The Food Medic - Ask Dr Hazel E4: SHOULD I TRAIN FASTED?

Episode Date: January 28, 2022

This mini episode covers fasted training, pros and cons and advice on how to do it so it doesn’t affect your health and performance.If you loved this episode make sure to give it a review, rating (hopefully 5 stars) and share it with your friends and family. @thefoodmedic/www.thefoodmedic.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey everyone and welcome back to another mini episode of Ask Dr. Hazel. In these short five minute episodes I answer questions submitted by you. Thank you to everyone who has sent in questions already and if you would like to submit a question to the podcast for your chance to be featured please send your voice recorded questions to ellie at thefoodmedic.co.uk. Okay let's hear from this week's listener. My question is about fasted workouts. As a person who works full time, getting up early in the morning and working out straight away is the only way I have time to fit in exercise. That can be weight training or running and I just wondered what your advice was on that because there are lots of conflicting things about it can be good for you or it can be bad for you.

Thank you so much for your question this is something I get asked all the time. So when it comes to faster training as with most things it depends it depends on why you're doing it so for example you've just mentioned that due to your work schedule, you have to train early. So I'm guessing it's more for convenience. But some people may do it for the perceived benefits. For example, a lot of people do it for fat loss. Here's the thing though. While it's true that faster training can increase the use of fat as fuel, which we call fat oxidation, it doesn't necessarily translate to loss of body fat or enhanced performance. In fact, it can actually worsen performance due to fatigue, hunger, headaches, etc. And if you're

underperforming, then you're less likely to put as much into your workout or get as much out of your workout. So if fat loss is your goal, you're going to be burning less calories overall. Also, it's important to note that a reduction in body fat doesn't occur straight away, as I'm sure most of you know. And from the research we have on this topic, performing exercise in a fasted state does not influence weight loss or changes in body fat rather weight loss or fat loss from exercise is more likely to be achieved through a calorie deficit over a period of time. Okay and then the other thing to note is fasted training can be a huge stress on the body, which over time can lead to a higher risk of injuries, a weakened immune system, and mess up

your hormones. So in general, I don't recommend fasted training for women in particular, as it can put you at more risk of irregular periods or losing your periods altogether when there's not enough energy available. That said I know it's sometimes just not practical to eat or eat very much early in the morning so my advice would be if you're training for less than an hour and that's at a low intensity and you feel good training fasted then then train fasted. However, for sessions over an hour or at higher intensities, I would recommend try adding in some fuel prior to your session. This doesn't have to be a whole meal if it's early. It can just be a high carbohydrate snack. So I personally would grab a banana and a coffee before my gym sessions,

or sometimes a slice of toast and jam. It's not hugely filling, but it tops up my energy reserves. So I guess my takeaway from this is faster training is not the key to making you stronger, fitter or faster. Consistent training and fueling the work is what will get you there. So train hard but recover harder and make sure you fuel up. That's all from me. See you again next time.