Insanity on an empty stomach?

Lyadeia
Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
edited September 22 in Fitness and Exercise
As a lot of you know, I was going to start doing a round of P90X with Turbo Kick to last from now until the end of the year. But, I have had some roadblocks already, amd I am frustrated again with this bloaty weight gain feel in my tummy...and I am deciding on something different this time.

I have done lots of research, and I have decided that the best way for me lose weight without losing my muscle mass in addition to the body fat is to do at least 3 days a week of weight training in addition to some intense daily cardio. So I have decided to combine the weight lifting parts of ChaLEAN Extreme on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays to the normal Insanity schedule.

The only thing with that is lack of time because I have a crazy work schedule where I get off work at 7am, sleep until about 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and then I have to do the things around the house that need to be done and cook dinner...then go back to work leaving my house around 10pm. The way that I would get around this is to do one of the workouts right when I wake up, and another one later in the evening right before dinner.

I have heard that cardio is best done on an empty stomach and weight lifting is best done after getting some food in your body that day...but I am worried about doing Insanity workouts on an empty stomach before breakfast. Is that a good idea or a bad one? Are they too intense to do without eating first? Have you ever done them on an empty stomach? I would have breakfast right after I was finished and then I would have a snack later on and then the ChaLEAN workout and then lunch...another snack and dinner while at work. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Replies

  • krazygloo
    krazygloo Posts: 7 Member
    maybe don't get too caught up on when you exercise, just concentrate on fitting what you want to do into your busy schedule. No day or time is going to be ideal. Try it one way for a week, then if that doesn't work, switch it up! Good luck!
  • JDMPWR
    JDMPWR Posts: 1,863 Member
    This is a myth. Best to do any evercise on a semi full stomach about 1/2-1 hour after eating.

    http://blog.mensfitness.com/2008/09/should-you-do-cardio-on-an-emp.html

    READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE....specially the last 2-3 paragraphs!!!
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    This is a myth. Best to do any evercise on a semi full stomach about 1/2-1 hour after eating.

    http://blog.mensfitness.com/2008/09/should-you-do-cardio-on-an-emp.html

    READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE....specially the last 2-3 paragraphs!!!

    Thanks for posting the article, cause being a female, I would have never found it in "Men's Fitness." :bigsmile:

    So I should wake up, have something like oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, and then do my cardio an hour later after that? Sounds good to me. :flowerforyou:

    It also mentions doing just 3 cardio days a week, though. I was planning on doing the whole Insanity schedule, just adding the weights to it 3 days a week...I was going to have at least 3-4 hours in between routines and at least 1 meal inbetween as well. Is that not a good idea? I just want to get the best results from the Insanity workouts and I thought that it would be best to leave them as is.
  • BexC
    BexC Posts: 53
    I do 10-30 mins on my elliptical first thing in morning as its the only thing that wakes me up since cut out my coffee.
    I then wait, have my breaky and then walk 3odd miles to work - so I guess I do a bit of both lol x
  • poodlepaws
    poodlepaws Posts: 269 Member
    I've been switching up my exercise to keep my metabolism up. I manage to eek out 60 minutes a day for exercise and half of that is done in the dark so I don't give up any time..
    I can't help you on the ChaLean stuff but I've learned to have a little something in my stomach before exercising: I get light headed
    .
  • Azdak
    Azdak Posts: 8,281 Member
    I think the best strategy is to "feed your workouts" and not worry about any supposed "fat burning" conditions. In other words, that means using whatever strategy allows you to have the energy to maintain your routine and put in a quality effort. That can be different for each individual. We tend to carry a lot more stored energy than we realize, so you might find that it's not that complicated.

    Ideally, it's a good idea to follow a specified eating routine (e.g. carb/protein "prefeeding" and post-recovery snack), but it's not necessarily a huge deal if you aren't that rigid. A lot of the "refueling" strategies are based on the needs of elite athletes--normal folks can get by on a lot less.

    It's much more important to be consistent in a routine, so experiment and find out what works best for you.
  • Barneystinson
    Barneystinson Posts: 1,357 Member
    This is a myth. Best to do any evercise on a semi full stomach about 1/2-1 hour after eating.

    http://blog.mensfitness.com/2008/09/should-you-do-cardio-on-an-emp.html

    READ THE WHOLE ARTICLE....specially the last 2-3 paragraphs!!!

    There's no right answer to how much food you do / don't need to eat before a workout. If I try to run or do intense cardio in anything but a fasted state (4+ hours since last meal) my workout suffers. Some need a pre-workout meal. Honestly, it doesn't matter.

    It's all relative to the person and typically more critical to re-fuel post workout with either whole food sources or a form of recovery drink.
  • Lyadeia
    Lyadeia Posts: 4,603 Member
    Thanks for all the replies. I will be trying a small meal about an hour before working out to Insanity and then another small meal afterwards. I have decided to do 1/2 cup oatmeal, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/4 cup of sliced strawberries, 1 scoop of protein powder (for taste), and some cinnamon. I added that onto my recipes and it came out to about 275 calories which I don't think will be too big of a pre-workout meal. I'll also still be adding in the weight training routines 3 times a week but they will be about 3-4 hours after the first workout with at least one meal in between.

    If the meal doesn't work out as planned, I will try working out right when I wake up. But I think the small meal should do great. I certainly don't want to lose any muscle mass, cause I need to gain more of it! :bigsmile:

    Thanks for the help! :flowerforyou:
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