Opinions on fasted workouts..

hellogary11

Effective or no?
I've seen conflicting info, research and anecdotal, swearing both camps are the way to go. Any constructive input is appreciated.

JB035

Effective in loosing weight, yes. The problem is you will lose muscle mass as well, seems counterproductive to me.

Get your cals in a deficit overall and you will overall lose fat. Easy enough.

zdyb23456

I do it because running with food in my stomach makes it hurt. I run in the morning after some coffee.

It doesn't seem to do anything special for me. I gain and lose.

lorrpb

Not for me. I prefer not to fall over during my workout.

Azdak

There are conflicting opinions but the research is clear. For the average person, exercise in a fasted state provides no additional benefit for fat loss.

Increased fat oxidation during exercise DOES NOT mean more stored body fat is being burned.

Whether or not eating before a workout affects performance is a completely different question. There are many variables at play in this situation, so you can do what feels best.

DancingMoosie

I do it only because I exercise first thing in the morning.

jenilla1

I think it's a personal preference thing. Some people like it. I just crash and burn.

cessi0909

I only do it on days I am working out before 6am, I have tried to eat and just feel sick to my stomach. It doesn't do anything special....well, other than make it so I don't like like I will get sick

ronocnikral

Azdak wrote: »

There are conflicting opinions but the research is clear. For the average person, exercise in a fasted state provides no additional benefit for fat loss.

Increased fat oxidation during exercise DOES NOT mean more stored body fat is being burned.

Whether or not eating before a workout affects performance is a completely different question. There are many variables at play in this situation, so you can do what feels best.

From a weight loss perspective, the body will do what it needs to do with the hand it is dealt (excess or deficit calories consumed). From a fueling perspective, increased fat oxidation DOES mean more stored body fat is being burned.

I do primarily fasted workouts. If not fasted, at least I don't eat during my longer training sessions. My goal is to train my body to run off fats for long days, but I don't expect it to help me with weight loss unless I eat correctly.

rybo

Here's my take based on personal experience and a lot of reading about metabolic flexibility (the ability to use fat oxidation and/or glucose for fuel)

For weight loss, it's a highly over rated, over debated topic.
For performance, it comes down to an individuals tolerance for eating before working out, how intensely one works out, how long they have been in a fasted state, and what their overall energy balance is.
When I workout in the mornings, it's almost always fasted. And is always that way for lower intensity, long endurance types of workouts. Unless one is in a steeper caloric deficit or in a very long fasted state, you're still going to have glycogen stores and energy from the food you've last eaten. When performance is critical, having some easily digested carbs a little bit before hand has been shown to help. But if you're just getting up, putting in the workout and going about your day, I don't think it's overly critical whether you are fasted or not if you feel fine.

JoHmes

If I exercise in the morning it's always a fasted one, but in the evening, when I've eaten throughout the day, I definitely have more energy

apullum

I can't do it. I feel sick if I don't eat a small snack before I run or go to the gym. Usually it's just a piece of fruit, but I need something in my stomach.

H_Ock12

My preferred workout is fasted in the morning, before my afternoon meal. But if my schedule dictates I have to wait for an afternoon workout, I've found I need to break my fast with a protein shake an hour or so prior or else my energy is low and I end up tiring out halfway through a run of being unable to lift a decent load.

c50blvdbabe

Since I workout out as soon as I wake up before work, I have to. However, on the weekends if I go for a long run/bike ride, I eat a little something and then head out 1 hour later.

SideSteel

ronocnikral wrote: »

Azdak wrote: »

There are conflicting opinions but the research is clear. For the average person, exercise in a fasted state provides no additional benefit for fat loss.

Increased fat oxidation during exercise DOES NOT mean more stored body fat is being burned.

Whether or not eating before a workout affects performance is a completely different question. There are many variables at play in this situation, so you can do what feels best.

From a weight loss perspective, the body will do what it needs to do with the hand it is dealt (excess or deficit calories consumed). From a fueling perspective, increased fat oxidation DOES mean more stored body fat is being burned.

I do primarily fasted workouts. If not fasted, at least I don't eat during my longer training sessions. My goal is to train my body to run off fats for long days, but I don't expect it to help me with weight loss unless I eat correctly.

The bolded part is a bit misleading.

You can't necessarily look at substrate utilization during training and draw conclusions about what happens over several weeks.

Meaning, even if fat oxidation increases during the training bout, this doesn't necessarily indicate greater total losses in body fat over several weeks of doing this.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242477/

Azdak

ronocnikral wrote: »

Azdak wrote: »

There are conflicting opinions but the research is clear. For the average person, exercise in a fasted state provides no additional benefit for fat loss.

Increased fat oxidation during exercise DOES NOT mean more stored body fat is being burned.

Whether or not eating before a workout affects performance is a completely different question. There are many variables at play in this situation, so you can do what feels best.

From a weight loss perspective, the body will do what it needs to do with the hand it is dealt (excess or deficit calories consumed). From a fueling perspective, increased fat oxidation DOES mean more stored body fat is being burned.

I do primarily fasted workouts. If not fasted, at least I don't eat during my longer training sessions. My goal is to train my body to run off fats for long days, but I don't expect it to help me with weight loss unless I eat correctly.

No it really doesn't. The amount of fat burned during a workout is small to begin with, the difference between a "fat burning" workout and non is only a fraction of that, and over 24 hours the body equalizes fat oxidation regardless of what ocuured during the workout.

ronocnikral

Azdak wrote: »

ronocnikral wrote: »

Azdak wrote: »

There are conflicting opinions but the research is clear. For the average person, exercise in a fasted state provides no additional benefit for fat loss.

Increased fat oxidation during exercise DOES NOT mean more stored body fat is being burned.

Whether or not eating before a workout affects performance is a completely different question. There are many variables at play in this situation, so you can do what feels best.

From a weight loss perspective, the body will do what it needs to do with the hand it is dealt (excess or deficit calories consumed). From a fueling perspective, increased fat oxidation DOES mean more stored body fat is being burned.

I do primarily fasted workouts. If not fasted, at least I don't eat during my longer training sessions. My goal is to train my body to run off fats for long days, but I don't expect it to help me with weight loss unless I eat correctly.

No it really doesn't. The amount of fat burned during a workout is small to begin with, the difference between a "fat burning" workout and non is only a fraction of that, and over 24 hours the body equalizes fat oxidation regardless of what ocuured during the workout.

So you agree with me