killahkosha

Hi, as some of you may know I am beginning now to try to get in shape and lose some fat and whatnot. I was reading this website https://www.fatlosstips.com/ and it says that "It is not the simple fact of doing the cadio that will increase your fat loss, but when you do it and what you eat. The only time you should be doing cardio for fat loss purposes is first thing in the morning before your first meal -- this is when you burn the most fat. Any other time should be considered recreational. The pace should be moderate otherwise you would be working towards cardiovascular endurance, not fat loss." Is this true, riding my bike before eating anything in the day would make for more fat loss? And for the thing about the moderate pace, does this mean to try not to get your heart going to its max? I'm pretty new to the whole exercise thing after about 16 years of just sitting around not getting much exercise at all.

-Jason Keller

rule

The best time for exercising is always now. Get to it!

Bockman

Theoretically, exercising first thing in the morning, after an overnight of no eating and thus depleting your body's glycogen stores, would result in fat being used for energy. This is the theory put forth by 'Fit For Life' as well as other exercise programs. It all depends on what you ate and when you ate it, of course.

As well, longer exercise periods, as are typically experienced on a bike, would mean a bad bonk at some point during your ride.

Guest

Amen with the bonking! I try to ensure that I get enough carbs to get me through the morning workout, but I have to say, I was caught in high humidity and extra heat on Tuesday, and though I had one of my best rides and felt fine for the duration of the ride, when I got home, I was physically ill for about 3 hours. I had to slowly intake carbs to get over that one.

Any time you exercise is a good time. If you can't get in the mornings, just get your exercise in whenever you can. I think intensity and duration definitely has an influence on fat loss more than just getting up in the morning and trying to slam out a workout before you eat.

Koffee

DnvrFox

Any time you can.

I am ?blessed? with the ability to do some pretty heavy exercise in the morning without breakfast and without bonking. But that is unusual.

Just figure out what works for you and do it then.

Baggsy

Light lunch, starve down in the PM, then hit it hard right after work. You can't just tool around town and get much done. Go out and sweat -HARD. Get back and eat light, no nighttime snacks. As the body adjusts to workouts, the weight will level off and you have to kick it up a notch again. It takes a lifestyle change in many cases, from eating unhealthy to eating light and only the best of what the body needs. Dedication helps alot too...

va_cyclist

Some of this is fluff. You'll get benefit from doing cardio anytime you do it. You might get a marginally higher benefit early in the morning.

As for pace, that's a common idea that's put out there to lure people who find it easier to commit to an exercise program that promises benefits at low intensity. What they're saying is that for a given total effort (intensity x duration), doing it at a moderate pace will burn a higher percentage of the calories expended from fat rather than glycogen. But a higher-intensity effort of the same duration will burn more total fat and calories together as well as improve cardio condition.

DnvrFox

Amen!

There is so much crap around about when to exercise and at what rate that it is unbelievable.

Get out and exercise as often as you can, as hard as you can. Every thing else will follow from that.

Don Gwinn

I was going to suggest working out in the morning as the optimal time, but this:
. . . . is just stupid. Are they claiming that the calories burned at those other times don't contribute to fat loss? Yes they are. I have two problems with that:

1. It's nae Scottish, and
2. It's CRAP.



Exercise whenever you can, but especially don't pass up chances to do it in the morning. Do NOT become a slave to these people who've read one too many diet books.
A hard workout in the morning will also make the rest of your day go better. You'll feel better, lighter, happier and more energetic if you work out in the morning.


Oh, and that bit about not going hard because only "moderate" work burns fat is utter crap too. Go as hard as you want. Going hard will benefit CV fitness, but that's OK. CV fitness is a GOOD THING, not a bad thing. What is that yahoo thinking, anyway?

caloso

I've never understood these diet and exercise plans with bizarrely specific directives about when to work out and how much water to drink (8 glasses a day, no matter what!). If you're riding for Discovery and Chris Carmichael is weighing your pasta and monitoring your watts, that's one thing.

But if you want to lose a little weight and get stronger on the bike, then get on your bike and ride. Whenever, wherever, however.

(And thanks, Don! I can hear the bagpipe doorbell now....)

KingTermite 

Overall, I'd think that's a bad idea.

First thing in morning you have lowest blood sugar....exercising lowers your blood sugar too....so you could possibly see youself pass out due to low blood sugar. If your not diabetic (like yours truly), its not as big of a risk, but still there I think.

jrennie

I think what some of the others are trying to elude to is your body remains at an increased metabolic consumption rate for several hours after moderate/heavy cardio excercising. this rate dimminishes rapidly as you lay down for rest or sleep, thus making earlier workouts more effective for this prolonged burn. As for intensity, I would recommend 60-75% of hr max(enough to make it strenuous but not panting) and work on time rather than running strong out of the gate and being done after 10 min.

