Can You Burn More Fat by Running on Empty Stomach?

It's been myth about running on empty first thing in the morinig to burn more fat.

Some bodybuilders swear by it. Most fitness professionals don't recommend it.

The theory goes by that your glycogen level is very low after a night's sleep with food intake for 8 or 9 hours. So when you do cardio on empty stomach in the morning before your breakfast, your body has to utilize other sources of energy. Research showed that your body indeed use more fat (but not as much as you think) as the energy source. You may also start to dip in your muscles to fuel your cardio. You don't have real control as to how your body utilitizes the energy.

On the flip side, since your glycogen level is almost depleted, you can't really perform high intensity cardio exercise or weight training. So essentially you're spending more time on the low intensity exercise to burn just a few extra calories of fat. That helps ramp up your stress hormones and run the risk of using your muscle protein for energy.

The total amount of calorie consumption through a combination of weight training and cardio exercise in the least amount of time should be the goal if you want lost weight. So don't count on running on empty stomach to burn extra calories. Can you drive a sports car on empty fuel tank?

Eat at least a small amount of protein (5 to 10 grams) along with complex carbs (20 grams) before performing a full-body workout. For the best fat-burning results, you should combine weight traing and cardio exercise in the same session.