Working Out on an Empty Stomach – Good or Bad?

 

It is a longstanding debate: Is it better or worse to work out on an empty stomach?

To answer this lets start by looking at some cherished myths regarding eating and exercise.

Contrary to popular belief, research suggests that eating many small meals throughout the day does NOT speed up the metabolism, and skipping a meal will not make you fat.   In addition, breakfast is NOT magic!   You do NOT have to eat breakfast to be healthy, have high energy levels or be successful working out!  That does NOT mean it is bad to eat breakfast or eat frequent meals!

In fact, skipping a meal or two, also known as “intermittent fasting” can be beneficial in lowering insulin and increasing fat burning.

At the end of day if you remember nothing else remember this – calories DO count!   Your weight (and to some extent your health) does in fact depend on not overeating calories relative to what you burn.   There are MANY strategies for doing this and the most important thing is to develop a lifestyle that you can stick with that provides adequate quantities of calories (without overeating) along with adequate protein, fat, and carbohydrates and micronutrients.

  Optimizing Hormones (Fast)

As alluded to before, fasting triggers a cascade of hormonal changes in the body that can assist in mobilizing fat along with two key benefits:

1. Improved insulin sensitivity. The body releases insulin (a hormone) when you eat to allow nutrients to enter our cells and without it you are not long for this world!   Part of this action includes taking sugars out of your bloodstream and directing them to the liver, muscles, and fat cells to be used as energy later. The trouble is that eating too much and too often can make us more resistant to insulin’s effects (particularly if your diet is high in carbohydrates that have little or no fiber!).  Insulin insensitivity is the hallmark of type 2 diabetes, ups the risk of heart disease and cancer, it also makes it harder to burn bodyfat.  For many people eating less frequently (i.e. fasting more regularly) can assist this issue, because it results in the body releasing insulin less often, so we become more sensitive to it.   Increased insulin sensitivity makes it easier to lose fat!

2. The second benefit to fasting is that it dramatically promotes growth hormone (GH) release, which helps the body make new muscle tissue, burn fat, and improve bone quality, physical function, and longevity.  Along with regular weight training and proper sleep, fasting is one of the best ways to increase the body’s GH.  For example, one study showed that 24 hours without food increases a male’s GH production by 2,000 percent and 1,300 percent in women. 

The other big hormone associated with muscle building is testosterone. Testosterone helps increase muscle mass and reduce body fat while also improving energy, boosting libido, and even combating depression and heart problems—in both men and women.

Fasting by itself does not have any effect on testosterone.  However, there is an easy way to produce large amounts of testosterone and growth hormone which creates an optimal environment for building muscle and burning fat: exercising on an empty stomach!

 A Quick Way to Improve Performance

Intense exercise using a lot of muscle (such as compound lifts like squats, deadlifts, cleans, pull-ups, rows, etc.) can help increase in testosterone—which is why it can make sense to combine exercise and fasting. Several studies have found that that training in a fasted state is a terrific way to build muscle, burn fat and increase insulin sensitivity.  It also makes the body absorb the post-workout meal or shake more efficiently!

More of the calories you eat go to the muscles with less being stored as body fat. Exercising on an empty stomach has been shown to be excellent for fat loss, and it has even been shown that people who train while fasted progressively increase their fat burning ability at higher levels of exercise intensity (due to an increase in fat burning enzymes at the cellular level!)

There are also potential benefits for endurance sports since running, cycling, or swimming on an empty stomach makes the body better at using fat as a fuel during exercise.   By get used to doing workouts in a fasted state and then eating before races you can supercharge your endurance by maximizing fat burning AND providing maximal glycogen storage in muscles for the best of both worlds! When the body learns to exert itself without any food, it gets better at performing when it does have fuel in the tank.

There are also some studies showing decreased performance from fasting exercise.  However, many of these studies are of Ramadan fasts, which do not allow the consumption of fluids.

Even so there are many people who do eat before exercise to provide energy during the workout.    Part of this contradiction is explained by separating short workouts for the average person vs long, hard workouts done a regular basis.   For the former exercising in a fasted state is not a problem while for the latter eating before working out can be critical.  Certainly, exercising in a fasted state is NOT for everyone – nor is it required to great good results from a workout program!

  How to get the most from Exercise while Fasting!

 First - you can consume more than just water. If you are okay with   caffeine  a coffee or tea with nothing but possibly a little half and half can   improve results by boosting fat burning even more!

 Second – the obvious time for your workout is first thing in the morning!   If   you eat early say 5:30 – 6pm and then go to bed and wake up and go workout   you are on a natural fast.

 Third – plan on eating after your workout insuring you consume protein, a     little fat, and plenty of carbs to maximize muscle building.

 Fourth - eat as many meals as you would like during your eating   window.  Note: We didn't say as many calories as you like.  But it’s not     necessary to eat many meals throughout the day.

Despite some long-held myths about the body only being able to absorb a certain amount of protein at a time, we are completely capable of digesting the day's intake in one big meal (of course, this does not mean that you need to!). Studies have shown that doing so results in no strength or muscle loss, and some have even shown that concentrating food intake into one or two meals each day can be a better way to build lean muscle mass.  

A lot of protein just takes longer to digest and be utilized, but it still does get absorbed. So, if you hate breakfast it is NOT the end of the world to skip it as is so commonly believed!  Adjust when you eat so that it allows you to best control your food intake on a long term basis.

  In Summary

Changing eating habits by skipping a meal or two can be profoundly difficult for some people and is NOT advisable for anyone who has had an issue with eating disorders such as Anorexia!

Exercising while fasting is not for everybody, and if it is not for you no need to do it.  However just because bodybuilders eat meals every 3 – 4 hours does not mean that this meal frequency or fasting during exercise does not have benefits for some people – because it does!