Eating -vs- Not Eating, first thing in the morning

GramaNewYork

Wed, Aug 23 2017, 2:52 am

If you are "into" fitness, meaning you've done some research on the best way to stay in shape; please give me your input.

For several years I have been working out first thing in the morning (warm up, workout, cooldown average 20 minutes with drinking water). This has kept my weight down (and also helped emotionally) even though I eat junk food, because working out BEFORE eating in the morning supposedly burns YESTERDAY'S calories. (As soon as I started doing it this way, I no longer had any weight concerns).

I am pretty sure this is NOT a healthy way to do it. I've never had a problem with it but lately I am having a sensation which may be "telling" me I should be eating something before I exert myself to workout. It's similar to hunger but kind of like light panic rather than actual hunger.

Do you have any knowledge of this type of thing as far as how important it is to eat before working out? I could do research, but if you have actual experience with this, I'd rather hear about it from you.

Gracias : )

amother

Slateblue

Wed, Aug 23 2017, 3:02 am

In the book "To Your Health" by Rabbi Ishayek he advises to drink 1-2 cups of water when waking up, exercising for 10-30 minutes and then eating breakfast (a juicy fruit like peach, watermelon, melon and protein like egg or yogurt is best). He says the exercise warms up the body and helps the food digest better.
There is also an inyan in haalcha called "pas shachris" (morning bread) - some Rabbis say the chiyuv is davka to eat bread or mezonos in the morning, others say it just means that we must eat breakfast. But there definitely is an inyan halachically to eat breakfast to give us physical and spiritual koach for the rest of the day.

GramaNewYork

Wed, Aug 23 2017, 3:06 am

amother wrote:

I always drink a half liter of water immediately upon waking up. BUT, after I workout, I shower and then daven and only after have my breakfast. So...it seems like I'm doing it almost right based on what you're saying but I should eat before davening?

amother

Magenta

Wed, Aug 23 2017, 7:49 am

What works really well for me in terms of energy levels during and after morning exercise and in terms of fitness/weight issues:
Before exercise either a glass of orange juice or a glass of water plus a couple of rice crackers with peanut butter.
After exercise I eat a large bowl of savoury oatmeal (= my ingredients are oat milk, 1-2 cups oats, dash of cinnamon plus sprouted alfalfa seeds or ground linseed). This easily keeps me going till lunch time.

amother

Mustard

Wed, Aug 23 2017, 1:34 pm

GramaNewYork wrote:

First re: bold - it doesn't matter what time you exercise/eat as long as you do it... There's no difference, over the long run, in burning yesterday's calories today or burning today's calories today...

I personally used to exercise first thing in the morning because that was the only way to get it done. I couldn't eat first or else I would get a cramp.

Since I got older, I have started to feel weak after exercising if I don't eat (sounds similar to the italics above), so now I exercise whenever I can during the day - usually after work - and I am mindful to not eat for 1 hour before exercising so I can actually do it.

If you are just trying to maintain a healthy weight, it doesn't really matter what you do. If you are trying to become a body builder/increase muscle mass substantially/run a marathon, it probably does matter (and I would say eat first).

I'm not addressing the spiritual issues of eating breakfast.