Morning run on empty stomach?

BodyzLanguage

No you don't need to. Personally I train fasted. Weights & cardio. No loss of strength whatsoever. If anything I'm stronger.

furmickc

I run fasted, for anything under about 10 miles. Mostly because I don't want to get up any earlier than I already am.

BrianSharpe

lilstry wrote: »

In the past I heard that doing cardio burns fat when your body is in a fasted state. I wake up every morning at 5:30. Should I eat something light, wait 30 min, and then run? any other suggestions?

Your body uses a combination of stored glycogen and fat when exercising. The lower the intensity the higher the proportion of fat (you actually burn the most fat while sleeping....), don't fixate on fat burning concentrate more on total calorie burn.

If you find yourself lacking energy before working out you may want to have something light with simple carbs, personally I prefer to run fasted for runs under 90 minutes (pure personal preference, I hate feeling full when I'm running). It's a little trial and error, do what works for you.

robininfl

I run fasted, and without drinking anything until I get home, because I go out early in the morning, roll out of bed, pee and put on clothes and go.

Can do up to 1 hour run with no food no water, and while there is zero chance that I will want to wake up at 2am just to eat so that it can digest before I run, a good supper the night before makes a big difference. When I skip supper my run will suck.

There is some evidence that fasted morning cardio helps bodies to handle carbohydrates better, and if you have not enough glucose in your blood your body uses fat, but that doesn't have anything to do with losing bodyfat overall. Weight loss or gain is more like a settling of accounts while you sleep - you have either a net gain or loss over the day and it's added or subtracted overnight.

rybo

Return2Fit wrote: »

Chieflrg wrote: »

Cardio burns calories not fat.

It makes zero difference as long as you are eating in a deficit on average.

Eat or don't eat whatever makes you more comfortable with the energy you need.

Question:
What about the fuel for the energy represented by the calorie burn?
How does one shift the odds of that being derived from stored fat as opposed to sugar?

I am studying info that is scientifically inconclusive and contradictory. Just wondering your take on it given your obvious knowledge.

Although not directed at me, your body burns fuel on a continuum. There's no switch that flips that goes from glycogen to fat. However, the more you are exercising in the aerobic system, the more of your energy that will come from oxidizing fat. BUT, just because that is the case for that particular exercise session, doesn't mean it's the best route to go. Total calories burned trumps where they came from if your goal is weight loss.

BrianSharpe

Return2Fit wrote: »

Chieflrg wrote: »

Cardio burns calories not fat.

It makes zero difference as long as you are eating in a deficit on average.

Eat or don't eat whatever makes you more comfortable with the energy you need.

Question:
What about the fuel for the energy represented by the calorie burn?
How does one shift the odds of that being derived from stored fat as opposed to sugar?

I am studying info that is scientifically inconclusive and contradictory. Just wondering your take on it given your obvious knowledge.

The fuel source is pretty much meaningless in the context of weight loss, if you were an endurance athlete it's a different story. Compared to stored glycogen even the skinniest marathon runner has a a huge amount of energy available as as stored body fat and they do a lot of very low intensity running to train their bodies to burn fat.

Spliner1969

For me, I prefer to work out mostly fasted. When my belly is full I get tired easier and want to relax rather than work out. After 8 hours of sleep and no breakfast I tend to do my morning workout, then have a breakfast of complex carbs and high protein after. However, on the weekends I increase my workouts for endurance, and for those I eat the complex carbs (usually bran cereal with almond milk) before my workout otherwise I burn out faster than I'd like. I do believe it helps to burn fat, but science or not, it works for me. Honestly though if you eat right after your workout I can't really see your body burning any more fat than it would if you ate before. Just give it a try for a while and see if you like it. I do sip on an intra-workout drink though, usually BCAA's of some sort so that I'm not burning what little muscle I've managed to gain. I think the drink is a total of around 50 calories and my usual burn is somewhere in the 800-1000cal range during my workout so it really doesn't make a big difference. Even on the weekends when I eat carbs before working out that is only a couple hundred more calories and the burn is higher. For me it's helping to reduce body fat, I'm down to 12% over the summer so far from 14% in the early spring. I can't say for sure that it worked faster though because that's how I did it. Someone eating before working out might have dropped 2% just the same.. who knows.

Chieflrg

rybo wrote: »

Return2Fit wrote: »

Chieflrg wrote: »

Cardio burns calories not fat.

It makes zero difference as long as you are eating in a deficit on average.

Eat or don't eat whatever makes you more comfortable with the energy you need.

Question:
What about the fuel for the energy represented by the calorie burn?
How does one shift the odds of that being derived from stored fat as opposed to sugar?

I am studying info that is scientifically inconclusive and contradictory. Just wondering your take on it given your obvious knowledge.

Although not directed at me, your body burns fuel on a continuum. There's no switch that flips that goes from glycogen to fat. However, the more you are exercising in the aerobic system, the more of your energy that will come from oxidizing fat. BUT, just because that is the case for that particular exercise session, doesn't mean it's the best route to go. Total calories burned trumps where they came from if your goal is weight loss.

This.