Studies show that working out in the morning has been shown to burn up to 3x as more fat as opposed to working out at any other time during the day. When you wake up in the morning your body doesn't have any carbohydrates as energy to use and it will look to burn body fat instead for energy.
For you to take advantage of this morning fat burning opportunity you have to exercise first thing in the morning. Don't eat breakfast because if you do you'll just give your body some carbohydrates as a source of energy instead of the body fat that you want to burn for energy.
Another great thing about working out first thing in the morning is that your metabolism gets revved up after your morning workout. Morning workouts keep your metabolism elevated throughout the day. An elevated metabolism throughout the day only means that you'll burn more calories and lose more weight. If you workout at night you may still burn fat while you workout but as soon as you go to sleep your metabolism will slow down and you'll miss out on all the extra fat that you can burn during the day if you had exercised in the morning. Advanced Tip: Want to burn even more fat? Add another workout to your daily routine 4-6 hours after your morning workout. Keep your already high metabolism higher by adding a 2nd workout during the day. If you're seriously thinking about adding a 2nd workout to your daily routine then try to do your cardio workouts in the morning. Mostly fat calories are burned doing cardio at a moderate intensities. Make your 2nd workout of the day a workout with weights. Mostly carbohydrate is burned doing weight-training workouts. The muscle that you build from weight training will also help you burn fat. 1lb of Muscle burns 50 calories a day or 1lb of fat every 70 days. whatever your weight is.
2. Eat Breakfast
Another way to keep your metabolism revved up all day long is to eat breakfast. After you workout in the morning as discussed earlier, just have breakfast and you'll give your body the perfect 1-2 combination to jump start your metabolism.
Eating breakfast in the morning is what gets your metabolism started. Don't skip breakfast and wait until mid-morning or afternoon to eat, your metabolism will run slower causing you not burn any extra fat.
When you eat breakfast you are basically throwing a log onto that fireplace to get it started burning fat.
Eating breakfast will help stop those cravings you may have later on in the day and along with working out in the morning, eating breakfast will also keep you energized throughout the day and lower stress levels.
Advanced Tip: Instead of eating only 2 more meals during the day like lunch & dinner, try to eat 4-5 more small mini-meals spaced 2-3 hours apart during the day. Remember the fireplace? By eating these mini-meals you'll be throwing just the right amount of "wood" on the fireplace to keep your metabolism burning calories throughout the day. Don't shut down your metabolism by eating big lunches or dinners, keep that metabolism of yours burning fat all day long.
Morning Checklist
1. Workout for at least 30min after waking up in the morning
2. Eat a healthy breakfast
3. Burn fat & lose more weight during the day
Adrian Bryant is a Personal Trainer and creator of NowLoss: The World's Best Weight Loss Program. Adrian Bryant has helped many people reach their fitness goals in his 10+ years of personal training. Adrian holds a B.S. degree in Exercise science from Longwood University.
