If you exercise on an empty stomach, your body might compensate by burning less fat after you finish exercising and eat a meal. This effectively balances out the overall levels of fat you use as fuel. Interestingly, eating before exercise seems to increase the amount of energy you use after exercise.
Running on an empty stomach can help your body burn fat as fuel, which can be beneficial for weight loss goals. But if you're doing a longer, more intense workout, running on an empty stomach can be risky. Without enough fuel in your system, you might experience dizziness, fatigue, and even fainting.
Your body will burn fat as energy if you maintain a caloric deficit. You don't have to run on an empty stomach to achieve this. If you eat 1500 calories in a day and burn 2000, your body will use its stores. Your metabolism is a continuous process, it does not follow the day/night schedule.
It is generally recommended to eat a light snack before a workout to help fuel your body and give you energy. Eating before a workout can help you lose weight by providing energy to help you exercise longer and harder, which can help you burn more calories.
Research has shown that there is no difference in body-fat loss between fasted and fed cardio. Fasted cardio may burn more fat during the time of the actual workout but less the rest of the day, whereas non-fasted cardio may burn less fat during the workout but more throughout the day.
Chronically running in a fasted state may have a catabolic effect on your body; in other words, it will cause your body to break down muscles and impair training adaptations.
While the body does use more fat when running in a fasted state this doesn't automatically equate to long term fat loss. Overall fat loss and body composition changes are dependent upon total daily calorie intake and energy balance over several days and weeks.
However, the good news is that running is one of the best forms of exercise to lose belly fat, and there are even a few small tweaks you can make to your regular running schedule to deliver a sustained fat burning boost.
You should wait at least two hours to run after eating a meal that includes fats, protein and carbs. However, if your lunch was more than four hours before you lace up your sneakers, you might want to top off your fuel reserve by having a few crackers, pretzels, or a piece of fruit.
For example, a systematic review and meta-analysis published in 2016 in the British Journal of Nutrition states that an aerobic workout performed in a fasted state leads to greater fat oxidation, compared to a cardio workout done after eating.
That plan is called the 30-30-30 rule. It's a simple but catchy idea that encourages you to eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up and then get 30 minutes of low-intensity exercise. The 30-30-30 rule now has millions of followers on TikTok.
Lemon Water
Drinking warm water with lemon in the morning can kickstart your metabolism and aid in digestion, thus reducing belly fat.
For example, if you have 30 minutes to exercise, you will burn 187 calories walking (7km per hour) versus 365 calories running (9km per hour). Walking may burn more fat for fuel, but running burns more total calories, which will contribute to greater weight loss in total.
According to a 2016 study published in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism, participating in a morning run after an overnight fast can increase fat oxidation during exercise and help you to decrease food intake over the 24 hours following exercise.
It's generally a good idea to eat before a run as it gives your body the fuel it needs to perform, but you need to leave plenty of time for digestion, so you don't suffer from the dreaded runner's stomach cramps. For a smaller, low intensity run, a small snack, like a banana, should do the trick.
Flush Out Toxins
Toxins from pollution, UV exposure, smoking, sugars, and other factors can lead to skin inflammation, acne, early signs of aging, and more. Increased blood flow and lymphatic drainage during exercise helps to remove these toxins from the body to prevent further skin damage.
However, exercising on an empty stomach will also cause you to lose lean muscle mass at the same time, which can hinder long-term weight loss. Exercising without eating first can cause dramatic shifts in your blood sugar, and when it drops quickly you can feel nauseous, light-headed or dizzy.
“Yes, running can help give you defined abs,” said Todd Buckingham, Ph. D., exercise physiologist. But before you get too excited, it's important to note that running alone isn't enough to improve muscular definition in your midsection.
But seriously, there's no such thing as too fat to run. It's a myth. There is simply your body's readiness to start. And that's not a weight thing, it's a strength and endurance thing.
But long runs alone aren't going to help you shed that belly fat. You also need to make dietary and lifestyle changes to shift those problem areas. Even if you're a regular runner who is watchful of what you eat, it's still possible to have belly fat that you just can't shift. In many cases, this can be down to diet.
Running can boost your aerobic endurance as well as power up and tone your glutes — aka your butt muscles. But getting a bigger booty depends on the kind of running you're doing.
Aerobic exercise includes any activity that raises your heart rate such as walking, dancing, running or swimming. This can also include doing housework, gardening and playing with your children. Other types of exercise such as strength training, Pilates and yoga can also help you lose belly fat.
During a run on an empty stomach, the body shifts to utilizing fats or lipids (such as triglycerides or fatty acids) as fuel. This shift not only supports the continuation of the exercise but also ensures the maintenance of the body's vital functions.
What the research says. A beta-analysis from 2017 looking at five studies on fasted versus fed exercise concluded that working out fasted does not result in greater weight loss or changes in lean muscle mass or fat mass.
Our data shows 20.7% of users opt for a 16-hour fast or more with a fat-burn rate of 42-46%. The 16:8 fasting ratio often involves skipping breakfast and not eating your first meal until midday.