Should you eat before you Exercise?

If you are looking to exercise to help you lose weight, and most 'experts' recommend that you do, then it would appear to be a strange idea that you should eat before you start your fat burning endeavour. So what gives? It's all about fuel, so the argument goes. Without some food in your stomach you won't get very far.

Food Provides Energy Needed For Exercise

If you exercise at the start of the day, consume a light snack about an hour before you start. It's important that you give your body time to digest any food you eat before you commence your exercise. To do otherwise is to risk cramps and feeling nauseous. Good things to eat pre-exercise include fruit, a little cereal along with lite milk or juice.

But if you can go with out..

If you can exercise on an empty stomach then are studies that suggest that you don't eat anything till after you have finished. As you might expect, a greater proportion of fat is used as fuel if you don't eat beforehand. This is good news if you like to exercise first thing in the morning.

That's great but I like to exercise at lunch time

If you like to exercise during your lunch break, make sure you have eaten a full healthy breakfast first. If you must eat after that keep your intact light, for example, just a snack for morning tea. Again, fruit, a muesli bar, some yoghurt or a handful of nuts and dried fruit and plenty of fluids would be beneficial.

Trust your body

Ideally, you should wait between one to three hours between eating and exercising – an hour for a smaller meal or snack, or three hours for a heavier meal. Your best guide is your own body – do what feels best for you. Try scheduling your exercise at different times and see what works best. There is no one right answer other than the one you feel is right for you.

Exercise to help you lose weight

1. Select an exercise that you like and exercise at convenient times of the day. Ideally, have a variety of exercises or vary the manner or location in which you do them. If you get bored jogging try a push bike next time or vary the route. Boredom will prevent you from exercising.

2. Focus on aerobic exercises as they have proven to be the best form of exercise for weight loss and weight maintenance. You can burn more fat engaged in aerobic exercise than you will weight training.

3 . You still do some muscle building. Muscle mass is important - especially since dieting can cause loss of muscle mass. Muscles burn more calories than fat over the long term, so consider strength training to be an investment in long-term weight maintenance.

4. Avoid the trap of telling yourself "it's ok, I exercised earlier" as you get stuck into some treat. It is much easier to eat 200 calories than to burn it off with exercise. A small snack can reverse any benefit you obtain from exercise.

5. Incorporate exercise into your daily routine. For example, a morning swim before work or maybe cycle to work.

6. Exercise with friends, or find an exercise buddy. If you are competitive in nature, consider your exercise as a training in order to run in a fun run or some other kind of race or competitive sporting event.

7. To finish on a positive note, the more weight your body has to carry, the more energy you will have to exert during exercise and therefore the faster you ought to lose weight..

For more ideas, tips and suggestions on exercise and how to lose weight refer to Fat100.com and WikiHow.