The truth about Fasted Cardio, It may surprise you!

Hey guys hope your week is going great, we are a few days from the weekend and a few weeks from seeing the Cowboys win the Superbowl. Okay maybe that last part isn’t true but a man can dream, can’t he? Anyways a client of mine approached me today and asked me about fasted cardio, I’m sure if you have spent any time in the gym you have heard about this miracle fat loss known as fasted cardio.

So, what exactly is this fasted cardio?  Fasted cardio is performing cardiovascular exercises on an empty stomach, this is mostly performed early in the mornings after your body has “fasted” throughout the night while you were hopefully sleeping. The belief is after a night of fasting the body’s glycogen stores are low (Carbohydrates are broken down into glycogen)-the body gets its energy from 3 main energy sources Carbs, fats, proteins (I will blog about this later).

Hope I didn’t lose you, this will all make sense. Anyways because the glycogen stores are low the body shifts to using stored fat as its fuel, this is the belief behind fasted cardio. According to this theory 20 minutes of fasted cardio will burn more fat than a whole hour of cardio after eating. Sounds great doesn’t it?

Well if this is true why isn’t every one doing it? Well fasted cardio is not a myth, it has been proven to burn 20 % more calories then cardio after eating (British Journal of Nutrition). The problem is there is no way to perfectly measure how long your cardio can be fueled by your fat storages before it begins looking at other sources for energy, primarily your proteins. You see your body was made to use carbohydrates for its primary energy source followed by proteins, this has a fancy scientific term but what it equates to is this; your proteins are your MUSCLES. I repeat your proteins are your muscles, you are not cutting down your fat storage, you are cutting down your muscle mass! Now I don’t know about you but I work really hard for every ounce of muscle in my body, I am not one willing to risk burning it all away over a risky shortcut.

My recommendation, Wake up and eat! Load your body up with fuel for the day and do a HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) program to burn more calories in a short amount of time. Muscle gains are tough to achieve, don’t risk throwing them away for this fad!

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