If you want to burn more fat during your workout, do it before your breakfast. Exercise physiologists wanted to see how a morning workout affected food intake and fat burning.

To evaluate, they had 12 fit males exercise on a treadmill at 10 am–either before or after eating breakfast. Following the exercise, all study subjects were given a chocolate shake recovery drink and, later in the day, they were served a pasta lunch and asked to eat until comfortably full. The researchers noted that morning exercise did not lead to an increase in appetite or food consumption later in the day. In addition, those who exercised before eating breakfast burned 20% more fat relative to those who had a pre-exercise morning meal.

This makes perfect sense given that body stores of glucose will be at their lowest after the overnight fast of the sleep period. If muscles run low on glucose, they turn to fat  for energy.

And don’t worry that you won’t have energy to exercise! Your muscles will be burning ketones (produced from body fat) after the deep fast of the sleep period. For many, me included,  I feel great exercising while burning ketones. 

Lastly, feel free to pass this article or the video on to your friends and loved ones because one of the greatest gifts we can give is the gift of better health. Enjoy!

Join my email list to become part of our thriving Healthy Living School Community made up of thousands of students who are committed to the healthy living journey. As the science of healthy living continues to grow and evolve, I share it in a simple, easy-to-grasp, actionable message that will keep you feeling great for life.