--Truth or Fiction?
"I read up somewhere that if you want to get the maximum benefits possible from every minute of cardio exercise, then we should get up early and do cardio before we eat our first meal because early in the morning before we eat, our levels of muscle and liver glycogen (stored carbohydrate) are low.
So during this 12-hour overnight fast, our levels of glycogen slowly decline to provide glucose for various bodily functions while we sleep. So when we wake up in the morning with depleted glycogen and lower blood sugar, it is the optimum environment for burning fat instead of carbohydrate. They even mentioned that up to 300% more fat is burned when cardio is done in a fasted, glycogen-depleted state.
Is there any truth in this Holly?"
To help get my point across, I am going to loosely quote Alwyn Cosgrove (minus the profanity) - he is quite possibly the world's leading fat loss expert.
"Let's take two twins. Both doing the same training program, taking the same supplements, and following the same nutrition plan in hopes of getting lean.
The only difference is that one of them eats 2 eggs for breakfast and then does 30 minutes of cardio, 3 days per week. The other does 30 minutes of cardio 3 days a week eating 2 eggs after the cardio session.
After 6 months what will the magical difference in Fat Loss be?
I'll tell you....there will be no difference.
30 minutes of steady state cardio will burn about 300 calories. Three times per week = 900 calories. Add that up for 26 weeks and we get a whopping 23,400 calories
OR
6.6 pounds of fat,
in 6 months.
If doing it fasted, burned 30% more fat (which it doesn't), you are looking at another 2 pounds of fat in that same 6 month period.
Or an additional 0.07 pounds per week.
Fat people finish marathons all the time. Aerobic training doesn't do a lot for real world fat loss.
Even if you are hungry."
Let's just look at this from a common sense perspective. We know that interval training is by far the most effective way to perform cardiovascular exercise if your goal is fat loss.
We also know that elevating your heart rate significantly on an empty stomach, when your blood sugar is low, will most often result in nausea not to mention lower energy levels. This is certainly not conducive to high intensity interval training.
Besides, if fasted state cardio could potentially burn more fat, it could be potentially more catabolic to muscle tissue (breaks down muscle tissue), due to an increase in cortisol production for cortisol levels are already high in the morning.
When it comes to fat loss, fasted morning cardio will not be drastically more effective than cardio performed post-workout or even cardio performed in the second half of the day.
We do not live in a vacuum so we need to take research studies with a grain of salt... especially when they sound too good to be true. Better to see how this research plays out in the "real world" before buying in to it. And so far it hasn't passed the "real world" litmus test.
“Holly, I had a dr. appt. for a check-up yesterday. My dr. asked me, "Don't most people gain weight over Christmas? How'd you avoid that?" HA!!!!!! I loved it!!! I am so happy to be part of a club that supports healthy life choices. I look forward to new ideas, great fun and encouragement from all involved. I think others should know how amazing it is to be able to eat more, and lose fat! When people ask me my secret, I tell them that I'm eating more. :-) I also add in that I'm eating supportive meals that are good for me, and doing interval and weight training--in about 90 minutes each week. They are amazed! It's a fabulous plan! I love FYM!!!! Thanks!” ~
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