This study tested whether different doses of endurance exercise training had an effect on eating behaviors in overweight healthy premenopausal women. The effect of low dose endurance exercise (13 kcal·kg^-1 week^-1) and the effect of high dose endurance exercise (26 kcal·kg^-1 week^-1) were assessed over a 12-week exercise intervention. The aims of this study were to determine: 1) whether 12 weeks of high dose endurance training results in increased energy intake (EI) secondary to compensatory eating behaviors compared with 12 weeks of low dose endurance training; and 2) whether the high dose of endurance training leads to changes in macronutrient selection.

Twenty-four previously sedentary, overweight women, between the ages of 18 and 45 took part in a 12-week endurance exercise program (low dose: n=10 and high dose: n=14) with an ad libitum diet. Seven-day food logs were completed preexercise intervention and in the 12th week of the exercise intervention and compared for changes in energy intake and macronutrient selection. Energy expenditure was assessed via a baseline graded exercise test and VO₂ peak; exercise heart rate was regressed against exercise energy expenditure to determine a personalized prediction equation, which allowed each participant to meet her energy expenditure goals. Body weight, body mass index (BMI), fat mass, lean mass, and waist circumference were measured at baseline and at week 12 of the exercise intervention.

Energy intake and macronutrient preferences, assessed via paired and independent samples t-tests were not statistically different from baseline to week 12 within and between groups. Neither group lost a significant amount of weight, but the high exercise group gained a significant amount of lean mass over the exercise intervention (p≤0.05). These results suggest that increases in prescribed high- or low-dose exercise energy expenditure during a 12-week period do not cause a compensatory increase in energy intake, nor does it seem to change the macronutrient preferences in overweight, previously sedentary, premenopausal women. In conclusion, future research using a larger sample size may be necessary to examine the effects of increased exercise energy expenditure on eating behaviors.