Emotional eating is related to carbohydrate intake in active women

Abstract

Abstract BACKGROUND Physical exercise may contribute to changes in eating behavior. AIMS to investigate eating behavior and reported energy intake in physically active individuals. METHODS Thirty-nine healthy adults of both sexes, who were involved in physical fitness training, were enrolled to participate in the study. A food diary and the TFEQ-21 was used for energy intake measurementandeating behaviors identification. RESULTS All participants showed acceptable levels of all evaluated behaviors: Cognitive restraint (46.58±16.4 and 49.5±20.0), Emotional eating (8.12±12.5 and 40.8±26.7),and Uncontrolled eating (21.6±15.1 and 35.6±20.9) in men and women, respectively. Uncontrolled eating was associated with increased carbohydate intake for women, andfat-free masscontent was associated with less Emotional eating only in men. There were no differences in energy and macronutrient consumption between training and non-training days. CONCLUSION Regular physical exercise is associateto bettereating behaviors, but women mayfind it harder to maintain or lose weight due to higher levels of emotional eating.

Keywords

• eating behavior
• physical exercise
• energy intake