Eating Before or after Runs first thing in the morning?

It all depends on how far and how long you are running for. I can run about 6 miles or about an hour without eating anything beforehand. Anything longer and I run out of energy and bonk. I'm sure you're fine with only doing 20-30 mins, but if you feel sluggish on your runs, try eating at least a piece of fruit or something before you run to see if that makes a difference.

Bump

^ hah i wish i could run 6 miles without running out of energy!

Personally I think it's down to personal preferance, If you're pushed for time it may well be better to eat when i you get back, because if you have to eat then run straight away you'll probably end up feeling quite sicky...
But on the other hand it's not good to leave it too long in the morning before you eat...
As i said, its all down to personal preferance. I myself like to eat before any of my classes (im in full time dance training) or any other exercise, but if you feel fine with what you're doing, i see no reason to change it!
xx

I hate the feeling of ANYTHING in my stomach before I jog. If I'm doing a long run (for me, 60 minutes) I drink 8 oz of simply apple beforehand. But on most days where I'm running 30 or 45 minutes I just drink water and go.

I've started running first thing in the morning, basically wake up, have some water and go. I feel fine when I do this I run for about 20-30 mins and then when I get home I'll eat after my shower. I feel fine and feel like i'm loosing weight by doing it, but I've read mixed advice on whether you should eat before or after your run. I'm not doing any weight training, it's just pure cardio in the morning.

Whatever works for you. If you run out of steam while running because you're hungry, then you probably should eat before you do it. Personally I'd rather workout with my stomach growling than eat just before. If I eat I'd have to wait AT LEAST an hour before I could workout without feeling sluggish. But that's just me.

If you are running to lose weight, empty stomach is good. You burn more fat first thing in the morning. If you are trying to improve your performance, ie speed or distance, then energy bar or a piece of fruit is the way to go. Hope that helps

I run everything on an empty stomach (5 miles to marathons). That's what works best for me. If I'm running over 10-11 miles, I'll take a gel or some bloks after 7 or 8 miles.

Everyone needs to experiment and figure out what works best for them.

Short cardio workouts (30min or less) I wait to eat. Anything longer than that or for strength training, I eat something prior.

If you get out of bed and hit the road jogging there are several things happening to your body you need to know about. First, you have been breathing and sweating all night so you are dehydrated. Secondly, your stomach is empty and all you have is the energy stored in the form of glycogen in your muscle tissue. Have you ever heard someone say you need to maintain an exercising heart rate for 20-30 minutes before you start burning fat? That is because the glycogen in your muscle is enough energy for you to run on for 20-30 mins. After that the body scramble for energy by breaking down tissues of the body in order to create the energy needed to convert fat to energy, convert pyruvic acid into glucose, or break down stored glycogen in the liver. The problem here is this phase is horribly inefficient and is more of an emergency phase for the body than an adaptive healthy one. Even so this phas can only last about 10-20 mins so you soon find yourself compeltely wasted of any sort of energy. That is when you go in the house after a run and you feel completely empty, drained, listless, and famished. Now you sit doen to breakfast and you eat...lots. Yes you did burn fat, but you abused your body in order to do it. Similarly if you go into a bank with a gun you would get a lot of money, but you have done many other things wrong and you cannot make a living that way.

Try this perspective and reject it if you like however I hope you would adopt it.

In the morning upon waking try a small glass of OJ (4-8 oz) to smooth the edges of dehydration and put some energy into your bloodstream to help kick-off the breakdown of glycogen stored in your muscles while you are running. After stretching and waking for about 30-45 mins hit the road. You will feel more energy than if you had not and your body will perform seamlessly. After 20-30 minutes of jogging you will run out of energy stored in your muscles and you body will begin to look elsewhere for energy however since you had OJ (low glycemic) you have enough free glucose in your bloodstream to fuel the breakdown of fat. Without this free glucose your body would have to expend energy in order to create energy so that you can break down fat in order to get more energy to run further. Complex, huh? Doing this will allow you to run further and therefore burn more fat. Just one little glass of OJ leaves you feeling much more refreshed after your run and not so drained/jittery/weak/cloudy or whatever you feel. This method also allows for you to sit down and eat what you had planned for breakfast because there is no crisis.

All this simply from 4-6oz of OJ.