Article # 483. Burning Calories during the morning work out

You can't trick your body into burning calories any faster by exercising at a particular time of day. However, how you schedule your workout can affect its effectiveness in a few ways. For example, what you eat and when you eat beforehand will influence your exercise. If you enjoy an early-morning jog or trip to the gym, there's no reason to discontinue the practice. But if you'd rather sleep in, you can work off weight and build strength just as effectively in the afternoon or evening.

Myth Dispelled

In the "Go Ask Alice!" feature of Columbia University's Health Services website, the myth of the extra-efficient morning workout is dispelled. According the the medical advice column, the rumor of an improved workout is largely derived from a kernel of truth; your metabolism retains its accelerated pace well after you've finished an intensive workout. Therefore, working out first thing in the morning will keep your metabolism running efficiently throughout the early part of the day. On the other hand, a midday exercise routine will keep your fat-burning potential raised throughout the early afternoon. Instead of investing energy and thinking into your exercise schedule, up your intensity or lengthen your workout to rev your metabolism even higher.

Breakfast Matters

Another popular misunderstanding is that doing your morning workout before you eat breakfast will somehow burn off more body fat. In actuality, the amount of fat that you burn depends much more on what sort of shape you're in and what type of exercise you practice. Your breakfast on workout days does factor into the equation, though; ideally, you should eat about two hours before you start exercising. If that throws your schedule too far out of whack, have a healthy snack the night before, before you go to sleep. In the morning, have a light snack or a sports drink an hour before you train. If you can't manage to get up an hour before your run, stick to liquids. Eating right before you train can upset your stomach.

Personal Preference

While MayoClinic.com suggests two hours between a meal and a training, or at least an hour after a snack, the need for nourishment before exercise varies widely from one person to the next. If you feel faint or get hunger pains when working out, your body may require a bit more energy right before you hit the gym. Experiment with small snacks that you digest easily. Popular options might include energy bars or drinks, bananas and fruit, whole-grain crackers or crisps or yogurt.

A Convenient Schedule

If you require motivation to train regularly, design a workout schedule around when it's easiest for you to exercise. If you find that you get busier as the day goes on, working out first thing in the morning can short-circuit all of the interruptions of daily life that make it easy to skip workouts. To gently fit fitness into a busy schedule, MayoClinic.com recommends small, regular changes, such as getting up half an hour earlier than usual and going for a brisk walk.