Why Do We Get So Hungry When Swimming?

Have you ever thought about why we get hungry while swimming rather than taking a shower? While swimming, the feeling of hunger takes over you, which cannot be compared with other sports. Let’s explain why.

Why Does Swimming Make Me Hungry?

There are several reasons why swimming causes hunger. Here are some of them:

• Intense physical activity causes a large amount of energy expenditure. As a result, the body burns calories and a feeling of hunger occurs.
• Dehydration occurs as a result of intense physical activity and sweating. You may not realize that you are dehydrated when you are underwater, but you may notice it after swimming.
• If you don’t eat properly before training, you may feel hungry.
• During intense physical activity, your blood sugar drops and your body begins to quickly consume the carbohydrates stored in your body. This gives a feeling of hunger.

Let’s take a closer look at the causes of hunger during swimming.

The Sea Gives a Feeling of Hunger.

First of all, let’s say that the sea makes people hungry. If you think this is a myth, face this reality now. The sea makes people hungry. If you feel very hungry after a little swimming and you think that it is something unique to you, you are wrong. Every person gets hungry after swimming and comes out of the water in dazed way.

What causes this interesting situation is our body temperature. Man is a warm-blooded creature. So wherever we go, one of our body’s top priorities is to maintain its heat. Our body has developed many tactics to do this and is doing its best.

This is exactly what happens when we swim. The cold water begins to absorb the heat from our body and struggles until our body temperature equalizes. However, our body, which does not allow this, quickly burns all the previously stored nutrients and produces heat, and ensures that our body (at least our internal organs) stays at the same temperature as possible. Because of this, we get hungry very quickly.

You Expend Energy While Swimming

One of the reasons you get hungry while swimming is because of the energy you expend while swimming. You expend a lot of energy while swimming. According to the American Council on Exercise, every half hour of swimming burns between 250-450 calories. An hour and a half of vigorous swimming training will burn 650 calories.

If you’re swimming in cold water, you burn more energy because your body uses more energy to maintain body temperature. A study by the University of Florida showed that those swimming in cold water burned more calories than those swimming in hot water. In the study, it was stated that athletes swimming in 20 degrees water for 45 minutes burned an average of 517 calories.

Intense Swimming Makes You More Hungry

The number of calories you burn depends on your swimming style. Athletes swimming freestyle, backstroke or butterfly expend much more energy than breaststroke swimming. As a result, athletes may feel hungrier.

Dehydration Makes You Hungry

Swimmers often swim in cold water. Cold water lowers the temperature of our bodies. Our body sweats to balance body temperature and this causes excessive water loss, namely dehydration. Even if we don’t notice dehydration while swimming, we lose a lot of water during that time and this makes us hungry.

What to eat after swimming?

As we mentioned, swimming makes you very hungry, and therefore swimmers’ cravings for food after swimming may become excessive. Uncontrolled food intake after swimming causes weight gain and digestive system problems.

For this reason, it is important to take food correctly after swimming. You will need to pay attention to this, especially if you are swimming to lose weight.

Eating plan after swimming

We have prepared a plan for you to facilitate and balance your nutritional intake after swimming. Amounts may vary from person to person.

First of all, if there is still time for your meal after swimming, you will need to snack during this time to stabilize your blood sugar. In this way, you will not feel hungry and balance your blood sugar.

Post-swim snack plan:

• 1 serving of fruit and a glass of low-fat or skim milk
• 1 serving of fruit, probiotic yogurt, and 1-2 walnuts
• 1 portion of fruit, 15 almonds/peanuts
• 3-4 grissini and 1-2 slices of cheese

Main meal after swimming:

• Sandwich with grilled chicken multigrain bread
• Grilled meat, meatballs, a green salad, and 1-2 slices of bread
• Grilled fish, steamed vegetables, and 1 small potato
• 2 egg whites, 1 whole egg, 3 tablespoons of oats and plenty of greens, omelet, tomato, cucumber, and other vegetables upon request

Final Words: Why Does Swimming Make Me Hungry?

Swimming is a sport that works all the bones and muscles in the body, spends a lot of energy, and makes you sweat. Intense physical activity causes a drop in body temperature, sweating, decreased blood sugar, and dehydration. All of these help the body burn calories. Burning more calories increases the feeling of hunger. All swimmers experience hunger. This is completely normal.