[/caption]You could burn fat if you don't eat before workout, a 2008 study by the University of Leuven in Belgium reveals. How is it possible?
If you don't feed your body with energy foods like carbohydrates before exercising, your body will have to turn to fat for fuel.
Peter Hespel, a researcher of the study explained that the absence of food before workout causes your body to have a higher level of adrenalin and a lower level of insulin. This condition allows the muscles to burn more fatty acids. In other words, if you skip your pre-workout meal, you can burn more fat than those who have a snack before performing any physical training.
Mind you that this study involved professional athletes. They are not the average American Joes.
How does this apply to ordinary people who just want to get rid of fat?
In this study, the fat loss occurs mostly in the muscles due to the lack of energy that is needed for the workout. This means you are not burning fat in other parts of the body. Without food, you need to perform many reps of very intensive workouts to burn other fats in your body. But, how much and how long can you exercise without food?
You need high intensity workouts to boost your heart rate. This will burn more calories and fat which eventually will lead to weight loss. If you try to perform this kind of workout on an empty stomach, how would you fare?
If you follow a fitness regimen, you need energy for your muscles to perform. That is why competitive cyclists like Lance Armstrong usually grab a quick bite that is rich with carbohydrates before the competition starts.
The journal of the American College of Sports Medicine reported that although the subjects who missed meals before intensive workout burned more fat than those who ate, but their performance dropped.
[caption id="attachment_184" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Are You Worn Out?"]
[/caption]Ron Maughan, a professor of sport, exercise and health sciences at Loughborough University in Britain understands this fact well. If you don't feed your body with enough fuel, you can't keep up with the intensity of the workout to improve.
I strongly believe that skipping meals before workout not only affects your fat burning effort but your physical health as well.
Thinking of exercising in the morning? Your blood sugar level should be low. Why? By morning, you have used whatever energy you have from your dinner. So, leaving out breakfast will lower your blood sugar level even more. You may end up with hypoglycemia.
If you have exercised before on an empty stomach, don't you wonder why you feel sluggish or dizzy. Probably you give up half way during your workout, not being able to complete the numbers of reps that you have set. Simply because you don't have enough energy to go on.
Furthermore, you may hurt yourself when you exercise. Your mental focus is affected when you are hungry. You may even take a longer time to recover from each routine.
This brings up another point. What do you think is going to happen after working out? There is a tendency to eat more. This is true when your blood sugar is low.
You fail to perform to the level that you desire. I'm referring to optimal fat burning. In any workout, you want to maximize your performance. But without food prior to your training, you are less likely to optimize your performance.
Why optimum performance is crucial in fat burning? The researchers at the University of Georgia discovered that athletes with the best performance were those who had regular meals and meals before and after intensive workouts. They had more muscle mass and higher energy levels. No wonder they were leaner from those who eat irregularly throughout the day.
In fact, most studies involve athletes. I understand that you are not an athlete. But I have shown you both sides of the coin as far as food prior to exercise is concerned.
What I want to emphasize is that food is important before workout particularly carbohydrates. You want to burn overall body fat and not just fat in the muscles. If you don't have enough fuel to exercise optimally, how are you going to shed excess body fat?
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