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I get asked this question all the time It is very Important to eat Breakfast in the morning before you exercise
When you wake up from overnight, your glycogen stores (carb stores) are pretty low. It seems logical that since your glycogen is low that you should then use fat for energy if you go and work out. If only it were that easy we would not have the epidemic of obesity that we have! Instead of your body using stored fat to fuel your workout, your body decides to use muscle instead of fat. It wants to hang on to fat, just like you like to hang on to your savings account. Your body treats your fat stores like savings and does not like to have to use them.
In addition, whenever you put your body into significant low energy, it thinks it is starving and that just teaches the body to go into survival mode and hang on to fat. Not only will you store fat, but you also won’t get a good workout. If you have ever hit the wall or felt really low on energy during a workout, it is very likely due to improper fueling before you worked out
If you are exercising first thing in the morning, I don’t expect you to eat a large amount. Just a small pre-workout snack is enough to tell the body that it has some fuel coming in. As long as the body knows that you are giving it some fuel to work with, it will respond with burning small amounts of body fat. However, it is when the deficit is large (no food after overnight fast) that it will conserve fat storage. Even eating 100-200 calories will do the trick
I teach two mornings a week I begin at 9.15am with Bodyshape class . I get up at 6.45 and start to prepare my meals for the day because I am at work for 12 hours Monday and Wednesday for my Breakfast I make myself a smoothie with Pomegranate & Raspberry fruit juice I add 1 Banana and a tbsp full of natural Yogurt The smoothie refuels my body and gives me lots of energy I also eat 1 boiled egg for Protein
I eat and drink at 8 am by then my food has been digested
Here is a couple of examples of what you should eat
* Most fresh fruit (apple, orange, pear, nectarine, plum any kind of berries). Grapes and bananas are slightly higher but also a good choice also
* Nuts
* Trail mix of nuts and dried fruit
* Oatmeal
* Cereal with greater than 3 grams of fiber (Wheaties, Total, Cheerios, Kashi, etc.)
* Milk
* Most nutrition bars (look for at least 5 grams of protein and 15 grams of carb)
* Yogurt
* Veggies and hummus
* Cottage cheese and fruit
* Hard boiled egg
* Whole grain Bread
* Fruit or vegetable juices
* Whole grain bread
* Half sandwich (ie bread, turkey, lettuce, tomato)
* Whole grain fig cookies
A few things to consider
1. Make sure that what you eat sits well in your stomach. You do not want to be “tasting” your meal or snack the entire workout
2. Hydrate well with water before, during, and after exercise. Aim to get 16 ounces of water 1-2 hours before exercise of any type
3. It doesn’t matter if you are doing cardio or weights, the important part of a pre exercise meal is getting glucose to the muscles
4. You can eat something 2 hours before exercise or right before, depending on the quantity and how comfortable you are digesting the food
I would love to hear your comments if you have ant Questions at all you can contact me personally at
Email: feelhealthygetwealthy@hetnet.nl
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