Working out before breakfast - Good or Bad

Sidesteal

There's nothing wrong with working out first thing in the morning. It's what I do. But one small change that might help you is switching up your post workout drinks. In the past 5-10 years research has changed its mind about a high protein drink being the best thing right after a workout. Instead it's recommended that you drink a "recovery drink" which should actually be higher in CARBS than protein (specifically a ratio of 4:1 carbs:protein) and then an hour or so later you have your high PROTEIN drink. The theory is that carbs are the energy you actually use during your workout so you have to replace them (just like the theory that you sweat and you replace it with water). To make a really simple analogy, the carbs are the river to the muscles that the protein rides on to get there. So your recovery drink should imediately follow the end of your workout, like IMEDIATELY after you've put down the last rep or stepped off the treadmill or whatever, you should be downing the recovery drink and then wait an 1-2 hours for your protein drink. The very simplest recovery drink is actually chocolate milk. Don't worry, you can make it so it's low fat, just use 8 oz skim milk and 2 tbsp Hershey's Chocolate Syrup Lite. Or you can use fruit juice (orange juice is probably best) with like 10 grams of your protein powder. Hope that helped ~Heather

^ And even more recent research suggests that you should just focus on hitting your calorie and macronutrient goals by the end of the day, and not even bother worrying about nutrient timing outside of the context of mulitple glycogen depleting events occuring within a short time period. In other words, the above isn't necessary at all.

Not trying to call you out on your post Heather, just clarifying since you mentioned recent research. The theory in the above "recovery drink" is to rush your system with carbs to rapidly replenish muscle glycogen that was used during the workout...but you don't need to do this at all since your next meal or meals will replenish glycogen.

LilMissFoodie

I don't think it really matters but I think you should do what you feel is right - ie what haves you feeling strong or well. For me, I hate working out on a full tummy - I get the worst stitches so if I am rolling out of bed into exercise then I won't eat first (I also like looking forward to my brekky while I'm working!). That said, I do feel that if I have time to work out later, ie have breakfast then walk to the gym (45 mins) then work out I do find that I have much more energy than if I hadn't eaten. Also, I would be much too hungry in that situation by the time I got home. So yeah, go with what your body responds to best!

Marley112586

I read somewhere ( a fitness mag I think) that you lose 10% more if you exercise before breakfast. I tried it. I don't have enough energy I guess. I can't do half the exercises I can do after breakfast.

soupreem27

I read somewhere ( a fitness mag I think) that you lose 10% more if you exercise before breakfast. I tried it. I don't have enough energy I guess. I can't do half the exercises I can do after breakfast.

I've heard the same thing and that's what I was talking about. It's worked for me as far as fat burning. It helped me to lose a lot of inches which to me is more important than weightloss.


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kyle4jem

I think the best time to exercise is when YOU want to.

Me, I've always been a morning person and I cannot imagine eating more than a banana before going to the gym.

I couldn't workout after eating... not even an hour afterwards :sick:

Also, if I workout in the evening, I'm wired and I cannot get to sleep so it's counter-productive.

But that's just my body telling me what works best for it and as long as I stay focussed I stay motivated.

Now... I only have one issue:

...and then afterward usually have a Lean Body Hi Protein drink while driving to work.

Don't Drink & Drive!

Cars are for driving in, not for eating and drinking :noway:

That said... 20lbs down... you're doing great!:flowerforyou:

thorstman2

I workout at 5am. It is the best time to provide all day energy. But you have to eat something before you workout to fuel your body. If you think about it, you haven't eaten since dinner so all those calories are likely consumed. Your body is is deprived and needs something. Otherwise it is like starvation mode. You will have more energy and lose more weight and build more muscle. If your body doesn't have the fuel it needs it will consume muscle. It makes sense to me when my trainer explained it. I didn't like to eat because I thought it would upset my stomach but I was wrong. Even if you just eat a little yogurt with granola and then have something else after your workout. Hope this helps.

blueimp

My trainer suggested that I, at least have a serving of fruit (for the carbs) before a workout. She would prefer breakfast, but that doesn't work with my schedule and commute. I usually have a fruit/rice milk shake with protein powder because it's portable. If I find myself hungry after I get to work, I have protein in some form (today hard boiled egg).

ElizabethRoad

Don't Drink & Drive!

Cars are for driving in, not for eating and drinking :noway:

They have cup holders for a reason. Sorry you can't do two things at once, but most of us can handle a beverage while driving.

yvonnecooper

DO not skip your breakfast. The research is huge that supports breakfast is a must - no matter when your workout is.

UponThisRock

Even if it were worse (it's not), it's far better to get your workout done when you have time to do it, rather than not getting it done because you're busy.

fakeplastictree

I read an article that said something about burning muscle if you workout before eating breakfast since you have no reserves to get the energy from. But if you don't work out for too long and have a protein drink right after then I would think that you are okay.

benztim6876

Thanks for all the responses. I didn't realize that all the comments would have came in like that .

I will say that I feel better all day since I Ihave changed the workout schedule to early morning. I am looking to get a BodyBugg to see if there is a calorie burn difference between morning and evening because I can tell you on Saturday and Sunday I will not be getting up that ealry.

I also think drining the Lean Body Hi Protain drink right afterwards help keeps the stomach from getting upset and since those drink are healthy my body will use the protein faster for better recovery. I am going to try this for a couple week and see what happens. If I see a good change I will see about getting up 30 earlier to get a longer burn in.

Again thanks for all the comments.

ausjea

If you Google "bonk training" you'll see some additional stuff out there as well. A lot of people swear by it when it comes to burning fat. It kind of makes sense considering your glycogen stores will be mostly depleted after a night of sleep. Your body will need to pull energy from somewhere, and it'll burn fat. I'm not sure where the "you'll burn muscle tissue away!" came from, but I'm pretty sure it's a myth.