Back in the 90’s, I recall reading the advice that skipping food before an early morning workout forces the body to utilize fat stores for fuel right away. At the time (and not knowing better), this sounded reasonable. I was never able to stick to that “rule,” mainly because I was so dog-on hungry in the morning and would also return from my workout with the jitters from low blood sugar if I didn’t eat beforehand. I ignored that advice, and when I returned to school some years later to complete my BS in Exercise Science, I learned that the body always uses carbohydrate for fuel, and also requires carbohydrates to burn fat. So much for the aforementioned myth.

Here’s the deal: The body uses carbohydrates first. No exception. The chemical reactions that support this energy-making process occur rather rapidly. This is what enables you to run up the stairs in response to hearing a child cry for help. Think of carbs as “fast fuel.”

The process of turning carbohydrate into fuel is called glycolysis. Now, one of the by-products of glycolysis can be sent through another series of much slower chemical reactions called the Kreb’s Cycle. This particular cycle produces fuel for sustained events. Think distance running. Fat doesn’t enter the equation until it is first broken down through a process called beta-oxidation. So it’s not like if you skip breakfast, your body will use fat for fuel instead. It just doesn’t work that way. (Fitness Faux Pas)

My advice: eat a quality carbohydrate, or small snack that has a ratio of 3:1 or 4:1 carbohydrate to protein, and you’ll fuel your workout, as well as enable the fat-burning process to continue (I’d say “begin,” but we’re always burning fat, as long as we’re consuming sufficient calories, of course.)

So let’s recap:

Do we burn fat exclusively if we skip breakfast and then work out? No.

Do we burn MORE fat if we skip breakfast and then work out
No

Do we NEED breakfast (or some form of food) before a morning workout? YES! Emphatically, YES!! (Food is your friend)

The dedicated souls who exercise because they love it are a rare lot. The rest, well, exercise because it is an important step on the road to weight loss. And we all know that weight loss really means, “fat loss.” Am I right? Unfortunately, there is a lot of misinformation about the “fat burning zone,” which leads us to believe that exercising at a particular intensity, above a minimum amount of time, is the optimal “fat burning” place. Not so (and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing). And here’s why…

Like it or not, we all burn a higher percentage of fat calories for energy when we’re sitting on our duffs, than cycling like a feign. That is simply they way our metabolisms are designed. We do burn fat when exercising, but you don’t burn a higher percentage of fat exercising for more than 20 minutes, or at a higher intensity, or at a lower intensity really. The difference is pretty insignificant. But (and this is a big one) – if you burn MORE calories (either at rest, or during exercise), the more total fat you’ll burn.  To burn more fat, burn more calories.

The 3 best fat-burning moves

1.  Exercises that involve the largest muscle groups (glutes and quads), burn more calories. The more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn at rest, and since you burn a higher percentage of fat in a resting state than during exercise, it makes sense to focus on the large muscle groups first.  Squats, leg presses, leg extensions, lunges, Romanian dead lifts are examples of weight training exercises that target these large muscles.

2.  Interval training burns more calories  than traditional, steady-state endurance training (if duration is the same for both). During exercise, you burn both carbohydrates and fat, but you burn more carbs than fat for fuel. However, the more total calories you burn, the more fat calories you’ll burn.  Here’s a simple example of interval training:  add intervals of 3-5 minutes that are at a higher intensity, then spend roughly equal that time recovering, then repeat. Thirty- to forty minutes is sufficient. Shorter intervals of even higher intensity are fine too – just check with your doctor if you have any pre-existing health conditions.

3. Running and cross-country skiing: these activities burn more calories than most other cardiovascular workouts. Again, the more calories you burn, the more fat calories you’ll burn. The ratio is roughly 60% carbohydrates to 40% fat utilized as fuel during cardiovascular exercise. For example, if you cycled for 30 minutes and burned 200 calories doing so, only 80 of those calories would come from fat. However, if you ran at a 7 mph pace instead, you’d burn roughly 400 calories (depending on your height/weight), and 160 of those would be fat calories!

The exact number you will burn depends on many factors, but you get the idea. To burn more “fat” calories, burn more total calories!

Until recently, the benefits of strength training weren’t clearly understood. True, lifting weights builds stronger muscles and you’ll look better in your tank top, but there are now many more fabulous reasons to lift your dumbbells. In fact, there are so many benefits, I don’t have room to list them all, so here are what I consider the “Top 5″:

1. Strength training (also called weight lifting or resistance training) helps you lose body fat. Pound for pound, muscle requires more energy to maintain than fat. This means that the more muscle mass you have, the more calories you’ll burn per day, even at rest. Note, I didn’t say you have to look like a bodybuilder, unless that is what you’re going for.

2. Strength training improves body image. A study from McMaster University examined the effects of a 12-week strength training program on 44 previously sedentary women and men. After the 12-week program, every participant noted an improved sense of well-being and improved body image. The women were more influenced by how they looked, whereas the men were more influenced by how they felt.

3. Strength training burns FAT! EPOC (post-exercise oxygen consumption, also known as the exercise “after-burn”) increases significantly in both magnitude and length after intense bouts of strength training. Perform a minimum of 3-5 sets of 8 different exercises, and 12-15 reps of each exercise to reap the post-exercise calorie-burning effects.

4. Strength training positively impacts resting blood pressure. Researchers at the University of Maryland found that a 3-day/week strength training regimen that lasted for a minimum of six-months decreased RBP from a high-normal range to a normal RBP level.

5. Strength training prevents muscle loss. While some calorie restriction will probably be necessary for you to lose weight, you must be careful not to restrict calories too much. Most experts agree that 1200 calories/day is the lowest you should go to lose weight without dipping into your reserves for needed energy. What reserves am I referring to? Your muscles! If you start to break down muscle, unwanted side-effects occur. A Lower Resting Metabolism is one of them. According to Len Kravitz, PhD, severe calorie restriction without strength training can suppress resting metabolism by as much as 20%, resulting in a weight plateau or in some cases, weight gain as your body goes into “starvation” mode and clings to every calorie you consume in order to conserve valuable energy.