Empty Stomach Cardio – Does It Really Help For Fat Loss?
At some point you’ve likely heard before that empty stomach cardio is one of the best ways to increase fat burning and take your fat loss results to a completely new level.
But, how true is this statement?
If you’ve ever tried empty stomach carido first thing in the morning, it’s anything but pleasant. Some people may be able to push through it, or if you’re keeping it to a moderately paced session it may not be that brutal to get through, but try doing sprints without eating anything first.
It’s not going to be fun.
So, must you really do this? Or, is there a better way to get results – a way you can see good fat loss success without doing empty stomach cardio?
The Calorie Burn Equation of Empty Stomach Cardio
The first thing to look at because it’s what virtually creates ‘fat loss’ is the calorie burn. In order to lose body fat you must burn more calories than you consume. Popular thought is that by doing cardio before eating anything, you will be at a much higher chance of actually burning body fat, hence the reason it’s preferred.
Now, here’s the thing.
You are going to burn calories when you do cardio regardless of whether or not you eat beforehand. If you eat before, yes, you will start burning off some of the calories that were just consumed, hence ‘netting’ less from that cardio session.
But, those calories are burned off, none-the-less.
As long as your calorie intake stays constant in both situations (in otherwords if you don’t eat the meal before your cardio, you’d eat it later on in the day), you will still ‘net’ the same calories over the course of the day.
Since it’s how many calories you net over the day that really determines whether you lose weight or not, that’s what matters.
The Intensity Of Empty Stomach Cardio
What I consider much more important in the fat loss equation is the intensity of the cardio you are performing. If you’re not eating before your workout, you need to ask yourself, how is this going to influence the actual intensity I am able to perform at?
Will I still be able to give as much effort?
First off, realize that the body actually cannot perform very high intensity exercise without glucose due to the energy system required. You may or may not have enough stored glucose in your body to get through it – this is dependant on a lot of different things.
In most cases though, attempting sprints without eating is going to lead to a lot of painful feelings of fatigue.
Moderate intensity cardio – that you can use fat as fuel for so you’d be okay. I’m not saying it’ll feel pleasant, but you can do it. For some people, just knowing they haven’t eaten is enough to make them feel more fatigued while doing it.
Since total calories burned is again the most important thing, if you’re session isn’t burning as many as it would have if you would have eaten beforehand (due to the fact you’re not working out as intensely), that’s a problem.
The Hunger Factor of Empty Stomach Cardio
Third you have the hunger factor. While you may or may not be hungry during the actual cardio session (some people won’t be since they normally just aren’t hungry in the morning, others wake up hungry so it’s a completely different story), many people do find that after doing a session of empty stomach cardio in the morning, they are actually hungrier later on.
If doing empty stomach cardio causes you to consume more calories later on in the day, this will most definitely influence fat loss results, so if this is your situation, empty stomach cardio is not for you.
The Final Result On Empty Stomach Cardio
So, putting things into perspective – should you do empty stomach cardio?
I would say it depends on a variety of things. Are you making good fat loss progress and only looking to do a short moderate intensity session?
If so, then it’s probably not going to hurt. It’s not needed but if you have your heart set on it…
If you’re looking to do higher intensity cardio work, then no, I wouldn’t recommend it.
Also, on that note, even if it is a moderate session, if you plan to go for an hour or longer, I’d at the very least consume a small amount of protein powder (15 grams or so) beforehand to provide the muscles with some amino acids to decrease the risk of muscle mass loss.
There you have the low-down on empty stomach cardio. If you don’t want to do it, don’t.
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July 8th, 2009 at
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July 8th, 2009 at
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