Exercising on an empty stomach

melody921 · March 2014

OK, school me ladies. A FB friend, who is annoyingly chronicling every detail of her workout regime/weight loss online, mentioned that she works out first thing in the morning because she burns more fat on an empty stomach. True or an old wive's tale? I always just approached eating/exercising from the standpoint of creating a calorie deficit to lose weight. I didn't think about whether it mattered if I exercised morning, noon or night.

willy_gert · March 2014

There is some truth to that idea, but I would say that there aren't a lot of studies that prove it.

The thought is that you burn calories while sleeping, so if you wake up and exercise before eating you will continue to burn calories and potentially burn more than if you ate first. People that believe this, contend that the minute you eat, you stop burning calories, so then when you exercise your body has to "start" burning calories again.

I think working out to have a calorie deficit for the day is the best way to go. The most important things are to get exercise and to feed your body appropriately.

I liken this thought process to the one that 1200 calories is 1200 calories, it doesn't matter if you eat 1200 calories of donuts, or cheese, its still just 1200 calories. There is some truth, but there are some falsehoods to that thinking.

MeatballEsq · March 2014

I prefer to workout before eating so I don't feel like vomiting. Also I have to work out in the morning or I'll lose my willpower and want to sit on the couch and drink wine instead.

kelbel527 · March 2014

I thought I read somewhere that's it's worse to exercise on an empty stomach when it comes to building muscle and strength. So I don't know for sure about calories.

Not to mention, I have worked out in the morning before eating anything and I'm just more tired when I'm running. I would rather have more stamina then try to burn a few more calories by being hungry.

But, I'm not an expert...

MrsKipper · March 2014

I always worked out on an empty stomach. The thought process is that you're burning reserve calories as opposed to "food" calories.

Jillian Michaels doesn't agree. She says calories are calories, but I always preferred to work out in the morning and then wait 30 minutes to have a shake (because if you get your heart rate to the right zone your body will keep buring calories after you're done).

redneckmomma25 · March 2014

It sounds pretty dumb to me. Where is mands? What would the difference be in burning a stored calorie or a freshly eaten food calorie? You will eventually burn the stored one any way as long as you are consuming less calories than you are burning.

melody921 · March 2014

redneckmomma25 said:

It sounds pretty dumb to me. Where is mands? What would the difference be in burning a stored calorie or a freshly eaten food calorie? You will eventually burn the stored one any way as long as you are consuming less calories than you are burning.

This is what I was thinking too. Sometimes I do work out on am empty stomach, sometimes I work out at night. But I don't really want to have to think too hard about it, lol.

redneckmomma25 · March 2014

I feel like you need some protein and stuff in order to optimize your work out. I don't know for sure though. But the logic sounds faulty to me.

Hyaline · March 2014

I call crap.

I think it's completely personal preference whether you feel better working out before or after eating--some people feel like barfing if they work out on an empty stomach, some people feel that way if they've eaten anything. I say paying attention to that is far more important than any cockamamie idea about when you get an "ideal fat burn" or somesuch because if you feel like barfing when you work out, you'll probably not stick with working out.

People who say that when you eat you stop burning calories are confusing "eating" with "ceasing to breathe." You burn calories all the time.

melody921 · March 2014

Hyaline said:

I call crap.

I think it's completely personal preference whether you feel better working out before or after eating--some people feel like barfing if they work out on an empty stomach, some people feel that way if they've eaten anything. I say paying attention to that is far more important than any cockamamie idea about when you get an "ideal fat burn" or somesuch because if you feel like barfing when you work out, you'll probably not stick with working out.

People who say that when you eat you stop burning calories are confusing "eating" with "ceasing to breathe." You burn calories all the time.

Seriously LOLing at this.

MrsKipper · March 2014

The guy that wrote Body For Life and Eating For Life does a good job of explaining it better. Every time I've gone on an exercise/weight loss kick I've followed his program (moreso the meal plan than anything because Jillian does wonders for me in the exercise dept.) and I get great results.

Those two books are great resources for how your body burns calories and how to get it to burn calories more efficiently after your workout.

hmp1 · March 2014

I have always been told to eat before working out. A banana and toast with some PB on it.

redneckmomma25 · March 2014

And just because someone wrote about it in a book does not mean it is correct or should be followed.

tinyhumantoe · March 2014

I think it's funny when I get caught up with minute details like this. At my level, it just doesn't matter.

I'm in the 'do what makes you feel more comfortable' camp. If you get off your ass and get some exercise, ya dun good. Even if it could "technically" make a difference, you're talking about what.... burning 335 calories during your workout versus 326? Burning an extra 10 'fat reserve' calories? Cool, in 2 years worth of every other day workouts you will have lost an extra pound of fat. It's just a moot point for me. It's like spending two hours shopping around to save $1 on a $200 purchase, or cleaning out my car trunk to save 1/75th of a gallon per mile.

tinyhumantoe · March 2014

To me this sounds like the "fat burning zone" fallacy.

People always say to stay in the 'fat burning zone' because it is most efficient (60:40 ratio of fat to carb calorie burning). At a higher heart rate, the body only burns at a 50:50 ratio. So the fat burning heart rate is most efficient. BUT, in a 30 minute workout, you'll burn 300 cals in the fat burning zone (180 fat and 120 carb), and 400 at the higher rate (200 fat and 200 carb). You burned more actual fat calories at the level above the fat burning zone even though ratio indicates a loss of fat burning efficiency.

So, I'd argue that while it might be the most efficient fat calorie burning practice, it might not result in the maximum amount of fat calories burned in a workout "x" minutes long.

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