Fasted Cardio

Let’s Talk… Fasted Exercise

Let me help you master the art of burning fat for fuel!

“Periodic fasting can help clear up the mind and strengthen the body and the spirit” – Ezra Taft Benson

I’ve found a way to get the best bang for my buck when it comes to fat burning workouts: by exercising in a FASTED state! If you haven’t tried it yet, I highly recommend it – my clients are soaring past their fat loss goals when they pair fasting with meal timing and sticking to their workout schedules.

Intermittent fasting has cellular and hormonal benefits. When we fast, certain hormones skyrocket, which leads to improved energy levels, stable blood sugar, and a switch from burning carbohydrates to fat stores. About six hours after a meal, or after a nice, long, night of sleep, your body enters a fasting state. When this happens, your glycogen stores in your muscles and liver have all been burned off, and your body must begin to access fat stores to keep moving. When you exercise in a fasted state, your body must reach deep into these fat stores, and burn them away! If you work out before eating breakfast, you can burn 20 percent more fat than if you eat a carb heavy meal first.

Fasted exercise also lowers your insulin levels, which is great news for diabetics! Just don’t smash down too many carbs immediately after exercise or they’ll spike right back up.

Additionally, regularly accessing different types of energy stores allows your body to become more metabolically flexible, increasing your athletic performance, or helping prevent a mid-day energy slump if you must work hard for hours at a time.

Fasted exercise is great for burning fat, but it’s not the best strategy for building muscle and strength – for those, you’ll want to fuel up before workouts with some protein and quick burn carbs (but just enough that you burn it all during your workout.) But, pair the two methods- fasted cardio and fueled muscle building- and you can work towards building a lean, muscular physique, that moves well, and looks good!