title: Does Motivation for Exercise Influence Post-Exercise Snacking Behavior?
abstract: It is well established that regular exercise plays an important role in achieving a number of health and wellbeing outcomes. However, certain post-exercise behaviors, including the consumption of unhealthy high-calorie foods, can counteract some of the benefits of physical activity. There are at least three overlapping pathways through which exercise may increase the likelihood of consuming pleasurable but unhealthy foods: through impulsive cognitive processes, reflective cognitive processes, and/or physiological responses. It is argued in this paper that motivation toward exercise can influence each of these pathways. Drawing from literature from various domains, we postulate that controlled exercise motivation, as opposed to autonomous exercise motivation, is more likely to influence each of these pathways in a manner that leaves individuals susceptible to the post-exercise consumption of pleasurable but unhealthy foods.
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. james.dimmock@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Dimmock
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. kym.guelfi@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Kym J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Guelfi
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. jessica.west@research.uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Jessica S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: West
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. tasmiah.masih@research.uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Tasmiah
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Masih
authors.affiliation: The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia 6009, Australia. ben.jackson@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Jackson
mesh_terms: D015444:Exercise / Q000523:psychology*; D005518:Food Preferences / Q000523:psychology; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D062410:Snacks / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: compensation; ego depletion; exercise; motivation; physiology; unhealthy snacking