How to burn most fat when exercising?

[lulupop]

Just wondering if it's true that by exercising on an empty stomach you force your body to burn more fat? Have heard conflicting advice on this one. Anyone know?

lulupop think you're more likely to burn muscle? Last less time and gobble everything in sight afterwards. If I'm on a gym kick I find I really need to eat a bit an hour or so beforehand.

I did read somewhere that it's more effective to exercise when your insulin is low, which isn't necessarily the same thing as having an empty stomach. If you eat food that has a low GI score then your blood sugar, and your insulin will still be quite low when you exercise. It makes logical sense to me, because when you exercise what you want to do is convert your fat into blood sugar which you can burn, but if you have a high insulin level your body is trying to convert blood suger into fat.

Hurrah! Must have done right thing then by having muesli (low GI?) this morning, then gym.

However, I am now ravenous and trying v hard not to gobble the entire bar of Green & Blacks milk choc that I know is in one of my cupboards...

If you exercise on an empty stomach you'll never last the pace. IMO not worthwhile. I had porridge this morning before my aerobics class (don't know if that is low GI or not) but it definately kept me going, I'm not even that hungry now. Like the sound of the Green & Blacks though I could eat that whether hungry or not!

Demented it's high GI I think - like bananas? Porridge is definitely a good one before the gym.

What's GI?

Think it's the glycaemic index (sp?) roisin - so high GI foods give you energy for longer than low GI foods.

Glycaemic index, roisin. It's a measure of how slow or fast acting the carbohydrates are. white bread has a GI of 100, & things which are absorbed more quickly (big increase in blood sugar, lots of insulin) have a high GI (ie sweets, juice) & things which are absorbed slowly (more controlled rise in blood sugar, less insulin) have a low GI (brown rice, oats). This is all from a diabetes perspective though. I really hope I'm right & not too confusing. Am happy to be corrected though!

You're right Hoxtonchick. Oddly enough I've just been printing out a list of GI levels for my mum. This is the most UK-based (as oppose to US) one I could find for her.

Thanks