Doing sport first thing in the morning without eating beforehand has advantages and disadvantages depending on the situation. Here you can find out exactly what these are, what you should look out for and when exercising on an empty stomach is not a good idea. You should also eat and get your energy for the new Bob Casino.
Exercising on an empty stomach is considered a particularly efficient weight loss method. According to this theory, the body draws the energy for the morning workout primarily from stored fat cells and carbohydrates and not from food that has just been ingested. This is supposed to help you lose weight faster. Whether this is actually true, however, is scientifically controversial.
However, some people prefer to exercise on an empty stomach for completely different reasons. For example, they may feel too full and tired to exercise for many hours after a meal. At the same time, sufficient food is of course also important in order to have enough strength and stamina for a sports session. So whether exercise on an empty stomach makes sense depends on a number of factors that you should weigh up depending on your individual circumstances.
BETTER FOR LOSING WEIGHT?
Endurance exercise on an empty stomach has become very popular in the fitness scene under the term “fasted cardio”. However, whether people with cardio sessions actually lose weight faster if they have not eaten beforehand has not yet been clearly proven. According to Healthline magazine, there are studies both for and against this. However, if you do weight training and want to build muscle, exercising on an empty stomach is definitely not a good idea. According to the Cleveland Clinic, it is important to eat enough protein before a workout in order to build muscle.
EAT BEFORE EXERCISING
If you have challenging fitness goals, you should eat something before your workouts to ensure you have enough energy. If you wake up early and haven’t eaten yet, your blood sugar levels will be particularly low. If you then challenge your body with an intensive workout, this can lead to drowsiness, tiredness, and lethargy. This effect is also known as ‘bonking.’ In this case, you feel weak and cannot perform your sports session as vigorously as you might have been able to if you had already eaten something.
Especially if you want to build muscle or run faster, are training for a long distance (e.g. a half marathon) or have similar fitness goals, it may make more sense to eat something before your morning workout. If you can’t manage to eat a proper breakfast, you can also just have a light pre-workout snack to get you through your workout. Easily digestible foods that provide you with nutrients but are not too heavy on the stomach are particularly suitable for this. For example, eat some fruit, such as a banana or an apple, a muesli bar or a slice of bread with some jam or nut butter.
However, whether a small snack before training is enough also depends on the intensity of your sports routine. If you are planning a light to moderate workout of around 30 minutes, a snack is sufficient. According to the Cleveland Clinic, you should have eaten a sufficiently large meal before a workout of one hour or longer. This also applies before particularly intensive sports sessions. Make sure that there are about two to three hours between the meal and your workout. That way, the food won’t be too heavy on your stomach. During particularly long endurance sessions, it is sometimes necessary to eat during your workout. Fresh or dried fruit or muesli bars, which you can easily take with you, are also suitable for this.