Exercise on an empty stomach or not ?

DelaneyOdon · January 2019

I am trying to get into a walking routine .I am not an early riser by nature but wondering if it’s more beneficial to walk at a moderate pace about 3.5 mph for 60 min prior to eating ? I seem to to have more energy prior to eating than after .what do you do, and have you had better results with or without eating prior to exercise?

Chef_Barbell · January 2019

It's all personal preference

apullum · January 2019

Meal timing doesn't matter unless we're talking about highly competitive athletes. For the vast majority of us, we should just do whichever one makes us feel best when we work out. You can exercise fasted or not, whichever you prefer.

hippiesaur · January 2019

If you feel like you have more energy prior to eating, you can do your routine at that time. I think it doesn't really matter when you do it if you stick to it.
Personally I have a very low energy level in the morning and all I can do without eating is yoga and maybe 20 minutes of walking if I have to leave from home without having breakfast, then I would probably starve to death..

After eating I have to wait approx. 1.5-2 hours to be able to exercise with full energy, so I do my workout routine usually in the afternoon. This works for me, something else might work for you.

What works for everybody is sticking to their goals.

missiontofitness · January 2019

I usually like to work out on a slightly full stomach, or a few hours out from eating a meal. With walking, I don't necessarily need to eat beforehand, unless I'm planning on doing a hike.

misscagal · January 2019

I personally can’t. I feel ill when I do but it’s personal to me. My friend has no trouble

RockinBaker5210 · January 2019

I usually do a 30-45 minute brisk-ish walk upon getting to work before eating or drinking anything, first thing in the morning. I'll do another 30-minute walk at lunchtime after eating lunch. Because I am at work and in work clothes, I try not to break too much of a sweat. When I get home, I then do another 30 minutes before dinner where I push myself harder.

That being said, it is all in how you feel. Some days, I am fine not eating first. Other days, I am starving and feel weaker. If walking first thing before breakfast feels better for you, go for it! Test a few things out and which makes you feel best.

MonkeyMel21 · January 2019

All of my work outs are in the morning before consuming anything but water and coffee. It works great for me.

kami3006 · January 2019

As already stated, it's all personal preference. I need food on my stomach prior to a workout. Heck, I sometimes eat between sets. I can't lift or do cardio fasted or I just get lightheaded. Walking I'm sure would be a bit different. I would prefer food first but it may or may not feel necessary depending on the distance.

Try it both ways and see how you feel. It won't make any difference fitness/weight wise.

kshama2001 · January 2019

kami3006 wrote: »

As already stated, it's all personal preference. I need food on my stomach prior to a workout. Heck, I sometimes eat between sets. I can't lift or do cardio fasted or I just get lightheaded. Walking I'm sure would be a bit different. I would prefer food first but it may or may not feel necessary depending on the distance.

Try it both ways and see how you feel. It won't make any difference fitness/weight wise.

I like peanut butter pretzels between sets

kami3006 · January 2019

kshama2001 wrote: »

kami3006 wrote: »

As already stated, it's all personal preference. I need food on my stomach prior to a workout. Heck, I sometimes eat between sets. I can't lift or do cardio fasted or I just get lightheaded. Walking I'm sure would be a bit different. I would prefer food first but it may or may not feel necessary depending on the distance.

Try it both ways and see how you feel. It won't make any difference fitness/weight wise.

I like peanut butter pretzels between sets

Pb on ritz or a banana are my usuals. 😜

cmhubbard92 · January 2019

Personally, I workout before I go to work in the morning. If I have everything ready and I *need* to eat something, I will eat a banana or a yogurt plus my coffee(black). If not, I just have my coffee, head to the gym and put in whatever time I set for the day. Most often, I just have a coffee and go. I have hard boiled eggs after my workout(even if I ate before), and that's it until I take my lunch break at work.

Like it has been said before, everyone is different. You just have to figure out what works for you. 😊

DancingMoosie · January 2019

I do my workout at home as soon as possible after waking up. The only thing I have in me is a sip of water. I shower, coffee and a snack after. If I was to eat and coffee first, I'd probably not get around to my workout before work. Plus, I don't think jumping around with a belly full of coffee and food would feel good. Do what works for you.

merekins · January 2019

I usually run on an empty stomach. Or om coffee. 🤣

Danp · January 2019

For normal training I don't think it matters beyond personal preference but I can say do NOT try to complete an endurance event without fuelling up properly first.

Late last year I entered a cycling event that was significantly longer (60km / 37ml) than my usual training distance (20km / 12.5ml) and even quite a bit longer than my extended training distance (35km / 21ml). I figured I'd be OK since it was an all day event so I could take my time and take breaks as needed.

Then a little over half way I got struck down by crippling cramps in my legs and was stuck by the side of the road for hours because I ate my usual light breakfast and didn't bring enough food with me. Luckily some of the other riders tossed me energy gels and fruit as they passed me so that I was able get enough energy to make it to the cafe up the road and get some food into me. Still the last 25km or so to the finish line was torturous agony.

