Exercising Before or After Eating?

janekana

Hey guys! Tomorrow I was going to wake up early and go to the gym and decided that I would work out before eating, since I heard it would burn off my fat rather than burning off newly-eaten food, and it would increase my metabolism after exercising.

But I wasn't sure if it actually worked or not. What do you guys do? And does it even matter?

Sued0nim

It won't

It doesn't

It's personal preference

Fayecg89

There was a BBC program on this called 'trust me I'm a doctor', they showed from tests that women burn more calories during a workout if they have eaten lightly before and this was the opposite for men. Its a fantastic series that has looked into protein shakes and all sorts of things you want a decent medical proof on rather than someones bias opinion.

jemhh

Sued0nim wrote: »

It won't

It doesn't

It's personal preference

What she said.

Imagine you have two tanks with 50 gallons of water in each of them. You take out 2 gallons of water out of one tank and then add 1 gallon back into it. With the second tank, you add 1 gallon of water and then take 2 gallons out. Does one of those tanks have more water in it than the other? Nope. They each have 49 gallons.

At the end of the day, your energy balance (calories taken ingested vs. calories burned) rules fat loss, regardless of in what order the ingestion/burning happens.

StealthHealth

Sued0nim wrote: »

It won't

It doesn't

It's personal preference

Perfect reply!

BrianSharpe

Sued0nim wrote: »

It won't

It doesn't

It's personal preference

Succinct and accurate......

All activity burns both fat and glycogen, in varying proportions, depending on the intensity of the exercise. The reality is that the fuel source has nothing to do with weight loss (training to burn fat as fuel is very important for endurance athletes).

Fayecg89 wrote: »

There was a BBC program on this called 'trust me I'm a doctor', they showed from tests that women burn more calories during a workout if they have eaten lightly before and this was the opposite for men. Its a fantastic series that has looked into protein shakes and all sorts of things you want a decent medical proof on rather than someones bias opinion.

I looked up the episode and here was one of the conclusions.....

We saw no significant differences in their weights or waist circumference,

bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4glyLcrhgqQtPGQYM11l1YJ/the-big-experiment-how-can-i-get-my-body-to-burn-more-fat-without-doing-more-exercise

so, it really does come down to personal preference.......

janekana

Thanks for answering guys

I probably will go before just so that I can give myself breakfast as a reward, rather than having breakfast first and then being too lazy to go lol

tcunbeliever

I definitely workout harder before I eat - all that food just makes me a bit ill and I have to slow down my workout to fend off the nausea.

jdhcm2006

Do whatever your stomach can handle. My stomach can normally handle something light like a piece of fruit or a protein bar before a workout, but it cannot handle a heavy meal or I'll feel like I'm going to burst. It's not a good feeling.

I've worked out fasted or after having something light, I've noticed not difference in the way I workout.

RoxieDawn

eat how you train, train how you eat.. You have to decide if fasted workouts are for you or not..

This burning off fat and metabolism you mention.. not true.

cwolfman13

Sued0nim wrote: »

It won't

It doesn't

It's personal preference

Ready2Rock206

Do what works for you. I can't workout if I'm too hungry. My son gets sick if he eats first. But last night I ate before the gym and I thought I was going to die - or at least throw up. It was awful. So I learned my lesson - for me I need a snack not a meal before working out.