Eat as soon as i wake up or wait until after cardio?

[K_PIN]

So should i get up, eat then run?

or

Should i get up, run, then eat???

[SlimmerMe]

Good question....and I would like to know the difference if one helps gain more or one helps lose BF more....

[scotty51312]

Depends on your goal. If you're trying to burn fat and arent' that concerned about conserving muscle, then i'd go with cardio before eating. When i was in basic training that was the way it worked. I watched myself and the rest of my division all burn a lot of fat in 10 weeks. But you also have to think that your body hasn't eaten for many hours and the less time you spend being catabolic the better for retaining and gaining muscle mass. I prefer to at least get in a scoop of whey as soon as i wake up. Its became a part of my morning routine.

[LBSOMEIRON]

I can't imagine doing cardio after eating. Number one, the feeling. Number two, you will always burn more fat doing cardio in a fasted state. Remember, cardio will burn through your calories then glycogen stores, then fat. Not eating cuts to the chase.

So for me, especially precontest, it's ALWAYS fasted and then eat 1 hour afterwards.

[gbrice75]

I've recently started doing cardio on an empty stomach and i'm diggin it. I'm hungry going in, but by the time I break a sweat I forget all about the hunger, and I feel flushed out, light and empty.

[LBSOMEIRON]

I've recently started doing cardio on an empty stomach and i'm diggin it. I'm hungry going in, but by the time I break a sweat I forget all about the hunger, and I feel flushed out, light and empty.

Good stuff.

I have that mentality where if I were to do cardio after eating, I'd feel like I had to burn those calories first.

[gbrice75]

Good stuff.

I have that mentality where if I were to do cardio after eating, I'd feel like I had to burn those calories first.

Me too. I didn't mind when I would eat, then do my workout, THEN do cardio - because my meal was relatively small and I felt like I burned it off during my workout, so essentially I was still doing cardio on an empty stomach.

[First6]

Yeah these guys all got it.

Think about this: During your cardio - Do you want your body to burn your last meal (retaining fat and muscle) or do you want your body to burn your body (melting away the fat and sacrificing some muscle)
It's up to you.

[im9boss]

ok so let me ask this....
because i have been very curious about this issue for a while....
and for sake of argument...

first of all, a calorie is a unit or measurement of energy.
with that said...
let's say i burn 500 calories on an empty stomach....ok so that's 500 calories worth of fat burned. i got you...that's easy...
now...lets say, i take the exact same diet....and i do same cardio(500 calories worth) some time later (anytime)...ok lets say i had carbs in me and blah blah blah...well i just burned that....and maybe whatever else that was in me, but that's 500 calories minus my total calories. just like on an empty stomach. so maybe can someone explain to me what is the difference? between empty stomach cardio vs. letting the deficit work itself? i'm not sure, but it seems to me that as far as fat loss both are about the same in the end with the deficit, empty cardio just gets straight to the point, while i think the deficit method will save more muscle (just a theory). personally i don't know the answer, i have been experimenting with different methods, maybe some vets can shed some light on this and explain a little?

[HawaiianPride.]

The intensity/type of cardiovascular training along with the individuals goals will determine if you need fasted or fed cardio.

[MACHINE5150]

your body is not a calorie calculator.. it is not as simple as AxB=C ... Your body will have energy in your system that if not used will be turned into fat.. But there is a process that burns calories transfering that into fat.. So if you burn the fat and not the carbs you just ate you are burning the fat from your system plus whatever calories it took for your body to have originally converted those sugars into fat in your system.. this is a very vague and rough description.. but that is the general idea behind it..

[powerws]

Well for me I want drop the body Fat to 10% the start from scratch of the rebuild on my body. Rather than for me I need to eat just a shake before cardio instead of my eggs.