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Exercise is effective at burning stored fat from the food you eat, so that the body can shed the excess weight little by little. That's why many people choose to exercise on an empty stomach to burn more fat deposits. However, is doing exercise before eating really safer?
It's okay to exercise on an empty stomach, but…
Basically, the body stores energy reserves in the form of fat. If we want to reduce fat, then the body must use up these fat reserves, not from the energy it gets from the food we just consumed. Simply put, the fewer calories there are in the digestive system, the more fat is burned during exercise, because the body takes food deposits from the body that are ready for use.
That is why exercise before eating can burn more fat than after eating. Research by Gonzalez in 2013 showed that exercising before eating can burn 20% more body fat.
However, it turns out that this method is not entirely effective and good for the body. The body will be prone to experiencing a lack of energy when you force exercise on an empty stomach. As a result, you will feel weak and lethargic faster, so that your exercise sessions will be ineffective.
The longer you limit your food intake before exercise, the fewer calories the body will expend. The reason is, this lack of energy makes the body automatically try as hard as possible to maintain existing fat reserves in order to protect energy sufficiency. As a result, the body will limit the burning of calories, so instead of breaking down fat reserves, it breaks down sugar in muscle tissue. As a result, it is the muscles that become weak. This can actually slow down your metabolism and make it harder for you to lose weight.
Eat a little before exercise
Getting just a little energy from food before exercise is highly recommended. It aims to provide an adequate supply of energy for the body to carry out strenuous physical activities. The more energized you are, the more intense and longer your exercise sessions will be, so the more fat you can burn.
Your body will usually start burning fat within 16-20 minutes of exercising. You will burn fat faster when you deplete your stored sugar faster with very intense exercise. Therefore, you need to eat before exercise so that you can exercise longer, to achieve fat burning.
However, what you eat before exercise can greatly affect your weight change. Don't eat too much before you exercise. Eating too much food before exercise can irritate digestion and cause stomach pain, cramps, and feeling nauseous (to even vomiting) when doing exercise. This can happen because at the same time, the muscles in your stomach are working hard to digest the food you just ate.
Eating 15 to 30 minutes before and after exercise is an ideal time to replace energy in the body. We recommend that you consume foods that contain carbohydrates to replace glycogen in the body and protein to help the body build muscle mass. For example, oatmeal, apples with yogurt, whole wheat bread, omelette with bread, or milk with cereal. Meanwhile, according to The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a glass of low-fat chocolate milk can be the right distraction for those of you who want snacking after doing sports. Also pay attention to the portions of food you eat, not too much so you are not full.
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