So yeah. Don't try to do anything beyond a couple of hours without eating and eating well

sbelletti · January 2019

One slice of toast with 5g of peanut butter before my workout. I get ravenous on an empty stomach and sick if I have too much.

Squish815 · January 2019

As everyone else has said, it's personal preference. I go to the gym early in the morning during the week so work out on an empty stomach as I'm not hungry but when I work out at the weekend I eat beforehand as I get up later.

chris_in_cal · October 2019

DelaneyOdon wrote: »

...you had better results with or without eating prior to exercise?

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/08/180815085742.htm

No difference in weight loss, but empty stomach improves metabolic health and insulin sensitivity. Burns fat.

surfbug808 · October 2019

Good question. I've been experimenting. I always stretch in the a.m. and do some activation exercises on an empty stomach. This is because I'm not hungry when I wake up and much of the stretching includes prone or downward positions.

Then if I do a morning workout after, I would usually eat oatmeal with yogurt, nuts, nutritional yeast and a bit of fruit, wait two hours (to avoid heartburn in prone position) before swimming/surfing.

However, lately, I've reduced my morning intake to a cup of protein shake, and then waited two hours before exercising. I was scared that I'd run out of energy in the middle of the ocean or get dehydrated or light-headed. It's been going well.

So this morning, I went on an empty stomach (drank water only) and swam 1.2 miles. I took a packet of honey with me in case I needed a quick boost while in the water. (I didn't have any gel packs and it was the only small thing I could think of taking in my fridge).

As everyone has said, it's different for each individual. For me, if I workout before 9 am, I can probably go without food, and just have water. But if it's after that time, I need to eat something, and then will wait 2 hours before exercising so my stomach has some time to empty.

Another angle that I've read is that if a person exercises after fasting/on an empty stomach, the energy used is drawn from fat rather than carbohydrates. It has it's own set of other health benefits. I don't think one method is necessarily better than the other, and there is no difference in weight-loss. Just the source of energy being used is different.

sijomial · October 2019

For walking I wouldn't have any preference either way - it's not like you have to fuel the modest calorie expenditure from food just eaten as you have loads of readily available energy onboard.

For regular exercise up to about 2 hours I'm pretty ambivalent about eating or not unless it's a particulalrly intense 2hrs. My longest fasted ride was 40 miles at a brisk pace (17mph) but I was carbed up to the max after an all inclusive holiday.

In reality the vast majority of my exercise just fits in my day and my regular eating schedule and fasted or fed makes no discernable difference to me in terms of either performance or hunger.

mmapags · October 2019

surfbug808 wrote: »

Good question. I've been experimenting. I always stretch in the a.m. and do some activation exercises on an empty stomach. This is because I'm not hungry when I wake up and much of the stretching includes prone or downward positions.

Then if I do a morning workout after, I would usually eat oatmeal with yogurt, nuts, nutritional yeast and a bit of fruit, wait two hours (to avoid heartburn in prone position) before swimming/surfing.

However, lately, I've reduced my morning intake to a cup of protein shake, and then waited two hours before exercising. I was scared that I'd run out of energy in the middle of the ocean or get dehydrated or light-headed. It's been going well.

So this morning, I went on an empty stomach (drank water only) and swam 1.2 miles. I took a packet of honey with me in case I needed a quick boost while in the water. (I didn't have any gel packs and it was the only small thing I could think of taking in my fridge).

As everyone has said, it's different for each individual. For me, if I workout before 9 am, I can probably go without food, and just have water. But if it's after that time, I need to eat something, and then will wait 2 hours before exercising so my stomach has some time to empty.

Another angle that I've read is that if a person exercises after fasting/on an empty stomach, the energy used is drawn from fat rather than carbohydrates. It has it's own set of other health benefits. I don't think one method is necessarily better than the other, and there is no difference in weight-loss. Just the source of energy being used is different.

RE: the bolded. Depending on intensity, fat is a primary fuel substrate for exercise fasted or not. As intensity increases, primarily of cardio vascular exercise, more of the fuel substrate is glucose from carbs. But fat is always in the mix to a varying degree. It is really intensity that drives how much of the fuel substrate is glucose. At lower intensities, it will be fat, either ingested or stored that is mostly burned.

As you said, there has been nothing that has indicated that training fasted increases fat loss. So in the end, it comes down to performance and preference.

KerrieA87 · October 2019

I tend to do fasted exercise or leave a good 3 hr gap between my last intake of food and exercising, but I have a medical condition to take into account, before the medical condition I didn’t mind and preferred eating before

fairytale_babe · October 2019

I fast until lunch time. Do all my strength training in the morning. It's really convenient for me I have about 2 coffees and 1l of water from when I wake up until lunch