To burn body fats, is it advisable not to eat prior to cardio exercises?

Question

I'm just thinking that maybe my body will be forced to use fats for energy. By eating prior to cardio, I guess my body will only tamper with the directly available energy from the foods while leaving the body fats untampered.

Answer 1

The two answer above mine are very good. When you eat is not very important. You don't want to stuff yourself before exercise simply because you will feel bad. Nor to you want to be on empty, you would have the energy to work out well. It's calories in - calories used. As stated above little fat is burned during vigorous exercise, but calories are.

Answer 2

Eating before activity will increase your metabolism (energy usage), but the energy you expend during activity is based on the intensity of the exercise that you are doing. The higher the intensity, the more carbohydrate that is needed to fuel that activity; the lower the intensity, the more fat that is utilized. However, with that being said, almost all activity still requires a majority of the energy from carbohydrate. So eating before or after activity is not going to affect your weight loss or fat loss that you are after. It is still going to come down to calories in vs calories out for the day, week, month, etc... By eating before hand you have more carbohydrate readily available for use, but again, that will not affect overall weight loss.

The real question is whether you are comfortable eating right before your workout and what your overall goal is. Eating immediately before activity can take energy away from what is needed to fuel that activity because the body will be using energy to digest that food. It also can take some of the blood flow away from the working muscles and send it to the body for digestion. When we train for triathlons, we tend to eat 3-4 hours prior to activity, but our goal is performance not just weight loss. So I don't think there truly is a right answer.

I hope that helps.

Answer 3

Well, don't get to starvation mode, and you won't have to worry. Honestly, your body starts burning muscle and connective tissue. It takes fat from your brain. It weakens your immune system because it stops "wasting" calories on producing white blood cells. IT IS VERY DAMAGING TO YOUR HEALTH. Who cares if you are a thin corpse, you are still dead. Actually wanting to get to starvation mode AND exercising - you may be in danger of developing an eating disorder. If this is more than a "just curious" question, you do need to seek out help.

Answer 4

you never want to exercise on an empty stomach. an empty stomach being when you haven't eaten in 3 hours or more.

attempting to perform exercise that utilizes fat for energy is a complete waste of time. when the body utilizes fatty acids during exercise (such as low intensity exercise as walking or lifting light weights) it then switches to burning a greater amount of glucose after exercise, the opposite of what you want. when you exercise at a high level of intensity the body will utilize glucose as the primary energy source during the training session and after the training session the body will utilize a higher than average amount of fatty acids for energy as the body attempts to restore itself to the pre-exercise state. if you can sustain exercise at a high level of intensity for 60-80 minutes it can elevate the metabolic rate for many hours after exercise.

real fat loss occurs as the result of an elevated metabolic rate after exercise not during the actual training session.

Answer 5

I have heard that it's best to do your cardio before a meal like right after you get up in the morning. Not sure what the science is behind that. Has something to do with your metabolism.

Answer 6

It is best to have a largish meal AFTER intense exercise, this is because your body is still working hard after exercise, therefore still trying to burn fat