Cardio on Empty: Weights on Fuel
 

So i have been experimenting with working out on an empty stomach due to my WOE.

I have found so far. Cardio is easy on empty. Weights are mega hard on empty.

But I fly through a work out with weights after my meal that breaks the fast. The workout becomes so easy and smooth. And I feel so friggin good (endorphins)

I think Haven said Cardio in morning and weights and night...i think there is something to that.

Everyone has to find the right timing for food/eating with workouts. Some people burn out with cardio on empty, others find it so much easier! Glad you've found a strategy that's working for you!

manda--I definitely wouldn't do anything high impact on empty. I am talking low impact. I tend to be one of those sugar burners--all high energy no results--too much sugar in my blood.

So by starting out on empty insulin is lower-sugar is moved out of my blood and I'm using fat stores. my pace is slower but I see results.

You are right your routine has to be tailored to you!

This article was recently on the nytimes "Well" Blog: http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/0...fuel-exercise/

Great article, forestroad. We all need to remember that it's important to educate ourselves, and try different things to find what works best for us. I have a friend who drinks 6 cups of water before she even gets to work in the morning, and another 6 through the day. I tried to drink 6 cups before noon one day, and felt so sick, bloated, felt awful! To each his own.
:)

I don't follow that article at all. I get up at 7am and get out the door and to the gym by 7:30. I don't eat or drink anything. I do carry a big container of water that I drink throughout my workout. I also don't eat until after I'm home and out of the shower, which is about 30 minutes or so. I think we do have to find what works for us. My body seems to be responding just fine and I feel great.

Pita, I seriously think people who don't have issues with their body keeping an ample store of sugar in the blood don't understand where the energy could possibly come from?

I am not a diabetic, but my blood sugar tests around 154. My HbA1C always comes back normal though.

The key for me to use actual stored energy is to keep my insulin low, and working out on empty does the trick. I don't care that if I work out at higher intensity I burn MORE calories--I don't want to sugar burn--I want to metabolize fat. AS an added bonus. I check my progress with a ketone stick--if it's positive- I burned fat--if it's negative--i burned sugar.

Another thing for me--cardio does a strange thing to me not fasted. I work out at extremely high intensity--and I can't seem to get back down. I will try--but the feedback makes me work even harder.

Fasted--I work slower and at what I believe is an optimal pace for fat burning and not sugar burning.

we all have to find what works for us. I had a friend drink half a bottled water before the elliptical. I did the same. She wasn't as active as me, and she stayed on the elliptical longer. I felt water logged, and like I wanted to puke.

I agree with Pita. Not that I disagree with the author of the article, but so many times we see articles on some issue where one expert says 'Do A', while another expert says 'Do B'. Who is right?

I completely understand the concept that we need some carbs to fuel the workout but personally, I cannot eat before exercise. When I was still able to run (before I got plantar fasciitis), I had to get up an hour earlier to get my workout in. Ok, I admit, that was before I learned about HIIT but anyway - instead of at 6:30 I got up at 5:30. As per the author, I should have gotten up at 5 am to have a little snack. I would much rather have the extra half hour of sleep than the snack - and it's not because I am lazy to get up. I often don't enough sleep as it is (the joys of perimenopausal years) so a half hour is a big deal to me.
Also, any time when I tried to eat before exercise, I just feel like it weighs me down and I cannot move.
The author quotes a 3 p.m. workout but really, who works out at 3 p.m.? A lot of people with a regular full time job work out early in the morning because for many different reasons this is the only time they can.