Intermittent Fasting and The Best Times to Exercise

With intermittent fasting, the main goal is to drain the excess fat within the body. Such a diet is not something that can be taken on quickly where one sees rapid changes in eating habits the moment they set goals. Rather, it's a medium to a long-term mechanism that sees a new adaptation of the alternative behaviors over time. For example, some may have two meals per day and carry out heavy exercise which causes the draining of glycogen stores, that's wrong. The best indication of how you feel on this diet is to know what happens during the exercise phases. If your legs are heavy and you feel tired or whether you have a reserve and you can do the exercises, these are barometers to keep track of when considering such a diet.

In terms of cardio, it's best not to do interval training early in the morning while being in the fasting state because you will run out of glycogen quickly. So if you're not ready for this diet, you must adapt to it over time because the hunger mechanisms are able to kick in and make you light-headed quickly if done improperly i.e. you become hypoglycaemic. The best time to exercise is just before a meal or during the period between two meals you have during the day. Queries regarding whether the most fat is burned in the morning do not hold in this case. Studies suggest that doing exercise after the last meal of the day can burn a little more fat compared to other periods in the day due to the sleep cycles.

Protein and creatine are great supplements which must be added when intermittently fasted since the body needs amino acids and creatine helps in muscle gain. Otherwise, adding a meal during intense hunger can stop the negative feedback loops to keep the body balanced. Losing muscle tissue is a side effect that can counteract your entire goal of losing fat. In that case, having protein or creatine outside the defined meal periods aids in the recovery process and alleviates any negative feedback loops.