Fat Loss Lifestyle Blog

I just got this question in my inbox. I get it all the time and it is a good question. This is an area that I believe if you start getting right, you will see your body change rapidly.

I am confused on what you mean by “do cardio in a fasted state, first thing in the morning”. I have always heard how bad it is to do any form of exercise before you eat some food to start your metabolism for the day. I’ve been told that if I exercise before I eat that I will eat into my own muscle. Is that true? What should I do?

This is a great question. First off, we must get out on the table in the beginning that the reason why there is so much confusion on the topic of working out and losing fat while at least maintaining muscle (preferably gaining muscle) in a time efficient manner (2-4 hours per week) is because everyone is so different and coming at it from a different metabolic starting point. But with a little knowledge it is not hard at all to figure out how to eat and exercise to melt the fat away.

Two reasons why you should “do cardio in a fasted (no food) state, first thing in the morning” is;

• Your body does not have nearly as much fuel (glycogen and glucose) to supply energy for the session (cause you have not eaten carbs for about 12 hours. Your body easily burns up all of the glycogen and glucose and then goes into the fat cells for the rest of the fuel it needs for the work-out.
In a nut shell, you burn much more fat than you would if you ate carbs before your session.

• The session is done, which leads to consistency. Too many things come up when the session is planned for later in the day to interfere with consistency. When you have an Interval Cardio session planned for first thing in the a.m. you plan for it “nutritionally speaking” and by going to bed earlier. Every time I have gotten really lean in the past, I was going to bed early.

So now let me try to clear the confusion a little bit for you. There is no one stop answer to this question. But here it goes. The best program that I have seen at losing fat that stays off forever is doing intense resistance training 2 or 3 days per week, and doing Interval Cardio training 2 or 3 days per week on opossite days. I do not and do not reccommend doing cardio and resistance training on the same day.

The #1 key for fat loss nutrition is something we call “carb cycling.” In a nut shell “carb cycling” is eating more calories in the form of starchy carbs (brown / wild rice, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, whole wheat pasta) on days of intense resistance training, and eating only fibrous non-starchy carbs (veggies, salads, green beans, apples, grape-fruits) on days of interval cardio performed first thing in the morning.

Now the mantra of “doing interval cardio first thing in the morning in a fasted state” applies to only those who are eating small meals often. The key to not losing muscle is too make sure that you eat a small portion of protein right before you go to bed after a dinner about 3 hours earlier with no starchy carbs. For convenience sake I will have a little protein left over from the dinner we had at 6:00 p.m.
I will consume that aroung 9:00 or 9:30 p.m. and then off to la la land. But only after visualizing what I want for about 5 minutes.

It is important to communicate to who ever buys and prepares the food for you. Purchasing and cooking food in bulk helps tremendously. My wife will always cook enough protein at dinner time for her and I to eat a small serving before bed and for me to take two servings to the office the next day.

And if your metabolism is really running fast, consume a small amount of protein upon wakening the next morning. I consume raw egg whites. I have consumed 5-6 whole eggs (I take 3 yokes out) first thing upon wakening for years. I do this only when my metabolism is revved up a little. At least medium to high.

If it is running slow (I don’t feel hungry at all when I wake up) then I will not eat the eggs before the a.m. Interval Cardio session.

One might ask, how do I know if my metabolism is revved up or if it is slow. The easiest way to tell is if you are hungry often. If you are eating 4-6 small meals throughout the day and your hunger level is very high about 2-3 hours after eating each meal, then it is revved high. If you are eating 2-3 meals per day and you and you have a full feeling that stays in your tummy for 4 or 5 hours, then your metabolism is running slow. What is cool is we all have a genetic metabolism that was given to us from our parents. Some slow, some medium, and some fast. Don’t cry about which ever one you have cause there is always someone with a slower one than you.

Just speed it up with exercise  (resistance and interval cardio) eating 5-7 small meals per day with protien and carbs combined together and by living an active FatLoss LifeStyle

If my metabolism is running even faster, (my hunger levels are very high all the time even though I am eating protein and carbs combined together every 3 hours) then I might even wake up in the middle of the night to consume a small amount of cottage cheese or whey protein. Ecto-morphs (naturally thin) or even endo-morphs like me with revved up metabolisms may have to eat in the middle of the night to fight muscle break down.

So, I hope this clears a little confusion about how to perform interval cardio first thing in the morning in a fasted state for fat loss. Not only is interval cardio the best type of cardio to perform to lose the most amount of fat in the least amount of time, but it is proven to be the only form of cardio to actually strengthen the heart and lungs; which is incredibly important for longevity reasons. For a short video that explains in more detail the benefits of interval cardio go to Interval Cardio.com

Thanks for your question,

Anyone and everyone does have the power to change,
Darin L. Steen