Is it true that you burn more fat if you exercise before breakfast or after??

Question

I been told to exercise then come back and have breakfast to burn more fat. Or is it better to eat breakfast first, then wait a half an hour to an hour until your breakfast has digested, then exercise. If you have breakfast before you exercise, will that make it slower or harder to burn fat??

I don't have a problem exercising then having my breakfast, but I find it hard to exercise on an empty stomach.

Answer 1

Eat than exercise. Eating before breakfast puts you at risk for digesting your own muscle. Your blood sugar is low at this point and your body doesn't function efficiently like this.

Think of it this way. Your body has energy stored, imagine this a big dry logs. However, its hard to start a fire with this, you need kindling, that would be food intake. Food in your system helps you be able to burn what is stored, like kindling lets you get the big logs in your fire burning.

The answer above makes no sense btw.

"If you exercise before breakfast you burn fat instead of energy/calories" um, fat is a physical store unit of energy. A Calorie is a unit to measure energy. So the person has just said "If you exercise before breakfast you burn your storage of energy instead of energy or the unit to measure energy".

Answer 2

There is sufficient energy in the form of glycogen and triglycerides stored in your muscles and liver to get you through the average morning workout. I'm assuming you're not an elite endurance athlete doing a 3 hour session in the morning.

There is some evidence that fat burning is inhibited by carb intake prior to exercise (see link below - about 2/3 down). This applies to exercise sessions less than an hour. After that, fat burning is unnaffected.

I draw the line at 90 minutes. If I'm running less than that, I don't need to fuel up first. Of course I WOULD have a little something a couple hours before if it were an early morning race, just to top off fuel reserves and settle the stomach.

Answer 3

The part of it that is true is that you get an acute mobilization of fat from adipose tissue when you exercise in a fasted state, whereas the same exercise done in a fed state will burn a mix of fuels, that however does not change the total number of calories that were burned. So if your diet is in order it would not make a difference and if your diet is not good (meaning that you are still overconsuming calories) then burning mostly fat won't make a difference because calorie overruns will still just be stored as fat.

Answer 4

The personal trainer who answered your question provided excellent information. I just wanted to add one additional point. A number of studies have shown that you do lose weight more effectively by eating more of your calories earlier in the day. In part, this is because exercise elevates our metabolism, so if you exercise in the morning, and your metabolism is elevated the rest of the day, your body will "burn off" more of what you eat the remainder of the day. I don't like to exercise on an empty stomach, either, but I just eat a light breakfast of fruit, yoghurt and toast, then wait 45 minutes before I exercise. I then eat a substantial snack at mid-morning (cheese and fruit) and a fairly big lunch. My mid-afternoon snack is light as is my dinner. One person has devised a diet based on this principle, called The Reverse Diet Solution. Her website has a lot of good information about why eating more earlier in the day (and much less later in the day) helps you lose weight and feel better.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Here it is-

You complete fat burning cardio workouts prior to eating breakfast. Thus, burn FAT not energy! You eat at least six times a day- small meals. Your body goes into starvation mode usually after 3 hours of last meal. You weight train after eating a light protein snack or train within 1-2 hours after a high protein meal. You need to feed your muscles protein within 20 minutes after you weight train. You body also benefits from sugar directly after a intense weight training session. Thus, many builders Will eat a a serving of peanut butter or a piece of fruit with a low carb/low fat protein supplement. If building mass is what you want ..eat away. Low carbs is not the way to go if your body type and frame resists muscular growth.

Answer 7

I look at it this way----if you have more energy to work out in the morning before you eat, then exercise before breakfast.
If you don't seem to have enough energy to workout before you eat, then don't work out before breakfast. Low energy levels is going to put you at a higher risk of getting injured, you may have bad form during your exercises.

Also---your body needs fuel---food is your fuel---if you workout before you eat in the morning---thats alot of hours that you have not eaten anything (apx 8 depending on how much you sleep at night).

I think it will be based on how you feel day to day. You will burn more calories if you have more energy to get a good workout in, so base it on your energy levels in the morning. If you do need to eat, keep it light---fruit, toast, or yogurt---and then get a good carbohydrate and protein in after your workout.

Good Luck!

Answer 8

no It is not true , the kind of exercise that u do indicate u burn your fat or not,
if u do cardiovascular or endurance exercise for more than 30 min or more , it cause u burn your fat. but if u do speed exercise it cause u burn Glocose and carbohydrate.

Answer 9

If you exercise before breakfast you burn fat instead of energy/calories! Isnt that great!

-sorry if this advice is wrong

Answer 10

if you burn befor you eat you will burn stored fat if you exersice after you will burn the breakfast fat so less results