Don Gwinn

You might recommend that, Jrennie, but I'll bet you wouldn't claim that if he goes more intense than that, then he's seriously hampering his effort to burn fat. That's what the quote said.

As for blood sugar in the morning, I'll buy that, except there's nothing to say you can't eat first. I don't, but you could if you wanted.

trirmk

Yay, someone finally said it!
Those exercise tips are a load of crap. Eat before you exercise. Exercise as often as possible for as long as possible. Find an intensity that you can maintain for just that amount of time. Don't go at a moderate effort because you'll only burn a "moderate" amount of calories.

There is no evidence that I buy into for this 'exercising in the morning before you eat' bit. Exercising for weight loss is all about total calories burned. Whether you do that in the morning, afternoon, or evening, you will still burn calories. #2, you need to eat something before exercise because exercising with low blood glucos and/or muscle glycogen levels will inhibit your ability to exercise at higher intensities, thereby decreasing the amount of calories you expend, and limit your weight loss. #4, CV fitness is a great thing, ilke Don said, because as your fitness increases, your ability to use fat as a fuel improves.

Don't listen to those yahoos from that web site. I'm surprised they're not trying to sell anything on there. That site has a mish-mash of information that talks about fat loss, bodybuilding, and other topics in one huge page...whoever wrote this site is either uneducated in this field, or fell asleep one time too many during class.

juf2m

Chris Carmichael is a big advocate of eating before riding in the am.

jrennie

[QUOTE=Don Gwinn]You might recommend that, Jrennie, but I'll bet you wouldn't claim that if he goes more intense than that, then he's seriously hampering his effort to burn fat. That's what the quote said.
QUOTE]

I am only stating my own opinion, as i did not even click on the link to read the story. On the topic of diet and nutrition you can always find conflicting view points. I prefer to look at weight loss as a mathematical equation and nothing more. Eat less than your sedentary metabolic rate requires and continue excersize and the weight comes off very quickly.(once again my own opinion and experience 90lb loss in 10 months)

twahl

One of the things I also saw on that web site was the suggestion that cardio workouts be 30-45 minutes a day, and starting at 130-140 BPM heart rate.

Think about that. I could certainly do that before breakfast. That's a slow ride on a road bike, like 10-12 MPH maybe, so we're talking about like a 5-8 miles? Why bother? It might be a good fat loss workout, but it's not much of a cycling workout. With that view, maybe it would be a worthwhile addition just to burn some extra fat, but it's not going to do a lot for you as a cyclist for most of us I think.

kuan

Nope, first thing in the morning you have the highest blood sugar. Eating lowers it.

DnvrFox

Depends on your age and you Max HR. If you are 65-70yo with a max HR of say 150-155 or so, then 140 BPM might be a good workout.

Don Gwinn

Jrennie, I hope you didn't think I was criticizing you. I think you've got an excellent handle on this and I'm on your side.

I just wanted to point out again the difference between your reasonable position and the unreasonable position espoused on that website.

trirmk

Actually, you can't have the highest blood glucose levels in the morning. After an overnight fast, blood glucose diminishes slightly and does not raise again until we eat. Glucagon is a fasting hormone and is responsible for maintaining blood glucose levels whenever carbohydrate isn't coming in through the diet, but it will not raise overnight.

Eating raises blood glucose levels periodically. When Insulin is secreted, blood glucose is lowered back to homeostatic levels because Insulin stimulates the uptake of glucose into the tissues. There is a constant balance of Insulin and Glucagon because one of the most important things the body can do is "maintain" blood glucose levels. If anything, we will have extremely similar levels first thing in the morning, but at no time will they be higher because it's first thing in the morning.

kuan

Think what you want. The liver dumps glucose into the bloodstream in the morning. The way my doctor explained it is that it's the body's natural way of making energy before we eat so we can actually go out and hunt for breakfast.

trirmk

Can't always believe what doctors say. They know their stuff when it comes to medicine, but when it comes to nutrition and/or exercise, many of them, frankly, have no idea what they're talking about. They just can't stay up on the current information in this field because they have so much other info in the medical field to keep up with.

Guest

Word, dood.

Doctors know a lot about medicine, but they should not be advising about exercise or nutrition. You need to talk to someone about exercise, hire a coach with valid certifications. You need to talk to somoene about nutrition, see a dietitian.

Koffee

Pat

Quite right Koffee. A friend of mine came down with diabetes. His physician knew about diabetes and that the proper diet was critical in controlling the blood sugar levels. But the physician admitted to knowing nothing about the specifics and sent my friend to a nutritionist who had worked with diabetics.