Thread: Exercising: morning, afternoon, evening?

I usually try to exercise a little bit in the evening just before dinner. Do you think that this is a good time? Or would you say that it is better to do my work-out in the morning? Or is the time not important at all? I thought that there might be a different in the fat-burning-process?!

Hello!
It is great that you want to excerise however there is constantly conflicting data regarding when is the best time to excerise. Just make sure you are hydrated and not on a completely empty stomach. I am very much into my fitness and can say if have a late night session I tend not to eat when i get back, because i am just not hungry. But I am in the morning so have to be careful not to indulge.
Whatever and whenever you do it is fanstastic. Keep up the good work.

It's always good to exercise regardless of the time. HOWEVER a session of exercise in the morning kick starts your metabolism and thus elevates your calorie burning potential for some time at the start of the day. Also it energizes you.

I'm an advocate of exercise in the morning.

If I can drag myself out of my lovely warm cosy comfy bed, the energy benefits I get for the rest of the day far outweigh the hour's sleep lost. But I often don't manage it, but then do cycle to work as well. I'll just exercise in the evening instead. I think that as long as you do it, it's going to be making you look and feel fabulous, so will be well worth it!

If you can do a 20 minute or more session early morning it's great for energising and setting you up for the day. Having said that.... Any time that fit's well into your daily routine and allows you make it a habit is the absolute best for you!

(I'm great on theory, now I need to go take my own advice . If only I could turn the clock back bodywise to when I used to do 20 mins recline-cycle every am, sigh)

So it seems like most people would suggest me to exercise in the morning. I guess first this will be very difficult as this means getting up earlier, but I will give it a try. Do you think I should work-out before breakfast or just after it? I could imagine that before breakfast I might get dizzy, but afterwards I might be too full to exercise. So which is better?

Before! You shouldn't work out on a full stomach. I suppose it depends on your routine, and what you're eating - I can quite happily do an hour of Body Combat on an empty stomach provided I've had a decent dinner the night before and I've got Powerade to drink. However,I'll sometimes get up extra early and have something liquid at least an hour beforehand, which is better really, but it does mean getting up very early sometimes.

It also depends what exercise you're doing. If it's fairly light stuff, don't worry too much. If it's strenuous, you need to have eaten, but most definitely not right before the workout.

Several years ago when I did exercise early morning I'd get up, quick wash etc and dress appropriate, have a drink of water, do my 20 mins, have a shower and then get breakfast. I did that for over a year and felt great off it until I started with arthritis.( Now I'm too stiff in the morning as it takes a good hour to loosen everything up enough.) I was a sewing machinist then, and paid by piecework... I had more energy and earnt more after early exercise.

Hi Kate,
yeah it is probably not too good to do a work-out with a full stomach. But I really enjoy jogging and when I haven't eaten anything I feel dizzy quite soon. I guess this is a consequence of the empty stomach, isn't it? What do you think I could eat before jogging? Because maybe I could eat something very small just before running and have my normal breakfast afterwards.

Originally Posted by Kate

Before! You shouldn't work out on a full stomach. I suppose it depends on your routine, and what you're eating - I can quite happily do an hour of Body Combat on an empty stomach provided I've had a decent dinner the night before and I've got Powerade to drink. However,I'll sometimes get up extra early and have something liquid at least an hour beforehand, which is better really, but it does mean getting up very early sometimes.

It also depends what exercise you're doing. If it's fairly light stuff, don't worry too much. If it's strenuous, you need to have eaten, but most definitely not right before the workout.

The best thing to do is to have a good dinner the night before, and something like a smoothie or a shake in the morning. Just make sure it's something light. Do you drink energy drinks while you're jogging, or just water?

If you exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach, your muscle glycogen and blood glucose levels are low, so you'll burn more protein for fuel - so if you can make the effort to get up earlier and have something to eat, you'll be protecting your muscles.

Do you think that it is really good to eat so much in the evening? I have heard that you shouldn't eat too much in the evening as you don't need the energy at night. And as I am doing the weight watchers program I usually don't have many points left anyways. But maybe I could have a smoothie before jogging. I will check with my point list. I just drink water while I am jogging. Do you think this is wrong?

If you're planning to do a strenuous workout, then yes, you do need to have a decent dinner. I don't mean a huge meal, but something that's going to provide plenty of fuel for the workout the next morning - protein and carbs.

With regard to weight loss, a calorie is a calorie no matter what time of day you eat it. You shouldn't eat a large meal too close to bedtime in case of indigestion and sleep disturbance, but a sensible meal mid evening isn't a bad thing at all.

The reason I asked about water is that if you are jogging first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and you haven't time to get up and eat beforehand, then an energy drink would be better than water. You'll be less likely to fatigue quite so quickly, and you'll be introducing carbs to your system fast for ready energy.

Okay I will try to decide the night before if I want to go jogging the next day or not. Because then I have to safe some more points to eat a normal dinner. Usually I have nothing but a salad or a fat free yogurt. Unfortunately I don't really like all the energy drinks. I think they taste to artificial, but you said that a smoothie has the same effect, hasn't it?

Well, no, it hasn't got quite the same effect, but that's why you'd get up early and have it before your workout rather than taking it with you. But hold on, can we just backtrack a minute?

I'm looking back up the thread to the original discussion (cos I only joined in to post about the eating before/after exercise question) - at the moment you're exercising early evening, and I assume that fits in with your routine and your lifestyle. So why would you change it for something that doesn't? That's going to make it harder to stick to.