Emotional eating is related to carbohydrate intake in active women

Resumo

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 measurement and eating 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, and fat-free mass content 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 associate to better eating behaviors, but women may find it harder to maintain or lose weight due to higher levels of emotional eating.