For those who exercise in the morning...

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  • adhillman01
    adhillman01 Posts: 206
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    I had a biochemistry professor tell me that you should not exercise on an empty stomach in the morning. Your brain's primary fuel source is glucose. By morning you have been fasting for 8-12 hours so you don't have any glucose left from food. Your liver stores glycogen to release glucose during fasts and maintains your blood sugar overnight. By morning your liver's stores of glycogen may also be close to being depleted and exercise will deplete it further. If your brain can't get glucose from food or your liver then it turns to muscle because fat can't be used to make glucose. So you may be breaking down muscle to get fuel for your brain. I think this works out in theory, but I'm not sure of it's significance. I think with such a long workout, though, this may come into play. I don't usually eat before my morning work outs if they are going to be short (1 hr or less), but if I'm going for a longer run I try to eat something before my workout.
  • Mike523
    Mike523 Posts: 393 Member
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    There are many opinions on this topic, and most of what you'll read in these forums will be just that... opinions. I have done a ton of reading on this subject, and have found so many articles, blogs, forum posts, etc. with every opinion under the sun. I've also read articles that quote scientific research as evidence for both sides of the argument.

    In the end, since there seem to be valid arguments for both sides, I decided to let my body decide for me. I work out at about 6:15am. I have experimented with doing my workouts on an empty stomach (just some water), and while I felt pretty good starting off, I started to lose energy and intensity at about the 30 minute mark. I tried just having a cup of coffee with milk before working out, and the result was similar, although I lasted a little longer before bonking. And what seems to work best for me is what I do now - eat a small snack about 30 minutes before working out, and sip 16oz of water during that 30 minutes to rehydrate myself after sleeping for 7-8 hours. The snack varies but here are some examples:

    1 Tbsp natural peanut butter and a couple of Triscuits

    1/4 cup of plain yogurt and 1/2 a banana

    1/4 cup of plain yogurt and some berries

    1 apple and 1/2 cup of low fat milk

    1/2 oz of natural almonds or walnuts and 1/2 cup of low fat milk

    You get the idea - on average it is about 100-150 calories, which isn't much, but for some reason it gets me through my workouts without fading out. I then eat a normal breakfast about 45 minutes to an hour after working out.

    I say let your body decide. Try different things for at least a few days each, and see how your body reacts. Remember that if you're working out for 2 hours, you might want to make the snack a little larger than what I described. My workouts are generally under an hour.
  • Hiker_Chick71
    Hiker_Chick71 Posts: 11 Member
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    My personal trainer always told me....Mornings are great for exercise but any time of the day is better than none at all. He also encouraged me to start eating at 6am and every 3 hrs...eat something so it was a total of 3 main meals and 3 snacks and then I worked the exercise in on whatever time frame I had for the day!
  • MamaReebs
    MamaReebs Posts: 240 Member
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    I started my morning workouts on an empty stomach. However after a couple of weeks I learned that I needed to get up a little earlier and eat a small snack before my workouts to really be able to get the full benefits of the workout. Then I have my "real" breakfast about an hour or so later.
  • hofdog
    hofdog Posts: 269 Member
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    Cardio - Empty Stomach
    Weight Training - Shake of protein and carbs (Scoop of whey and raw oats in water)
  • VTXNUT
    VTXNUT Posts: 6
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    I try to atleast eat a banna or apple and a glass of water.

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