Do you Exercise Without Breakfast?

by Diana
(KL)

I just want to know if you exercise first thing in the morning or do you wait 2 hours after dinner to exercise?

This is because the first thing I do when I wake up in the morning is to drink a glass of water and then I dance for 30 minutes.

But I heard that it's bad to do that.

What do you think?

My Answer

There's really no hard and fast rule about when's the best time to exercise.

If you're a morning person; then naturally you would want to exercise in the morning. You get it out of the way first thing for the day. Makes you able to better concentrate on other things you want to do.

I do that.

If you're all for late afternoon, evening or after dinner sessions, then it's not wrong you exercise at these times.

The most important thing is - you do the exercise!

Note:

However, you shouldn't exercise 2 hours before your bedtime as your brain and nervous system could get stimulated to such active level that they interfere with your sleep later on.

Normally, it's not so good to eat first, then immediately exercise. You need to plan your workout time so you don't eat 1 or 2 hours before exercising.

Why so?

This is because when you workout, blood flows to the working muscles and away from the intestines where food is being processed and digested. The intestines will not be able to process the food properly if you exercise too soon after eating.

However, drinking water before exercising is not bad; in fact it's good for your body, especially in the morning. The water acts as a detox agent, cleansing your internal parts and making better bowel movements for you.

I do that. I "gulp" down 4 big glasses of water 10 minutes before I exercise in the morning.

This helps to hydrate me throughout the course of my exercise session, which lasts for about 1 hour. I won't feel "dry" or "dehydrated" even if I sweat buckets.

Normally, you would sweat like mad and the water you drink would come in nicely to replenish the fluid loss through sweating.

Hence, drinking plenty of water is good, not bad, before you start, in the middle and at end of an exercise routine.

If you must eat before you exercise, it's best you eat carbohydrates (carbs) rather than protein, because your body takes 3 hours to digest carbs but takes 24 hours to digest protein!

You find that if you don't follow this way of eating, you'll feel sluggish, fatigued, slightly nauseated and even "heavy" when you workout.

OK, this is before exercise meal. What about after the workout?

This is the most important meal, well, besides the breakfast, that is. Because it makes a world of difference to your ability to refuel your body with the right combination of nutrients, to repair muscles from the breakdown of a workout and to keep your metabolism high .

See this guide on what's the best to eat after a workout. For the good of your muscles.