Warning: This blog might cause weight gain
If you’re getting hungry right now, it’s no wonder. Apparently the mere suggestion of getting fit can boost your appetite. Dolores Albarracín, psychology professor at the University of Illinois, says in the most recent issue of “Obesity” that weight-loss campaigns that promote exercise may actually cause people to eat more.
Albarracin and a team of researchers at U of I found that “people who viewed posters suggesting that they ‘join a gym’ or ‘take a walk’ ate more food after looking at the posters than people who saw similarly designed posters prompting them to ‘make friends’ or ‘be in a group.’”
“Viewers of the exercise messages ate significantly more (than their peers, who viewed other types of messages),” she said. “They ate one-third more when exposed to the exercise ads.” Read about the study here.
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Cindy Billhartz Gregorian is a features reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. She has reported for the Healthy & Fit section since its first issue. She's a distance runner with seven marathons under her belt. 
