64% of Americans have weight to lose

If you’re an American you have a greater chance of being overweight than not. The current estimates are 33% of us are obese and 31% are overweight. That totals to 64% falling within at least the overweight category.

It’s no longer “odd” to be overweight, it’s become the norm. So, unfortunately, are the diseases of obesity, including diabetes, heart disease, depression, and more.

Is there a better time to exercise to lose weight?

If you’ve ever wondered when and how to exercise for weight loss and improved health, you’ll like the results of this study.

Published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, late 2019, the researchers wondered what would happen if they compared exercising in a fasted vs. fed state. They hypothesized that a fasted patient would enjoy better fat burning and improved insulin sensitivity if they exercised fasted. [Spoiler alert: they were right but so much more occurred as well.]

The researchers gathered overweight and obese men and put them through a 6-week trial.

They divided the mean into 3 groups:

1. Men exercising before breakfast (fasted)
2. Men exercising after breakfast (fed)
3. A group that didn’t engage in any exercise

How did fasting, pre-exercise relate to fat loss?

You’re likely not surprised to learn that those who exercised lost more weight than those who didn’t. Not a big surprise there.

What might be surprising is that both groups who exercised lost the same amount of weight. A quick glance, you would think it, therefore, didn’t matter whether one exercises fasted or fed. But that quick look would have missed some meaningful data. Fortunately, these researchers dug deeply, not missing the important results.

While weight loss was the same, fat loss was doubled in the fasted group.

This meant that those who ate before they exercised lost weight, but more was muscle when compared to the fasted group.

Exercise while fasted targeted exactly what you want to have happened when you’re overweight – fat burning.

The fasted group burned twice the amount of fat as the fed group.

Insulin sensitivity improved in the fasted group

Additionally, their glucose levels remained more stable, meaning their insulin sensitivity improved. Other research has noticed this benefit as well. Exercise in the morning on an empty stomach and you’ll improve your ability to burn calories for the rest of the day.

There was another benefit found as well. While you might think it’s hard to work out fasted, the men who didn’t eat prior to exercising had an increase of a protein called GLUT4, who helps to transport glucose into muscle cells. This is delivering fuel directly into where you want it when exercising.

While this study was only evaluating men, we can likely extrapolate to women as well.

Cautions

Caution: Don’t exercise fast if you feel light-headed or weak upon arising. It means that your blood sugar is too unstable for this activity.

Once we have addressed the root cause and your digestion and blood sugar are stabilized, you should be able to enjoy the benefits of exercising in the morning within your 12-13 hour fasting window.

Do you need help with losing weight?

If you’re having trouble with weight loss, please reach out. We have excellent success in addressing why you may be struggling.

We specialize in identifying the underlying reason why you are unable to enjoy a normal, healthy weight.

We have great tools to really get the answers of not only “why”, but what can be done about it.

You deserve to enjoy great health; please give me a call if you want some help.