Are you the type that grabs for a snack immediately after working out? Not so fast.

Two separate studies found that eating (or consuming high-carb drinks) after working out may actually hamper weight loss.

Serious athletes are often encouraged to "fill their tanks" with food after working out, but the rest of us regular people (a.k.a. casual exercisers) should steer clear of replenishing those calories we burn, at least for a few hours.

According to experts, in order to reap the benefits of your workout, your body should remain in calorie deficit. So hopping off the treadmill and prancing straight into the kitchen = a bad idea if you're trying to drop a few pounds.

"If people are going to go out and exercise to benefit their health, they should not be eating back the calories immediately upon finishing, or within a couple of hours of finishing," said Barry S. Braun, director of the Energy Metabolism Laboratory at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "In order to maintain the benefits, you need to be in this calorie deficit."

Another study suggests that timing isn't the issue. Instead, the amount of calories consumed -- specifically the amount from carbs -- proved to be the dominant factor in the lasting benefits of the exercise.

"It seems as though giving people back carbohydrates blunts or diminishes this exercise benefit," Braun said.