Eat a healthy breakfast Studies suggest that eating or drinking carbohydrates before exercise can help you do better during your workout. And the carbohydrates may allow you to work out for a longer time or at a higher intensity. If you don't eat, you might feel slow-moving or lightheaded when you exercise.
“Some research indicates that fasted cardio can lead to fat loss,” Schlichter explains. Without food that morning, your body doesn't have available glucose, which is its go-to fuel source to give you that zip during cardio. Still, your body needs to pull fuel from somewhere, so it will tap into fat stores instead.
Working out on an empty stomach won't hurt you—and it may actually help, depending on your goal. But first, the downsides. Exercising before eating comes with the risk of “bonking”—the actual sports term for feeling lethargic or light-headed due to low blood sugar.
The best time to incorporate exercise while fasting is early in the day, to match the body's natural circadian rhythm; Unless you're participating in a heavy weight session or endurance cardio, you can benefit hormonally from fasting after your workout, too (for two to three hours).
Early Morning & Breakfast:
30 Minutes Before Workout: Low Intensity: Have a banana with nuts and seeds. Moderate Intensity: Drink a beetroot shot and have a banana with 10 almonds and a spoon of roasted pumpkin seeds. High Intensity: Eat dates oats porridge and have a banana.
Generally speaking, you should try to eat an hour to 90 minutes before exercising. If you're working out early, you don't want to wake up hours before just to eat. If you don't have a lot of time to digest, avoid a full meal and aim to eat a small snack at least 20 to 30 minutes before your workout.
You eat 30 grams of protein within 30 minutes of waking up, followed by 30 minutes of “steady-state cardiovascular exercise.” Eating a protein-filled breakfast in the morning can stave off cravings later, and exercising first thing ensures you get some movement before your day gets going.
When you exercise in a fasted state — after a night's sleep and before you eat breakfast — then you do actually use more fat as a fuel source during exercise. But research from my team has shown that performing exercise in a fasted or fed state does not have any meaningful impact on body fat in the medium to long term.
In general, for healthy individuals looking to lose weight or get fitter – morning workouts are perfectly fine. In most cases, they are even a great choice (see next section).
Yes and no.
If you then exercise before giving your body any new carbohydrates, your body is forced to utilize fat as a fuel source. So, in the short term (i.e. over the course of your workout), you will indeed burn more calories from fat than you would if you were to eat a source of carbohydrate prior to exercising.
If you exercise in the morning, get up early enough to finish breakfast at least one hour before your workout. Be well fueled going into a workout. Studies suggest that eating or drinking carbohydrates before exercise can help you do better during your workout.
The final verdict? Exercising in a fasted state may burn some quick body fat, but it's not the best option for your body in the long-run. Eat a small snack or meal before and after your workout to ensure that you're properly fueled to perform your best in the gym and recover quickly when you get home.
Your body uses stored fat and carbohydrates from food to fuel exercise. But when you haven't eaten for hours, there are fewer carbs available. So your body may rely on fat stores as a primary energy source, allowing you to burn more fat.
Packed with carbohydrates, bananas serve as a primary fuel source for your muscles during exercise. The natural sugars they contain provide a quick energy boost, making them an ideal pre-workout snack.
You're depriving your muscles of the amino acids they need to rebuild and recover. You're not replenishing the stored glucose (glycogen) in your muscles which can lead to further muscle breakdown. You'll get hungry a few hours later and likely overeat at that later meal.
According to elite sports nutritionist James Collins, if you're exercising in the morning, it's best to have a fuelling breakfast containing low-GI carbs, such as oats, before training to maintain energy levels during your session. Follow your workout with a fuelling lunch or snack to help your muscles recover.
There's likely no magic associated with getting exactly 30 grams of protein at breakfast. But there are benefits to eating protein first thing in the morning. A high-protein breakfast will keep you fuller longer than one composed mostly of carbohydrates. That may help reduce cravings for a mid-morning snack.
4-Hour Body Diet: Health Risks
Restricting entire food groups could lead to deficiencies in certain vitamins and other nutrients, including vitamin D and calcium (found in dairy) and B vitamins such as folic acid (found in grains and fruit).
Here is a list of foods that provide roughly 30 grams of protein: 1.5 cups of Greek yogurt (opt for unsweetened and add your own toppings) 1 cup cottage cheese. 5 large eggs, or 2-3 eggs mixed with extra egg whites.
But what about eggs as a pre-workout meal? One egg contains about 72 calories and 6 grams of high-quality protein, but also carries 5 grams of fat (1.6 saturated) and iron, vitamins and minerals. However, one egg contains less than 1 gram of carbohydrates which is also an essential for pre-workout nutrition.
The short answer: Many experts suggest having protein after a workout to build muscle mass. But preworkout or postworkout protein may help. Strenuous exercise creates microtears in the muscles. After a workout, your body repairs the damage using amino acids from dietary protein.
For women, the results show that eating before they exercise is better than eating after if they want to burn fat. Women's bodies tend to burn fat more easily than men's, and are not fuelled so much by carbohydrates. Moreover, women are much better at conserving carbohydrates during exercise.