Morning Cardio Confusion

[wegelinc]

I have been doing a lot of reading on adding a morning session of cardio to my not so busy days for a little extra calorie burn. Here my question:

You hear you should eat within 30 min of waking up to stop your bodys fasting mode while sleeping BUT i've been seeing that a lot of people do HIIT conditioning in the morning on a fasted stomach. Whats the deal?

Eat or not within 30 minutes of waking up, do cardio on a fasted stomach or on some nutrition in stomach??

SUPER CONFUSED!

[Miranda]

it doesn't matter whether you do cardio fasted or after a meal for calorie burn.

the theory behind fasted cardio is that insulin is going be at baseline after an overnight fast. because elevated insulin inhibits fat burning, there's more chance you will use fat for fuel during your workout.

fuel utilisation depends on intensity, though, not on whether you're fasted or or fed. you will always use a mix of glucose/glycogen and fat, not one or the other.

the higher the intensity, the more glucose/glycogen you will use relative to fat and vice versa. higher intensity also burns more calories than lower intensity.

put differently,

you could run for an hour and burn 600 calories with 60% coming from glycogen/glucose and 40% from fat. that's ~26 grams fat.

you'd create and extra 350 calorie dent from mainly glycogen during running. when you eat after exercise, 350 calories from carbs will go to replenish that glycogen, which means you will burn 350 calories worth fat (~39 grams) during the remainder of the day to cover the deficit.

or you could walk for an hour and burn 250 calories with 5% coming from glycogen/glucose and 95% from fat. that's ~26 grams fat.

if you'd walked, you'd burned all the bodyfat you're going to burn to cover the calories burned during the exercise . . . during the exercise. it would total a lot less fat at the end of the day, though.

you also have to remember that fueling accordingly for exercise beforehand means upregulated CNS output. you will feel more energised and are likely to perform better = increase power output = burn more calories than if you were fasted.

(one exception where fasted cardio might make a difference is when you're approaching extreme low levels of bodyfat. women's lower bodyfat especially can be extremely sensitive to insulin. if you've very little fat left to burn, ensuring an environment with chronic low insulin levels would ensure that *that* fat is acutely burned during exercise. not that you'd have to do cardio for it, but all bits help.)

[wannabefit69]

I do fasted either HIIT or SS cardio in the morning..My coaches want me to keep my cardio and weights separated by a good amount of time in a day, plus i find my body responds well to fasted. Plus, to me it sets a precedent for my day, in a positive way.

[scotthm2]

You hear you should eat within 30 min of waking up to stop your bodys fasting mode while sleeping
SUPER CONFUSED!

Lol, I checked the date this thread was posted when I read this ^^

[wegelinc]

I'm sorry what is SS cardio? Do you eat right after your fasted cardio session then? And if you do you follow it with mostly good carbs or proteins?

I do fasted either HIIT or SS cardio in the morning..My coaches want me to keep my cardio and weights separated by a good amount of time in a day, plus i find my body responds well to fasted. Plus, to me it sets a precedent for my day, in a positive way.

[wegelinc]

Lol, I checked the date this thread was posted when I read this ^^

Why is that funny?

[Cara0915]

Why is that funny?

Because that's seriously outdated "broscience"
Don't worry about eating this or that at a certain time a day. Just hit your calorie and macro needs. That's all you need to figure out right now.