Workout on an empty stomach

Dear Dehli,

Did you know that according to NFHS (National Family Health Survey) of India (2007 data), 45.5% of your male inventory is overweight or obese? Congratulations on overtaking Punjab with a whopping 15% margin and holding the title of The State with most obesity of India". Not only did you win the men's non-health championship, you even nailed in women's non-health championship with an enormous 50% of females rendered obese in 2007. Talking about 2016, over 20.7% of India's female population is overweight while that of the male population is 18.6% with urban areas contributing almost two-thirds of them. But guess what? People die of heart attacks even if they are not overweight, they get diabetes even if they are not overweight, and all sorts of diseases are prevalent in the normal weight category as well. Ever thought why is that? Let me tell you in another post. For now, let's just talk about how to proceed with your weight loss/muscle building goals and fuss about working out on an empty stomach.

There's a little bit of misconception as well as incomplete information on this part, and most people believe they should always workout on an empty stomach to burn as much fat as possible.

Let's discuss fat burning on an empty stomach

Sure, it is a superb idea, go ahead and do it. No, I'm not kidding, not everything is a myth and this one's true. And, like every other topic, there is a "but" attached to it which I'm gonna tell you. 

Hm, so imagine you wake up early in the morning to workout on an empty stomach after a good 8-hour sleep. You had your last meal I think 2 hours before bedtime, that brings up the time you were deprived of food to 10 hours. Then, upon waking up, you will freshen up, and begin the workout in about 45 minutes, and let's say you worked out for about another good 45 minutes after which you are immediately supposed to eat your first meal by recognizing where I am taking this example to. That's 11.5 hours without food, almost half of the day. 

You will be surprised to know that professional body builders wake up after 4 hours of their sleep just to eat 200 grams of chicken breast and then they fall back to sleep again. They do it to minimize their food deprivation time as much as possible. Now you must be wondering that I was supposed to talk about fat burning and not muscle building in this heading, and trust me, I still am. The reason body why builders do so is nutrition. Whether you wanna burn fat or build muscle, you need constant nutrition supply to your body, even in your sleep. Frequent nutrition supply to the body increases your metabolism which in turn helps to burn fat and build muscle. The only thing to be aware of is, not to consume too many carbohydrates at night, that's why body builders eat either chicken breast or casein protein during sleep time.

Bottom line: Yes, it is still a good idea if you are working out an empty stomach in the morning (not evening, because that would mean you are purposely starving yourself before workout and slowing down your metabolism). Empty stomach morning workout is more effective in fat burning because your testosterone levels are at peak, which greatly helps to burn fat and build muscle. Also, in the morning, your body won't have any carbohydrates to burn so it will use your stored body fat and muscle mass as fuel to burn.

The only problem is, the body will use muscle mass too, and you don't wanna lose your muscle mass along with fat. You can prevent muscle breakdown by consuming BCAAs supplement (Branched Chain Amino Acids), or egg whites or whey protein, at least 40 minutes before workout. The main component is BCAA which is present in egg whites and whey protein.

If you are really overweight or obese, you don't need to worry about preserving your muscle mass, you probably do not have any, just get up in the morning, workout, and have your first meal as soon as possible.

And, stop this mentality, "I don't want muscles, I just to want get rid of this stubborn fat". By muscle mass, I don't necessarily mean this guy right here.

I mean this one,

He has a decent amount of muscle mass, and trust me, this much is needed in every human being

And you don't wanna end up like this one, if you wanna know why, then read this.

Now let's discuss muscle building on an empty stomach

Not a good idea. You need your body to be in caloric surplus and for all that weight lifting you'll be doing. Weight lifting requires immense energy which is supplied by carbohydrates. So, if you wanna build muscles and can only workout in the morning, wake up 1 hour earlier and prepare a good pre workout meal which should have complex carbohydrates, essential fats, and of course, protein. After about 40 minutes of your meal, head for the workout.

Building muscles require heavy weight lifting and intense exercises, you gotta have food in your body before you do that, otherwise, you're just wasting time getting nowhere.