Working out - When to eat ?

niamh4626

Hi,

I've been attending Semi PT, 2 mornings a week, for the last 9 months and i'm really enjoying it. We primarily use weights etc with a small bit of conditioning thrown in.

As i'm not doing any other exercise other than my 2 days a week, I've joined a gym for cardio type classes (Spinning and the likes) 2 mornings a week - this is to burn body fat as well as getting fitter as I really like my food.

My question is - Do you think I should I be eating in advance of either of my classes or go in fasting and eat after?

Until now I've been having half a fulfil bar and half an apple before my semi PT.

Many thanks,
Niamh

Totally depends on you. Do you perform ok with what you're having. Are you so hungry after that you're grabbing anything within reach or are you grand after as well.
Some people would feel ill if they ate before. I'd probably prefer to get a load in afterwards

niamh4626

Hi bluewolf - I should have said, my main aim is to burn body fat (whats new?!), so will I burn as much if I exercise while fasting? I'm pretty good with my food in general (apart from the sweeties and chocolate which pass my lips from time to time!) but re breakfast, lunch, dinner etc - i'm very organised.

MightyMandarin

Fasting won't make you burn more fat but it will make your workout feel harder, and needlessly so imo.

If you want to fast, go ahead, but I'd eat breakfast because I get narky when I'm hungry.

Macy0161

Going to give a caveat about not being an expert, but from what I've read and listened too more recently, the evidence seems to be moving away from fasted training it even for ultra endurance athletes, who would've done it on long but low intensity stuff (and "fasted" is different from not having eaten, the theory is going in glycogen depleted).

Potentially you could burn more calories going in properly fueled for the cardio than going in hungry (i.e. able to put in more effort), if you have enough time to consume it without an intense workout causing you to see it again!

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Pat Mustard

niamh4626 wrote: »

My question is - Do you think I should I be eating in advance of either of my classes or go in fasting and eat after?

My experience is that if I go to the gym around 8pm, having eaten something one or two hours beforehand, I have plenty of energy.

I also find that if I go to the gym at around 8pm but have not eaten since lunchtime, I just don't have the same energy. Going in fasting does not work as well for me.

Dtp1979

To burn fat, you need to be in a calorie deficit, not sweating on a spin bike. Sure, spinning helps burn calories, but it’s the calorie deficit that burns the fat and gets the weight down. Once you consume enough calories to fuel your workout and get through your day while remaining in a deficit then you should lose weight.
Whether you eat before a workout or not is up to you. Try it out and see.