Exercising before eating your first meal

[Fighter]

So over years of hearing peoples' ideas of the best way to lose weight, one idea kind of stuck with me, and that was to exercise before eating your first meal to burn faster. Thinking on this it sounds relatively dangerous, and in practice I'm very weak and can't do as many exercises before eating anything for the day. At the same time it's a great way to schedule my workout times because I always seem to get lost in the day after breakfast.

So what are your opinions on the matter? Is exercising before breakfast a viable option? Maybe if you only eat something very light first (like a piece of fruit or a granola bar)? Discuss.

[Cen]

I do it now on my runs if I don't have time to let a meal settle for an hour or two prior to the run.  If I eat and then run without waiting I usually have trouble keeping food down.  I keep the intensity lower than normal and just go a bit longer.  On two occasions doing high intensity cardio on an empty stomach had me on the ground, unable to stand due to dizziness, nausea, and feeling like I'd pass out.

Personally, I don't think it's worth what little benefit it might have.  It makes the exercise that much harder, which could discourage those who aren't used to it.  If one is consistent with adequate exercise and eating habits it is unnecessary, and probably risky.

[SilvermanUK]

Actually its a bit of a myth tbh

If you eat before exercise your body uses those reserves of energy from the food, like in the carbs for example. So its then not using your body fat as a reserve to tap into.  If you dont eat before exercise then your body is more likely to burn fat. There was a study about it.

Athletes eat before because they need the energy to run/cycle etc. They dont want to burn fat, their professionals, and havbe a low fat body ratio anyway.

However if your exercising to lose weight, then the opposite is true. But by not snacking/eating beforehand, you actually prime your body to burn fat at a faster rate. Your actually better eating afterwards as the exercise speeds up your bodys ability to use that food.

Does that make sense?