{"id":47447,"date":"2016-02-10T07:15:24","date_gmt":"2016-02-10T12:15:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/?p=47447"},"modified":"2021-11-18T10:03:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-18T15:03:41","slug":"ask-daily-burn-should-i-eat-before-my-morning-workout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/health\/ask-daily-burn-should-i-eat-before-my-morning-workout\/","title":{"rendered":"Ask Daily Burn: Should I Eat Before My Morning Workout?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ask
Photo: Pond5<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Welcome to Ask Daily Burn, a\u00a0new column dedicated to answering YOUR fitness and nutrition questions. To submit a query\u00a0for a future column, join our Daily Burn 365 Facebook group<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The Question:<\/strong> \u201cWhen and what should you eat if work out first thing in the morning? I usually wake up at 5:30 a.m. and work out, and either eat right after the workout, or I shower, get ready, and then eat. But should I also eat before my workout? I want to make sure I\u2019m getting the most out of my morning workouts.\u201d \u2014 Lisa N. Nathan Scheibe, Daily Burn 365<\/a> participant, Yorkville, IL<\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/strong> Daily Burn 365: New Workouts, 7 Days a Week<\/a><\/p>\n

The Expert: <\/strong>Board-certified sports dietitian Marie Spano, RD, CSCS, CSSD.<\/p>\n

The Answer:<\/strong> First of all, bravo for making your morning workouts<\/a> a priority! But, yes, you should eat before you sweat \u2014 even if it\u2019s at 5:30 a.m.<\/p>\n

While eating up isn\u2019t absolutely <\/em>necessary before performing light workouts, like a brisk walk<\/a> around your neighborhood or a little yoga flow in front of your computer<\/a>, it\u2019s vital if you want to crank out any high-intensity interval<\/a>, circuit or endurance workout<\/a>, Spano says. Basically, if your morning workout of choice leaves you huffing and puffing \u2014 even if it\u2019s only for 20 or 30 minutes \u2014 or sporting awesome sweat marks, not eating beforehand will sell it short.<\/p>\n

RELATED: <\/strong>The 5-Minute Ab Workout to Strengthen Your Core<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cFirst thing in the morning, you blood sugar and glycogen levels are low, decreasing the amount of carbohydrates<\/a> your body has [available] to use as energy,\u201d she explains. \u201cEating a higher carbohydrate breakfast \u2014 or even a small\u00a0snack<\/a> \u2014 can improve your brain\u2019s ability to focus on the workout while providing the energy needed to make the most of your training.\u201d It can also help prevent you from getting dizzy or passing out on your mat \u2014\u00a0always important!<\/p>\n

Wondering about all of those people who say that if you want to lose weight, you should exercise on an empty stomach<\/a>? While it\u2019s true that when you work out in a fasted state<\/a>, your body burns a greater proportion<\/em> of calories from fat than carbohydrates, you also burn fewer calories overall. Plus, when you attempt strength training<\/a> or an explosive workout<\/a> on an empty stomach, you also increase the amount of breakdown in your muscles, causing you to burn calories from muscle instead of fat, Spano says. And remember, building muscle (not breaking it down) is key to boosting your metabolism<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So what should you eat before your a.m. workouts \u2014\u00a0and when? After all, you don\u2019t want to vom after a few stomach-jostling burpees<\/a>! If you\u2019re on a tight morning schedule (and who isn\u2019t?), throw back<\/a> a handful of salted pretzels, a cup of hydrating and carbohydrate-rich fruit like a watermelon, grapes or strawberries, or a small plain or honey-drizzled waffle (or English muffin) within an hour of exercise. You\u2019ll fuel your tank, leading to a better workout \u2014 and better results. If you manage to wake up a couple of hours before you\u2019re scheduled to knock out your first circuit, a larger snack like two slices of toast with just a little jam or jelly on top will do the trick.<\/p>\n

Want new, live workouts every morning? Head to DailyBurn.com\/365<\/a> for a free 30-day trial. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Note to reader: The content in this article relates to the core service offered by Daily Burn. In the interest of editorial disclosure and integrity, the reader should know that this site is owned and operated by Daily Burn.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to Ask Daily Burn, a\u00a0new column dedicated to answering YOUR fitness and nutrition questions. To submit a query\u00a0for a future column, join our Daily Burn 365 Facebook group.\u00a0 The Question: \u201cWhen and what should you eat if work out first thing in the morning? I usually wake up at 5:30 a.m. and work out, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[423,23,7,9],"tags":[33,313,289,51,341,362],"class_list":["post-47447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-breakfast","category-diet-nutrition","category-health","category-recipes","tag-breakfast","tag-daily-burn-365","tag-exercise","tag-food-choices","tag-tax1living-well","tag-tax2walking"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47447\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyburn.com\/life\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}