Mental Health

Exercising Before Breakfast Burns Off Fat Faster

By Drishya Nair | Update Date: Oct 31, 2012 12:17 PM EDT

So you are you are heading to the gym everyday and sweating it out to lose those extra pounds you hate on yourself. Researchers say, you might as well want to do so before breakfast, to get the best results.

A new study suggests that working out or exercising before breakfast will bring quicker results than doing so after eating the first meal of the day.

According to the British study, exercising on an empty stomach burns more body fat, eventually helping people lose inches around the waist. Apart from that, an added health benefit is that this also triggers a bigger reduction in artery-clogging blood fats, Mail Online reports.

Dr Jason Gill, who conducted the research at Glasgow University, says that any physical activity done before breakfast may brink extra benefits because it forces the body to rely on its stored fat for energy.

"When people talk about losing weight, they really mean losing fat," he added.

For the study, the researchers examined 10 men who were given breakfasts on three separate days. While on one day the men dint do any exercise, on another did an hour of brisk walk before breakfast, on the third day, they walked after breakfast.

The findings revealed that those who exercised burnt off more fat than those who simply sat around. Also, it was found that those who walked empty stomach lost up to 33 per cent more fat than those who exercised after eating.

Further tests also revealed that the participants experienced a bigger drop in the blood fats, the contributing factors to heart disease, according to British Journal of Nutrition reports.

Dr Gill suggests that while the men involved in the experiment only did a brisk walk, people trying to lose pounds may also carry on more strenuous activity on empty stomach for results. This is because the body has enough reserves for about 90 minutes to two hours of exercise, the report says.

However, people who can't delay breakfast shouldn't despair.

"The biggest difference is between doing nothing and doing something. If you are going to do something, then there is a slight advantage in doing it in a fasted state. But if you find you keel over because you can't do exercise before you have your slice of toast, then do it afterwards. You are still going to get a huge benefit," Dr Gill was quoted as saying by Mail Online.

Either way, weight loss is still likely be a slow process. In the experiment, those who exercised before breakfast were found to lose only about a tenth of a pound more fat than those who did not.

"If they did an hour's brisk walk every day for ten days or so, they would lose about a pound, which is about as fast as you can really expect to lose weight," Dr Gill added.

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