Treat exercise as fun to lose extra kilos

If you have not been able to shed weight despite those tenuous workout sessions, try this.

Treat your next workout as a "fun run" and you will eat less afterward. But if you think of it just as a routine workout, you are going to eat more dessert and snacks to reward yourself.

According to a fascinating study, some exercisers have a tendency to reward themselves by overeating after their workout.

"Do whatever you can to make your workout fun. Play music, watch a video, or simply be grateful that you are working out instead of working in the office," said Brian Wansink, director of the food and brand lab at Cornell University.

The new findings involved two studies where adults were led on a two km walk around a small lake and were either told it was going to be an exercise walk or a scenic walk.

In the first study, 56 adults completed their walk and were then given lunch.

Those who believed they had been on an exercise walk served and ate 35 percent more chocolate pudding for dessert than those who believed they had been on a scenic walk.

In the second study, 46 adults were given mid-afternoon snacks after their walk.

Those thinking they had taken an exercise walk ate 206 more calories which was over twice as much - 124 percent more - than those who had been told they were on a scenic walk.

"Viewing their walk as exercise led them to be less happy and more fatigued, says Carolina Werle, a professor at Grenoble Ecole de Management in France.

The study was published in the journal Marketing Letters.