question for the exercise experts?

Question

ok my sister told me she learned in her fittness class at school that eating before morning exercise was wrong and not to eat breakfast until you had finished walking and for some reason i believe i was told the opposite.Next thing she was told was if you are going to jogg or run make sure you do it for a long distance and to stop and start all the time was bad and a waste of time but my partner told me he was told that stoping and starting is really good and would help to lose weight, i cant jogg for really long distance mainly because im unfit but my asthma plays a big role aswell but sometimes i get the urge to jogg as far as i can but i dont want to risk my weight loss results by stopping and starting.............can someone tell me the truth please!

Answer 1

it actually doesnt matter when you eat - you should eat when you are hungry. you could burn more calories if you eat before excercising since breakfast is the one that lets body know its time to wake up and start burning calories.
about jogging - changing speed might help burn more calories - start slow then go fast for a few minutes and then go slow again, you can stop if you have to but not for more than a couple of minutes, you dont want your heart rate to go down.

Answer 2

OK lets break this down by segments.

Morning cardio on an empty stomach may be able to mobilize fats for fuel because you have no readily available glucose (carbs) for energy. If you strength train in the AM then eat a light meal about 60 min prior.

An asthmatic like yourself may benefit more from a continuous low intensity treadmill walk (controlled environment) for 30 min then interval training. You may sacrifice some calorie burning but your breathing will make up for it by getting oxygen to working muscles more efficiently and, if you are unfit as you state, then it will also protect your knees over the long haul.

Good luck, and eat healthy.

Answer 3

You need to eat in order to give your body the nutrients it needs. I tend to go with the work out now, eat later theory - simply to keep from having food bouncing around in my stomach (I tend to work out pretty vigorously though).

You can probably eat something light before you go out to walk/jog. Maybe a slice of toast or a grapefruit or something. Whatever you feel like doing really - there is no right or wrong way. Just what works for you.

Sorry about the asthma. Be very careful when exerting yourself - but you can still get a good workout. Definitely better to keep yourself in good shape.

Good luck!!