YOU must have sweated off hundreds of calories during that spin class, so it’s totally okay to indulge in a bowl of ice cream when you get home, right? Not so fast. Research shows that people tend to reward themselves with rich foods and large portions after exercising, and that they often eat back all of (if not more than) the calories they just burned. There’s nothing wrong with small snack or a filling dinner after exercising, says Emily Brown, a wellness dietitian at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota and former professional runner. But before you dig in, you have to understand your body’s true nutrition needs so you don’t end up gaining weight despite all your hard work. Here are some good ways to refuel — and silence that rumbling belly.Work out right before a meal

    If you’re always hungry after you exercise — regardless of whether you ate beforehand or how many calories you burned — try to schedule your workouts before one of your main meals, says Brown. That way, you can refuel with calories you would have consumed anyway, without having to add extra snacks into your day.

    Make your workout fun

    Thinking about exercise less as a chore and more as something you do because you enjoy it can help you eat less afterward, according to a 2014 Cornell University study. Researchers led volunteers on a 1.4-mile walk, telling half of them that it was for exercise and half that it was a scenic stroll. The “exercise” group ate 35 percent more chocolate pudding for dessert than the “scenic” group.

    Pair protein and carbs

    When you do need a snack to recover from a tough sweat session, Brown recommends a 4:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein. “This will allow you to begin to replenish your energy levels and repair muscle damage resulting from the workout,” she says. For workouts less than an hour, keep your snack to 150 to 200 calories total — an open-faced peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a slice of turkey and cheese on crackers, or a handful of trail mix, for example. If you worked out for longer than an hour and aren’t eating a full meal soon, aim for a gram of carbohydrates for every kilo of body weight.

    Get milk

    Low-fat dairy is another great recovery food with plenty of protein to help tide you over until your next meal, says Jim White, owner of Jim White Fitness and Nutrition Studios in Virginia Beach. Plus, studies have shown that refueling with dairy — low-fat chocolate milk, specifically — helps improve subsequent athletic performances better than traditional sports drinks.

    Stop eating out of habit

    Sometimes, overeating after exercise is more a consequence of routine than anything else. “When you consistently consume a 500-calorie smoothie after you finish up at the gym, you start to get into that habit of consuming a smoothie no matter how long or intense your exercise was,” says Brown. Her solution? Choose different snacks for different workouts — the shorter the duration, the fewer calories you need to replenish — and always pay attention to your hunger cues. “It’s important for weight loss and weight maintenance to get in tune with your body and learn to eat in response to hunger, versus eating in response to boredom, stress, or the idea of rewarding yourself for exercising.”

    Snack throughout the day

    It may seem counterintuitive, but eating more throughout the day may be your ticket to consuming fewer calories overall, especially if you tend to pig out post-workout. “Incorporating two to three healthy snacks throughout the day will help regulate hunger between meals, increase energy, and keep metabolism bumped up,” says White.

    Drink water as soon as you’re done

    Replacing the fluids you lost during a workout should be priority number one, suggests Matt Fitzgerald, a certified sports nutritionist and author of “Diet Cults.” “Having a lot of water in the belly also reduces appetite — not a lot, but a little,” he says. “Guzzle water as soon as you walk in the door to quench your thirst and take up space in your tummy.” Just don’t consume massive quantities. Taking in too much water can cause water intoxication due to excessively low levels of salt in the body.(SD-Agencies)