foods at least 2 to 3 times a day. It’s also important that you exercise regularly, but not so much that it causes a decrease in energy.