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April 27, 2015 By Shimpli Patil 38 Comments

Should we brisk walk before the meal or after?

people_walking

As an adolescent, I was a victim of this common misconception that brisk walking immediately post meal helps burn calories. It’s quite natural to think that once we eat a meal and walk it out quickly, it will burn the calories that we just consumed. But hey! For that food to get converted into calories it requires a long process, which is called nothing but digestion. Unless and until we don’t let the food to get digested thoroughly, are we going to burn the calories? Obviously not!

Brisk walking post meal is a not a very good idea. It may cause acid reflux, ingestion or stomach upset. The reason is very simple- after the meal, our digestion process is all ready to go. Digestive juices are released in the stomach and intestine. This is the time when the stomach and intestine need most blood supply to carry on this process smoothly. Hence, the blood flow needs to be directed to this area for better digestion. If we perform any vigorous activity as simple as brisk walking after the meal, the blood circulation gets directed to our extremities which compromises the blood flow to the core region of the body, thus hampering the digestive processes.

Working out especially post dinner not only affects our digestion but may also postpone our sleep time. Workouts are a stress buster. Our body experiences an endorphin rush (feel good factor) after a nice cardio/strengthening session. Once we are on an endorphin high, we feel extremely elated and energized which tends to delay our sleep.

So what’s best for us? It’s always best to go for a brisk walk or any other workout before the meal (30 minutes prior or so). It exhausts our body’s energy stores which is then all set to fill up the stores again with a good meal. This reduces the chances of fat conversion during the meal as whatever we consume is utilized by the body cells for energy which leaves least for fat storage. In short, a pre meal workout fires up our body’s metabolism which therefore ensures better burn up of calories after we consume and digest the meal.

A similar point was proven by a 2006 study published in “Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism,” which says that people who walked prior to putting any food in their stomach and who walked hard enough to perspire burnt more fat than those who walked after eating.

Thus, it’s quite clear that in order to reap most benefits of brisk walking or other workouts, we need to schedule it prior to our meal. However, we can certainly go for a leisurely walk post meal, but again, not immediately. We can go after a 45 minutes gap. That is just to get over the bloat of eating way too much or to give your muscles a good stretch and it’s anytime a better option than promoting fat deposition by lying on the sofa watching TV. But remember, this should be a short 10-15 minute walk and not a long one.

Now that we have blown away the misconceptions, let’s implement the right thing and experience the change! Let’s Rock the pre-meal walk!

About Shimpli Patil

She is passionate about Nutrition and that explains Shimpli’s Master’s degree in Foods, Nutrition and Dietetics. This topper from Mumbai University also has a certification in Food Processing and Preservation and in Nutrition and Exercise for Fitness. That’s not all; she has a keen interest in the area of product development and has worked on the development of protein fortified chocolates in collaboration with Cadbury India Pvt Ltd, as a part of MSc. RnD. For over 3 years now she has been practicing as a clinical nutrition consultant. Shimpli is also a trained dancer from Shiamak Davar Institute of Performing Arts and strongly believes that dance is the best exercise for Mind and Body and when dance is combined with the right nutrition it is the correct recipe for a healthier and fitter lifestyle.

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Comments

  1. Mukesh Bhatia says

    April 28, 2015 at 12:01 pm

    Nice post Shimpli. Ofcourse this will clear the misconception of many about brisk walk. Great going, all the best.

    Reply
    • shimpli says

      April 29, 2015 at 2:21 pm

      Thanks a lot Mukesh

      Reply
    • Abdulrehman Premji says

      September 2, 2016 at 4:05 am

      Good advice Ms. Patil. Many thanks. God bless you. Amen.
      Abdulrehman Premji from Canada.

      Reply
  2. Rohit says

    April 28, 2015 at 1:32 pm

    Very useful information, especially in this summer season when everyone has so much time before sleep.

    Reply
    • shimpli says

      April 29, 2015 at 2:22 pm

      Thank you Rohit 🙂

      Reply
  3. Rahul says

    April 29, 2015 at 10:00 am

    Good and very useful information

    Reply
    • shimpli says

      May 4, 2015 at 5:42 pm

      Thanks Rahul 🙂

      Reply
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    July 9, 2015 at 9:00 am

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    Reply
  5. Rahul says

    July 22, 2015 at 8:32 pm

    Very informative article.

    Reply
  6. Swati Priyadarshani says

    April 20, 2016 at 8:46 pm

    Very informative and well explained

    Reply
  7. Ben says

    June 7, 2016 at 12:06 pm

    You could easily cut the post down by at least 50% without loosing Anything!
    The way it is now, it’s tiring.

    Reply
  8. Hoss harb says

    July 11, 2016 at 8:53 pm

    Well said

    Reply
  9. saurabh bharadwaj says

    August 29, 2016 at 9:41 am

    Very useful info….super.plz provide link for other articles..

    Reply
  10. Waleed Mahmoud says

    September 16, 2016 at 6:07 pm

    Well said. May I add that brisk walking on empty stomach burns the fat that could not have been accessed otherwise. leading to better insulin sensitivity. And if done in cycles may remove the stubborn visceral fat and the intramyocellular fat that is associated with many chronic illnesses like diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

    Reply
  11. chitra guha says

    October 20, 2016 at 2:18 pm

    a study published in ncbi.nlm.nih.org argues that brisk walking right after a meal helps in weight reduction in subjects who do not have problems like stomach ache or fatigue or discomfort experienced during a walk after meal. The authors are Japanese and claim to have successfully implemented in other patients as well. seems to be contradictory with your view.

