If there is something that is becoming very fashionable in the world of exercise and healthy living, it is doing cardio on an empty stomach . Many people consider that, with this practice, it is possible to lose fat more quickly and, therefore, it is an ideal way to lose weight more easily. But does doing cardio without eating anything before really help you lose weight ?
In this article, we are going to discover aspects that you must take into account to do fasting cardio and that, thus, values if this practice is optimal and interesting for you.
Is fasting cardio good or bad?
Why is fasting cardio so fashionable ? Because, it is believed, that it is a perfect practice to accelerate fat burning naturally. This exercise is based on doing cardiovascular sports right when you wake up and then eating breakfast. Therefore, sports practice will be carried out on an empty stomach of food since the last meal you ate about 7 or 8 hours ago, approximately.
During the hours of sleep, insulin and glucose levels are very low , something very positive to burn more fat. Why? Well because when insulin is high in the blood it hardly burns fat, what you burn are sugars and the calories you have ingested during that same day. But you don’t touch the saturated fats in your body.
It is for this reason that many people have joined the fasted cardio trend . However, there are some things that are important to keep in mind if we want to exercise correctly and in a healthy way . In addition to knowing the most common errors when practicing cardio , it is important that you know if it is good or bad to do fasting cardio for your body:
1. You will not wear out muscle
Many people who are fond of sports prefer not to do cardiovascular exercises on an empty stomach because they believe that, in this way, the muscle can be worn down by not having it nourished with protein. This statement is not entirely true: if you exercise at a moderate intensity and do not do it for more than 45 minutes at a time, you will not damage your muscles and you will lose more fat than doing it at another time of the day.
2. Fat burning is not immediate
It is also a mistake to believe that training on an empty stomach helps you lose fat almost immediately. You have to know that this procedure will depend on the metabolism and, therefore, we cannot consider that, because one day we have done this type of exercise, we will have already consumed body fat. Like all types of training, this is also a process and only with perseverance and good habits of life will you achieve the desired effects.
3. Not intended for trained people
Doing fasted cardio is an interesting habit for people who want to start going to the gym or for those who have only been in the gym for a short time. The reason is that, as we have already indicated, the intensity of the exercise should be between low and moderate, it can never be high intensity because, in these cases, you could damage your muscles.
Therefore, if a person is used to doing physical exercise on a regular basis, they will hardly notice the work they will do in the morning with the body fasting. So, in these cases, it is almost better that they continue with their sporting habits in a normal and current way.
4. The body balances energy
Another important factor that you have to take into account when planning your diet to do cardio is that our body is very wise and, therefore, if during your fasting exercise you have mainly burned fat, what you will burn at the time of the “post -training “will be carbohydrates. And vice versa.
It is important to take these factors into account to understand how our body works and how cardiovascular exercise affects our routine. Also, keep in mind that the more intense you exercise, the more carbohydrates you will use for energy.