Recent studies have concluded it’s better not to eat before you work out, but some experts say there are good reasons for grabbing a snack before you exercise.
To eat or not to eat.
That is the question for many people before they go out and exercise.
Researchers have been trying to answer that query for decades.
The results of a recent study from the American Journal of Physiology – Endocrinology and Metabolism makes a case for not eating. At least for overweight men.
The researchers say that fasting before aerobic exercise results in higher fat burning rates than exercising after eating.
This confirms findings from a similar 2016 study in the British Journal of Nutrition.
Another study from 2013 even qualified the improvement, stating that overnight fasting before exercising (i.e., skipping breakfast) can result in as much as a 20 percent increase in fat burn compared with eating breakfast before a workout.
Different advice for different folks
The advice on eating and exercise, however, is not one-size-fits-all.
“From a performance standpoint, it’s better to eat before exercising,” Jennifer Lea, director of client training and performance coach at the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute, told Healthline. “Food is fuel, and people perform better when they have fuel in their body.”