    Reply
  12. chitra guha says

    October 20, 2016 at 2:23 pm

    please refer– https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-rest/201307/when-walk-try-after-meals

    Reply
  13. Amar snigh Rawat says

    October 26, 2016 at 10:44 pm

    Nice information. Generally people think that after food walking is better but now it’s clear.

    Reply
  14. Vidhu Shekhar Chaturvedi says

    March 29, 2017 at 9:53 pm

    You helped my wife win the case against me ! Not that she needs any help for such victories …

    Reply
  15. Raees Patwe says

    April 12, 2017 at 2:17 pm

    Thanks for the info…. It helped a lot to me… It cleared my misconception…. Otherwise I could have kept doing brisk walking.

    Reply
  16. Nandagopal says

    April 20, 2017 at 7:34 pm

    Let me start do walking before dinner and update real tim

    Reply
  17. Ana says

    May 17, 2017 at 3:09 pm

    You cleared it up for me!
    When the girls in the office say, hurry up and eat so we can go for a walk, I turn them on to your article…

    Thank You!

    Reply
  18. Lorraine says

    July 16, 2017 at 10:52 pm

    Thank you so much! I always go for my 2-3 mile walks before meals. I once tried it after I ate and I was miserable. My stomach was complaining and so were my legs. Your insight made me understand that my stomach and legs were fighting for the blood supply.
    ?

    Reply
  19. nayeem says

    October 19, 2017 at 10:01 pm

    Can any one tell me correct method of walking as i am walking after dinner immediately since i started im suffering from acidic stomach bloating..

    Reply
  20. MaxG says

    November 3, 2017 at 7:44 am

    Isn’t this interesting — I thought I agree with this article, as it makes sense; along comes another claiming the opposite 🙁 https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-power-rest/201307/when-walk-try-after-meals

    Reply
  21. Shabbir says

    November 3, 2017 at 10:54 pm

    Grrat explaination

    Reply
  22. Drsudhir bansal says

    November 22, 2017 at 7:38 pm

    You have cleared the concept very nicely
    Thankful very much.

    Reply
  23. Edward Larkin says

    December 25, 2017 at 1:29 am

    nice to hear some sencible talk

    Reply
  24. Michael Carter says

    February 9, 2018 at 6:26 am

    This is absolutely wrong. Before all your friends wrote how wonderful you are they should have googled. Lots of research saying a brisk walk after a meal burns more calories than one later. And exercise fasted isn’t what you wrote either. Ridiculous advice.

    Reply
  25. Wesley says

    February 18, 2018 at 11:53 pm

    Very useful information.

    Reply
  26. Brenda says

    April 5, 2018 at 2:13 am

    I always walk before my meals 95 o/o of the time and take a short walk after dinner. I make good eating choices and drink plenty of lemon water .
    Feeling great , but nothing I do gets my thighs down, I have thunder thighs . I’m still working on them ?, been walking faithfully for 5 years. I’m 67 and weigh 147.

    Reply
  27. BOUDEWYN says

    June 16, 2018 at 8:55 am

    YOU HAVE ANSWERED MY QUESTION
    VERY INFORMATIVE ARTICLE

    Reply
  28. Dorys says

    August 25, 2018 at 7:11 am

    Goid article! Thank you. What about walking after eating to prevent blood sugar spikes right after a meal!True or false?

    Reply
  29. Sudarshan Agale says

    October 20, 2018 at 4:45 pm

    Thanx for sharing such a important info…

    Reply
  30. Arjun Mongia says

    January 10, 2019 at 1:32 pm

    Very useful information and this article has removed my misconception and set in the right time for walking
    thanks
    .

    Reply
  31. Sajid Mughal says

    April 5, 2019 at 11:21 am

    Very useful info here. I have been going for jogging/brisk walking right after my meals and i have lost about 80kgs from 140kgs. But i’ve lost my sleep and i get really tired. I’ve lost concentration i think due to sleep. I was diabetic but no longer now. I’ll try you advise from tomorrow. Thanks a lot.

    Can you share your email as i need advise about my mother and wife.

    Reply
    • KISHOR BABANI says

      July 31, 2019 at 8:32 pm

      I started walking right after dinner for 1 hour since 2008. After 1 year I started feeling symptomps of gas, acidity, heaviness in stomach, leg pain and legs becoming thin. Nowadays I am walking 45 minutes just after dinner but from past 2 months back I am feeling extreme fatigue in legs, indigestion and spider veins in feets. The day when I don’t walk, I feel very much fresh next day. Earlier also I have read that we should walk at least half to 1 hour after having a meal. Today, after reading your article, I think I have found my solution. Perhaps that was the reason behind feeling tired after walk and spider veins. I will try it from today itself.

      Reply
  32. Lakshmi says

    November 23, 2019 at 10:22 pm

    Superb article. That explains why I have been suffering bloating and acidity issues and now when I think of it, it started from the very day I started brisk walking right after dinner 😣. Thank you.

    Reply
  33. Best Spring Brace By GenuBrace says

    January 18, 2020 at 9:09 pm

    I loved this post! I read your blog fairly often and your always coming out
    with some great stuff.. I shared this on my FaceBook and my followers
    loved it, keep up the great work ! 🙂

    Reply

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