By: Chris Gates

People are always trying to find the best combination of training and nutrition for weight loss.

And you’re probably no different. You want results, right? Finding the most optimal approach is going to be ideal.

So let’s talk about fasted cardio.

The claims with fasted cardio center around doing cardio first thing in the morning after an overnight fast, which will help you accelerate the loss of body fat and lead to quicker progress with weight loss.

But is that actually the case?

Is fasted cardio better than regular cardio for weight loss?

If you do cardio first thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, will that truly speed up your weight loss progress and lead to better results?

I’ll answer all of those questions for you, and more, in this article!

Let’s start by defining what fasted cardio is, and how it is performed. Then, we can look at what some of the research says and determine what your ideal weight loss plan looks like.

By the end, you’ll have a clear plan moving forward to lose weight and look great! Let’s dive in…

Fasted Cardio, Defined

Fasted cardio sounds fancy. It sounds like it’s potentially something you’ve never done before, or never even thought of.

But you probably have.

Fasted cardio is simply doing cardio on an empty stomach.

It can be done at any time of day, but the most popular approach tends to be doing fasted cardio first thing in the morning when you wake up, and before you have your first meal.

This means if you get the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep at night, you’d be doing cardio after a relatively long period of time without any food or calories. Probably your longest period of time without calories for the entire day.

Now, why should you do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach?

That, my friend, is a great question!

The theory is, since you’ve gone 7-9 hours without food, your body is depleted of a lot of the energy it typically utilizes for exercise — primarily glucose. And since glucose levels are lower in a fasted state, this means your body will utilize body fat as its main source of energy for your workout.

So logically, if you’re using body fat for fuel, that means you’re going to lose more weight specifically from body fat.

Right?

Is Fasted Cardio Better Than Regular Cardio for Weight Loss? What the Research Says

I’ll be honest with you, the rationale behind fasted cardio makes a ton of sense on the surface. And I wish it was proven to be true, because that would make weight loss so much easier!

But unfortunately, research hasn’t been conclusive on if fasted cardio is better than regular cardio for weight loss.

Take this 2014 study by Schoenfeld and colleagues. Twenty females were assigned to either a fasted or fed cardio group and did one hour of steady state cardio, three times a week.

The subjects had their diets controlled to ensure they were in a calorie deficit, and both groups did in fact lose a significant amount of body fat. But there was no significant difference between the two groups, meaning both approaches were essentially equally effective.

These results have been replicated in other research studies.

In general, most of what we’ve learned about exercise and weight loss is that it really doesn’t matter what form of cardio you choose, or when you do it.

It could be fasted cardio first thing in the morning, or high intensity interval training later in the day, or going for a walk on your lunch break. All of them can be equally effective, and you should choose the form of cardio you enjoy the most.

Because if you enjoy it, you’ll be consistent with it. And if you’re consistent with it, it will probably lead to the most progress.

And research also shows that modifications to your exercise program — such as adding more cardio to try and lose more weight — rarely results in significant weight loss. If you want to lose weight, you’re better off making changes to your diet.

Is Fasted Cardio Better Than Regular Cardio for Weight Loss? The Benefits of Fed Cardio

The opposite version of fasted cardio is fed cardio.

Fed, meaning you fed yourself and have eaten somewhat recently prior to doing your cardio workout.

And there are some distinct advantages to eating before training.

First off, eating before training is going to give your body added energy to train hard and get the most out of each and every workout. One of the downsides to fasted cardio is that it can be hard to perform at your best, due to the fact that your body is running on less readily available energy.

A second very real benefit to fed cardio is your ability to preserve muscle mass, or even build muscle mass. Training while fasted could potentially cause your body to break down muscle to get the energy it needs (to be clear, this would likely only happen in very long-duration, or high-intensity cardio sessions).

When you train after eating a robust meal with a nice balance of carbohydrates, fats, and protein, your body will have more than enough energy to pull from to complete your cardio session and preserve all of the muscle you’ve built. If you want to learn more about how your diet impacts muscle, give my article on calorie surpluses a read.

And a third, very real benefit to fed cardio is the enjoyment of your exercise.

