Do You Burn More Fat On A Empty Stomach?

Confusion remains as to whether exercising on an empty stomach helps to burn more fat or reduces the quality of your workout. It can be tempting to work out first thing in the morning, before breakfast, but studies show that you are likely to get a more productive workout when you eat a small snack first.

Recent Evidence

A study whose results were published in 2000 in the "International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism" looked at eight women who each completed two exercise trials with a space of several days between. They completed the trials three and six hours after eating a meal; researchers found the time that elapsed before exhaustion to be 0.75 minutes shorter for the six-hour trials than the three-hour. The study concluded that exercise performance is improved by consuming a low-fat, low-protein, high-carbohydrate meal three hours before exercise, and that athletes should not exercise on an empty stomach.

Benefits

Writing for the Harvard's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Jacquelyn Rudis argues that exercising for half an hour on an empty stomach in the morning may be beneficial. Your stomach is empty in the morning, Rudis writes, and you have almost no carbohydrate reserves left. For energy, your body will therefore burn calories stored as fats.

Detriments

After half an hour of exercising on an empty stomach, your body will start to burn muscle, leading to dizziness and dehydration, Rudis warns. Your blood sugar levels will fall, and you tend to eat more after a workout than you would have eaten had you not been hungry before starting exercise. Furthermore, those who do not eat before working out often do not have the stamina to work out for very long.

Conclusion

Exercising on an empty stomach may burn extra fat, as long as your workout does not exceed 30 minutes. But if you want a longer workout, the Mayo Clinic recommends eating a small meal first. However, if exercising on an empty stomach works for you, there is no need to change your routine, unless you have health conditions such as diabetes or low blood pressure. A piece of fruit or other light snack will give you extra energy and may help you sustain your workout for longer.

What to Eat

The Mayo Clinic recommends eating a light, healthy breakfast and using a sports drink to raise your blood sugar before a morning workout. Leave two hours before exercising after a small meal, and leave three hours after eating a large meal. Eat a protein- and carbohydrate-rich meal after exercising to replace glycogen stores in the muscles. Cereals, breads, rice and pasta are rich in carbohydrates, while beans, legumes, meat and eggs are high in protein.