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.