Most people don’t seem to enjoy waking up and immediately training on an empty stomach. It’s not the most sustainable approach to doing cardio consistently.

And when we’re talking about weight loss, consistency is key. You need to be in a calorie deficit for an extended period of time to see real, meaningful, sustainable change. And you’ll need to be exercising consistently as well.

If you can’t be consistent with it, it’s probably the wrong approach for you to take.

Is Fasted Cardio Better Than Regular Cardio for Weight Loss? What Should YOU Do…

From everything we just went over, you might be expecting me to say, “don’t do fasted cardio!”

But that’s not necessarily my take.

Overall, I think the benefits of fed cardio outweigh the benefits of fasted cardio. There is no real, proven evidence that fasted cardio is going to be optimal to help you lose more weight.

But there are some factors that could make fasted cardio become a legitimate option for you:

1. Do you enjoy training in the morning? Some people just love to wake up and train, and if that’s you, go for it!
2. Do you feel crummy training on a full stomach? I’ll be honest, this doesn’t describe most people. But I have worked with a few clients in the past who have just hated the feeling. They’d feel bloated, and it would negatively impact their training.
3. Are you doing intermittent fasting? Or, do you hate eating breakfast? If so, training fasted may just be what you have to do.
4. Do you enjoy the feeling of being fasted? Once again, this isn’t necessarily the norm, but I have worked with a few folks who have felt borderline euphoric when they got into a fasted state. Their energy and mental clarity skyrocketed, and performance in their workouts was great.

Every single person is different. No single exercise modality will work best for everyone, so it’s important to consider what will work best for you, and what you’ll enjoy the most.

If any of those factors apply to you, fasted cardio might make sense to try. Because once again, I want you to be consistent with your training so you can make as much progress with weight loss as possible.

But if none of those factors apply to you, I’d probably push you in a different direction. Because if you don’t see yourself enjoying the dynamics of fasted cardio, it’s probably not going to benefit you.

Once again, there are no real, proven physiological advantages to doing fasted cardio, as compared to regular cardio.

The Best Type of Cardio is… A Calorie Deficit

Let’s not ignore the real difference maker when it comes to weight loss.

A calorie deficit.

That’s right, the best type of cardio for weight loss isn’t cardio at all. It’s managing your nutrition correctly.

I mentioned above that research has shown dietary changes are much more impactful for weight loss than trying to add more exercise and burn more calories. This is an incredibly important concept for you to understand and accept.

It doesn’t matter what type of cardio you’re doing if you’re not in a calorie deficit. Because if you’re not in a calorie deficit, your body physically can not, and will not, lose body fat.

Oftentimes, people look to strategies or techniques like fasted cardio in order to trick the system. You want to make as much progress as possible, but you don’t want to change your nutritional habits, so you jump on the latest fad and try and burn as many calories as possible to lose weight.

And that never works.

Fasted cardio won’t help.

Every single weight loss workout plan will fail if you’re not in a calorie deficit. I’ve got tons of information here on my website about calorie deficits if you’d like to learn more, but here’s a quick overview…

A calorie deficit means you’re burning more calories than you’re consuming from food each day. It means you’re in negative energy balance.

When your body is in negative energy balance, it’s forced to search within itself to find energy to get you through the day. That energy is pulled from the various tissues of your body, which are oxidized, and that’s how your body loses weight.

Now, figuring out how to know if you’re in a calorie deficit is a process you’ll need to go through, so there will be some work involved. But it’s time well spent, and it could mean you make a transformation that changes your life forever.

Do You Need Help With Weight Loss?

I hope you found this article helpful! There are advantages and disadvantages to basically every approach to cardio and weight loss. Hopefully this helped you take a deeper look at what you’ll enjoy the most, and can be consistent with.

If you think you’d like some help with managing your workout routine and your diet to lose weight and make a transformation, that’s what I do! And I’d love to help.

Give my coaching page a look to learn about how online fitness coaching works. If you like what you see, please fill out an application and let me know about your goals! I’ll follow up with you and we can talk about what a program might look like for you.

Thanks for reading 🙂

~ Chris