Time restricted eating & morning exercise

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How do people manage to combine TRE with exercise if they cannot exercise whilst fasting due to low blood pressure or just not wanting to do spin class for eg on empty stomach?

im aiming for a 9 hour window so ideally would eat between 10 and 7. So would it therefore be best to exercise around 11 earliest?

i would be grateful to hear from those with experience… what do you do re TRE and exercise? I have 1.5 stone to lose of middle age weight 😫 I know ideally an 8 hour eating window would be better for weight loss but I wouldn’t be able to do that alongside the timing of exercise classes at the gym.

I usually exercise around 4.30pm so this can be before I break a fast if doing 20:4 or sometimes I have lunch and eat around 1pm. On weekends I might exercise in the morning. I'm almost always in a fasted state and I rarely feel like I wish I'd eaten first. (2st of middle age weight to lose here - I'm 54)

@losingit31 wow you are doing really well, I’m not sure I could fast for that long or exercise in a fasted state… I think I will need to build up to it. But this middle aged weight doesn’t come off by itself!

I find it ok so long as it's early. I normally do this with home workouts but I think I did one or two gym workouts fasted in the am and it was ok. My blood pressure is lowish but not clinically so though. You could look into electrolyte drinks maybe?

I was listening to a podcast about IF which said that for many people they can exercise whilst fasted without a problem and there’s a theory that your body is made to do this as you need to have energy to go and hunt if you haven’t eaten for a while. I can run while fasted and prefer it but haven’t tried more than about 10k so not sure how would work for longer distances. Have you found you have problems?

I did a 7km walk fasted this morning. Maybe low intensity is better until you are used to exercising fasted.

I always do a 30min walk fasted in the morning which is no problem but I’m thinking I can’t do spin class for eg as it is high intensity and really this is the level I like to do and need to do to sort out my cardio fitness. I will look into electrolyte drinks that’s a good idea, but coming to realise I’m going to have to probably start fasting earlier in the evening in order to be able to eat something before going to the gym

I do an 16/18 hour fast, which I break at 11am. I've always had low blood pressure but and have started doing a weights class a couple of hours before I break fast and it's been absolutely fine. It was recommended by my PT. I find I can also go for a run or use the gym at this time.

PT said it was best to just get moving each morning, bring the heart rate up a bit. If spin is too much then try something different.

Stacey Sims argues that for women to really get the most out of exercise they need to be well fuelled before and after training so they can work at high intensity and build muscle in recovery. It's not that we can't do exercise fasted, but that the way the body responds tends to reduce or negate many of the benefits that make us do exercise in the first place. For example exercising fasted increases cortisol levels which is a key cause of increased belly fat.

One of her key points is that much of the research on fasted exercise has been done on men, and women's bodies seem to respond very differently, particularly once peri kicks in. Fasting in women can increase insulin sensitivity and oxidative stress, and slow down thyroid function and metabolism - and this is worse in women who exercise.

You don't have to have a full meal before exercising but a healthy snack with protein and carbs beforehand and a snack/meal with lots of protein soon afterwards should help you get the most from your exercise. If you're interested her book Level up is specifically aimed at women exercising in mid life.

This is really interesting because I have a more productive (cardio) workout towards the end of a fast, preferably 12-16 hours fasted.

I am purely only going by my heart rate/calories burned on fitbit but the same workout will be 155+ bpm, or 115bpm ish if I've eaten in the last few hours. Obviously fitbit has no idea when I ate but it's always consistent even if the exact figures arent 100% accurate.

I would say if my focus was on building muscle more than burning energy from my fat stores I would be fuelling my body before a workout.

I usually exercise about 14/15 hours into an 18 hour day (running or weights). I prefer it!

I couldn’t run with a full stomach before I did IF anyway & I feel that the exercise somehow suppresses my appetite for another couple of hours, so just as I’m feeling hungry, I run, then I’m fine with just water until lunchtime.

I think part of IF for me was about realising that I’m not going to fault if I don’t constantly fuel myself.

The argument around what is best before activity comes down to your outcomes. I am unfit & fat so my ideal set-up is very different from an elite athlete trying to break records.

Improving fitness & calorie burn are (to some extent) about doing things inefficiently where as competitive sport is about maximum efficiency.

Some really interesting thoughts here. I actually have read that book Level Up. I’ll have another look at it I think.

Its a balancing act I think. I don’t want to cause too much physical stress and I want to exercise efficiently but equally I need to lose weight.

@TibetanTerrah I am purely only going by my heart rate/calories burned on fitbit but the same workout will be 155+ bpm, or 115bpm ish if I've eaten in the last few hours.

Is the higher heart rate there your fasted workout, and the lower heart rate after you've eaten?

I've tried exercising fasted, and I didn't really get on with it. I do occasionally do weights at 6am, but eat immediately afterwards - not much point trying to build muscle without adding protein.

OP - you don't have to fast every day, you could eat normally on your exercising days? I try to adjust my carb intake depending on my planned exercise but it's often beyond my organisational skills.

If you are doing 16:8 then an optimum timing could be 11-7pm.
I often exercise in the morning and I hate eating beforehand as it makes me feel sick. I have a coffee then do a bootcamp, come home, shower and have breakfast/brunch around 11am. If you last ate at around 6.30-7pm the previous evening, you are fine to do a morning workout.

This only doesn't work on days when the workout is late morning. ON those days I just don't do fasting, but have a small breakfast between 6.30-7.30 am, so I can workout between 10.30-11.30 without a problem.

@DecayedStrumpet yes sorry, higher heart rate is fasted. My completely unscientific logic is that if I recently eaten then my body is drawing energy from a more easily available source, and my body has to work harder to get energy from my fat stores if that makes sense.

If I'm struggling towards the end of a fast as sometimes happens though, I won't work out feeling nauseous or headachy, it's not worth it.

And do you find you can do the same level of workout, TibetanTerrah ?

For me, HR 115 = 'I can do this all day' and HR 155 = 'I think I might well die soon' so I'm intrigued to know how you do it!
And I suppose that was what I found when I tried to run fasted, though I wasn't checking HR - my normal workout was just killing me.

Thanks for the recommendation above btw@UnaOfStormhold, have just ordered Next Level - I read ROAR already and didn't realise she had a book focussing on menopause, should be interesting.

Confusing number of options of what to eat, when, how and when to exercise.. I’m a bit overwhelmed and think I need to strip it back to some sensible conclusions….

Exercise is crucial for fitness and health but this isn’t enough for weight loss
Weight loss has to involve eating the right food and not eating too much of it
Extending the overnight fast and cutting out snacking gives health benefits and helps weight loss

within all this I need to find a pattern that works for me and will be a long term lifestyle rather than a short term diet.

I exercise 5 or 6 days a week so would need to build fasting in alongside this rather than on non exercise days otherwise I wouldn’t be doing it often enough to get benefits.