Cardio Before Breakfast: Increase Fat Loss

There's been some debate about whether you can burn more body fat by training on an empty stomach. While it's a good idea to eat a balanced mini meal a couple hours before weight training, a study published in the British Journal of Nutrition suggests that 20% greater fat loss can be achieved with a morning treadmill run before eating.

Researchers had 12 recreationally active men exercise on a treadmill at 10 AM after eating a balanced breakfast or fasted from the previous night's final meal. After training, all subjects received a recovery drink and later in the day were told to eat pasta until they felt comfortably full.

Although there were no significant differences in the amount of pasta consumed between groups, subjects who exercised in a fasted state burned 20% more fat. Some of these results can be attributed to the missed breakfast, but running on an empty stomach still seemed to produce more effective fat loss results.


NOTE: We would not suggest eating pasta until you feel full.. It was only for the purpose of that study, A modest piece of fruit, and recovery drink or protein drink would be much more optimal.