It seems there have been a couple of discussions on here in the last year about eating before vs not eating before working out. My mom sent me an intriguing article that says that you burn more fat if you haven't eaten before your workout, which seems a slightly new twist to me. Here's the article. Is this really new news, or just the same old info, recycled as something new and exciting?

I'd love to hear what you chicks think!

Laurie,

the first thing I notice is the link is from mercola.com and I'd hate to say it but Dr Mercola seems to be a quack.

Also, the idea is that you are burning calories when you exercise, what form those calories comes in depends. They may be glycogen from your cells but if your glycogen is depleted some like first thing in the morning before eating, then your body uses other resources as fuel. Whether you burn the calories you've just eaten or burn from your storage and then eat the same amount of calories later, you are still burning roughly the same calories although as the article suggests you may suffer from reduced performance if you exercise while fasting which means you'd burn less calories.

This is along the same lines as the "fat burning zone" myth. It doesnt matter how many "fat calories" are burned to fuel your workout. The body will just do something different with the food you eat later.

Personally I have done both, not because I was trying to "burn fat" but because I usually workout at 5 am and time to eat is tough - plus I dont really NEED to eat then.

With cardio only I see very little difference in performance early in the morning, however I find myself less hungry later in the day if I eat before I work out. I dont eat much now, 15 almonds and 1/2 apple. But that little bit seems to make it easier to workout and still keep my eating under control.

However, later in the day I notice a bigger difference. If I put off eating a meal when I need to eat and then try to do cardio, I have much lower energy and lower performance. I am much better off eating a small, easily digested meal and running than running hungry.

With weights I notice a huge difference. I still prefer to do weights later in the day, but if I do weights first thing in the morning eating first is a necessity (as is doing at least SOME cardio first to wake up the sleepy body)