Fasted Cardio: Does it Burn More Fat?

Seminar: Exercise for Chronic Conditions

On Sunday, April 21, I will be hosting a seminar on exercise for chronic diseases. Everyone attending will receive a free copy of my book, Unlimited Progress: How You Can Unlock Your Body’s Potential (a value of $39.99 USD).

You know in general that exercise is good for chronic diseases, but I’ll be that you don’t know specifics. What type of exercise should you do? How much? How often?

This seminar will focus specifically on exercises for 4 chronic conditions:

• Diabetes
• Alzheimer’s
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteoporosis

Due to space limitations, this seminar is only open to the first 15 people who register.

To reserve your spot, please email me.

When you use a laser-focus with your exercise program on the chronic condition, you can do a lot more good than if you just did something general.

Each chronic condition requires a different approach. For example, the exercises that work for osteoporosis will actually make your condition worse if you have osteoarthritis, so it’s very important to tailor the exercise to your condition. In this seminar you’ll learn exactly how to do that.

For instance, one study found that the right exercise, decreased the risk of fractures by 11%.

In another study, they showed that there was a 59% improvement in blood sugar from the right training protocol for diabetes.

Yet another study found that in people at risk for Alzheimer’s who exercised the right way, their mental function improved by 73%.

In this seminar you’ll learn exactly what you need to do to achieve the same or better results (remember, the researchers in studies only manipulate one variable – exercise, in this case. They don’t combine it with proper nutrition and supplementation).

To reserve your spot, please email me.

In typical Igor-fashion, you’ll also learn why you’re doing what you’re doing. Why those exercises work for certain conditions but not others.

This seminar is for you if:

• You are personally worried about getting any of these conditions
• You already have one of these conditions
• You have a friend or family member with one of these conditions
• You’re simply interested in learning about health
• You want to meet new people

Half the proceeds will be donated to Hill House Hospice, which is a facility in Richmond Hill that makes the last days of people who are chronically ill as pleasant as possible.

Details:

Date and time: Sunday, April 21, 3-5PM

Location: 500 Denison St., Markham (the major intersection is Woodbine and Denison)

Investment: $40 (and as a bonus, you get a free copy of my book – a value of $39.99 USD).

To reserve your spot, please email me. 

Fasted Cardio: Does it Speed Up Fat Burning? 

Have you heard that doing cardio before breakfast can actually speed up fat burning? The theory makes sense. If you work out when you don’t have much sugar in your body (like after 8 hours of sleep), your body will naturally turn to fat.

But does it actually work? Let’s examine that.

What Happens in Your Body When You do Fasted Cardio? 

Your body basically has 2 main fuel sources that it uses just to stay alive: sugar (AKA glucose) and fat. How much of each you’re burning depends on a number of things. The intensity of exercise matters, and what you eat (or don’t eat) matters.

The higher the intensity of the exercise, the more sugar you burn. The lower the intensity of the exercise, the less sugar you burn.

If you ate a carbohydrate-rich meal within 2-4 hours of your workout, your body will burn more sugar for fuel than if you didn’t have a carbohydrate-rich meal within 2-4 hours of the workout.

So theoretically, if you’re doing cardio before breakfast, you will not have eaten in more than 8 hours, and your body should use more fat for fuel than sugar.

Does it Actually Work?

The theory makes a lot of sense, but can we actually say that specifically because a person was doing fasted cardio they lost body fat faster?

For the most part, people lose body fat at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week. Can I actually say that due to fasted cardio, clients started losing body fat at a rate of 2.5 pounds per week? Having measured hundreds of people, some of whom have done fasted cardio and some who haven’t, I can’t say that I’ve actually seen faster fat loss from fasted cardio.

            I suspect that there are a couple of reasons for that. First, when you do cardio in a fasted state, you have less “high octane” fuel (that’s carbohydrates) so you either go slower or you go for a shorter distance.

Another consideration is that if you have low blood sugar when you are doing cardio, yes, fat will be the major fuel source, but the amount of calories you burn from protein (ie muscle) increases quite a bit. So if you burn more muscle, you slow down your metabolism. 

The Final Verdict: Should You Do Fasted Cardio?

So as you can tell, I haven’t found results to be any better with fasted cardio, but I haven’t found them to be any worse with fasted cardio.

My conclusion for you is if the most convenient time to do your cardio is first thing in the morning, do it then. Or if other times are more convenient, do it at other times. In either case, it won’t make much of a difference.

The bottom line: just do it!

Any Questions?

If you have any questions, just leave them in the comments section below, and I’ll be sure to answer them.

Quick Summary

• The body burns 2 fuel sources just to stay alive: sugar and fat. The theory behind fasted cardio is that if you have less sugar in you (because you haven’t eaten in 8+hours), you’ll burn more fat.
• Practically, if you have less fuel, you go slower or for a shorter distance.
• If you don’t have carbs in you, your body will use more protein (that’s muscle) to burn fat.

Additional Resources

Aerobic Exercise: Too Much Can Make You Fat

Aerobic Exercise or Strength Training: What’s More Important for Health?

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