Put down the banana, rise-and-grinders: According to a new study published online in the British Journal of Nutrition, people who exercise early in the morning on an empty stomach burn more fat than those who nosh before hitting the gym.
Researchers at Northumbria University asked 12 physically active men to hit treadmills in the morning—some on an empty stomach, and some who had eaten breakfast. The results? Early workouts didn’t cause participants to feel hungrier or eat more throughout the day, and those who exercised in a fasted state burned 20% more fat than those who chowed down prior to sweating.
This news may be easy enough for early birds to swallow, but what if you’ve got a profound relationship with your snooze button? Here, seven tips to tackle exercise first thing in the AM—so that you can take advantage of a study like this, too.
Sleep in your gym gear. Your gym shorts and sweatshirt are comfortable already, so why make an additional change before you exercise? “Sleep in your workout gear or work out in your pajamas,” says NYC-based trainer Larysa DiDio. “Sometimes the extra 10 minutes it takes to get dressed is the difference between going to the gym or ditching it.”
Wake up and smell the coffee. Auto-set your coffee maker in the evening, before you hit the hay. “Studies show that the smell of coffee energizes you,” DiDio says. “So the smell of brewing coffee in the morning will get you going before you get out of bed.”
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article courtesy of Prevention.com
