Exercising after meals can help promote weight loss by boosting hormones that suppress appetite

Thanks to these hormones, active people feel less hungry immediately after exercise, and this carries through to their next meal, experiments suggest.

Even when their meals were bigger, sporty people gained fewer calories overall because they burned off more.

The Surrey University and Imperial College London work is published in the Journal of Endocrinology.

Unsurprisingly, people who exercised burned more calories than those who sat quietly, 492 kcal compared to 197 kcal. And when given the chance to eat afterwards, people who had exercised tended to eat more, 913 kcal versus to 762 kcal.

However, when the amount of energy burned during exercise was taken into account, the sporty people took in fewer calories overall - 421 kcal compared to 565 kcal for the inactive group.

And levels of hormones called PYY, GLP-1 and PP, which tell the brain when the stomach is full, increased during and immediately after exercise. Volunteers also said they felt less hungry during this time.

Researcher Dr Denise Robertson said: "...our research shows that exercise may alter people's appetite to help them lose weight and prevent further weight gain as part of a healthy, balanced lifestyle." Experts recommend people do at least 30 minutes of physical activity on five or more days a week.

Dr Ian Campbell, medical director of the charity Weight Concern, said: "Dieting is never easy. Increased physical activity is an essential part of any weight management program, not just to expend more calories but also, as we see here, to help control our appetite too."