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Working out early in the morning requires willpower; doing it on an empty stomach can help burn fat.
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Burning fat is not the same as losing body fat; you lose fat by taking in fewer calories than you consume.
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Working out on an empty stomach is fine for short, light sessions; for long workouts, it is best to start with a light breakfast.
Aimingthe alarm clock. Getting up, getting ready, getting out of the house and starting to run before you even remember what day it is takes a lot of willpower. It also applies if instead of running you mount your bike or jump into the pool.
While for some it might be the only useful time of the day to devote to themselves, others may be driven by a different motivation. For example, getting your body used to drawing energy from fat. After the overnight fasting period, when the stomach is empty, the only source of fuel available and ready to use is precisely that related to fats.
Does working out on an empty stomach help burn fat?
One must first distinguish fat burning from losing body fat. Burning fat does not mean losing fat. We only lose fat when we take in less than we consume.
It is also worth pointing out that some fat is burned during the night hours while you sleep. In order to continue normal vital functions, the body draws from where there is the greatest availability of energy sources, that is, from the fat stores that, to a lesser or greater proportion, we all have.
But fat is not the only reserve of energy you can draw from in a pinch. Your body also has carbohydrate reserves, the ones you stock up on before a long workout or race: I’m referring to the famous glycogen reserves. Depending on the intensity of the cardio activity you will do while fasting, you may use up some of those reserves to produce the energy you need.
Up to 60 minutes
Working out on an empty stomach can certainly be a good stimulus for the body and the body, as long as you do it judiciously. Facing a long, hard workout on an empty stomach is not exactly what one would call a good idea. Better to prefer undemanding sessions of short duration so as not to overstress the body.
After the training hour has passed, it is important to leave with the tank partially charged. It will be sufficient to fill it up with a light breakfast and supplementing as you go along with specific products, whether gels, bars or maltodextrins to be diluted in water, to be evaluated in quantities according to the length of the workout.
When is it worthwhile to train on an empty stomach?
Setting the alarm clock very early to train in the early hours of the day is in itself a great sacrifice. Aiming even earlier to have time to eat something would be too much effort in some cases. Business before pleasure. Breakfast after the end of the workout will taste completely different as well as being much more satisfying. In the absence of time then doing activities on an empty stomach may make sense.
Another situation in which it may make sense to do cardio activity on an empty stomach is if you have a particularly sensitive stomach and suffer from nausea if you eat too much close to an exertion.
If the cardio session is short and undemanding, you can consider tackling the workout even on an empty stomach. For longer and more intense workouts you need to be able to rely on some ready-to-use energy, not forgetting to supplement “miles by doing” ;)
(Via LifeHacker)