Am I going to kill myself exercising on no fuel?

You'll just shed a lot of fat and muscle, and have poor performance. You'll feel brittle and recover poorly. Yet eventually you'll adapt to the exercise and perhaps reach a homeostasis.

I train fasted every morning. I refuel after training.

A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
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Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Shirt answer is. Yes, yes you will. However, the good news is that you never train without fuel. The question is where the fuel comes from. Is it coming from recently eaten food OR is it coming from fat stores. The real point is that you do have fuel in your system. Really it is more a matter of choice. Some feel nauseated if they exercise with food in their stomach while others feel weak if they don't. Listen to your body and do what is best for you. Have something in your pocket in the event you start feeling weak so you can get some quick energy

Shirt answer is. Yes, yes you will. However, the good news is that you never train without fuel. The question is where the fuel comes from. Is it coming from recently eaten food OR is it coming from fat stores. The real point is that you do have fuel in your system. Really it is more a matter of choice. Some feel nauseated if they exercise with food in their stomach while others feel weak if they don't. Listen to your body and do what is best for you. Have something in your pocket in the event you start feeling weak so you can get some quick energy

It'll come from the glycogen stores as well as the fat stores. But when you run out of glycogen (which happens after about 1-2 days of eating nothing, or if you exercise for a long time without eating), your muscles can't work as well, and your performance decreases rapidly. You don't burn any extra fat at this point, because the body can only burn so much fat in one go (your body balances carb and fat metabolism during exercise by burning as much fat as it can then getting the rest of the energy from carbs)... so the amount of exercise you can physically do decreases by a lot. Marathon runners call this "hitting the wall"

Also, the fuel can come from skeletal muscle, if the undereating is drastic or prolongued, and bone density often goes down along with the muscle mass. Glycogen is what makes up an energy shortfall in the short term, but in the long term (i.e. prolongued food shortage) the body will metabolise skeletal muscle to preserve fat stores. (it'll burn both fat and muscle, but will try to make the fat last as long as possible.

The research into fasted cardio is mixed... i.e. whether it really does burn marginally more fat than cardio when you've eaten within a few hours before. However, exercising with depleted glyocgen stores will reduce the amount and intensity of exercise, which would mean fewer calories being burned. having more carbs in your system can mean you end up burning more through having more energy. (note: fasted cardio doesn't necessarily mean you have no glycogen in your system, because it lasts for quite a while)

Anyway, this isn't a question with a straightforward answer. The human body is excellent at keeping on going through food shortages, people can continue to do a lot of cardio during quite extreme food shortages, it's only in the later stages of starvation when they can't do that... because that's what enabled our ancestors to keep on trying to hunt/gather food through food shortages. But the changes in metabolism and body composition that enable humans to do that are undesirable if the goal is to have a strong, lean (as opposed to ill and starved looking) physique, or if the goal is to have optimal health, or if the goal is performance at sport/exercise.

OP: if money is the main issue, then try to find really cheap sources of protein and carbs. Beans and lentils are a good choice, and whatever animal protein you can afford. Depending on where you live, farmers' markets may be cheaper than the shops (and usually better quality as well). rice is a good, cheap carb, if you can save up and buy it in bulk (like 10 or 20 kg bags) it keeps for a very long time (in a plastic, airtight container to avoid insects getting in) - in the UK shops that sell foods for Indian or Pakistani communities tend to sell rice in bulk more cheaply than supermarkets. Not sure about the USA. Also get spices to season the food, there are lots of great indian and pakistani recipes for rice and lentils that are cheap and taste great.

Go hit up the food bank

Absolutely this. It's exactly why they exist. If you feel guilty about doing it, just promise yourself that once you get past this rough spot you will immediately start donating back to that food bank, now with a better understanding of what they need and what the people going there might really want.

Find a food bank, anything. You cannot be living on that for a month, even without exercise, far too little and far too damaging.

I'm sorry if I sound super whiny, I'm afraid I tend to get that way when hungry
Also: I've never ever felt this sore ever after any exercise. Ever. All the muscles. they hurt. WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH.
Ahem. sorry.

You know, for a month, that's a bad thing. Go hit up the food bank, you'll need more than 600-800 calories a day if you weren't exercising, and doing that for an extended period can potentially compromise your long term health. It's not sustainable, and it's only going to cause problems. Avoid surviving a month on that low an intake.

qft. seriously. there's always a way. im probably making less than 98% of ppl here, and still i know that that many calories is NOT healthy. buy a bottle of olive oil on the cheap. use it for everything. use butter. buy whatever produce is on sale. buy meat when its cheap and freeze it. something... seriously.. sheeeeeesh

Thank you amandakev88, this is a great thread to establish your superiority. I'm glad to hear that you're so bloody perfect. You're totally right, there are so many options!
I'll take all my invisible magic money and buy all the things on sale. Why don't you just suggest steak and beer every day? With the invisible magic money I can get everything I like! I'll just buy it and freeze it with my invisible magic freezer!
Sheeeeeeeesh. Your answer is worse than useless. *****.

Other people genuinely trying to help, thank you but unfortunately the only food bank I could go is run by the church and is only for members of the church and if I am to commit fraud, starting with defrauding GOD seems like starting mountain climbing with Everest, if Everest could send your soul for eternal torment.

Of course, as Amanda knows, there are just so many options: There is burglary, pick-pocketing, prostitution, fraud... Which has worked best for you, Amanda?
Of course it's easy for her, I bet people just pay her to go away.

I may also get a teensy bit tetchy when hungry.

I find it hard to believe a church would turn someone away. That's terrible. Are you in a big city that may have other options? Food stamps? Family or friends?

if you live near me, i am in East Tennessee, let me know. i will gladly go to the store with you and get you some of the staples you need to get you through. and no, its not a hand out, consider it as me investing in your future health and well being. i have been where you are from time to time and have been lucky enough to have great friends to lend me a hand and its just my way of paying it forward.....

Yes