To Eat or not to eat

Peace. I don’t just run… I research running. One of my biggest concerns was whether I should eat before a run or not. Not eating burns more fat. Eating makes increases performance. Now this is something I had to really teach myself. The doctor in me labored on this. The information is out there, but it’s very confusing to interpret if you are a novice. And I have a hard time taking advice on face value. So here is the skinny in case you were interested…. If all you’re interested in is losing weight, and not becoming a better runner and possibly competing, then don’t eat first. Running will burn through the glycogen stored in the body 1st and then move onto the fat. Yes you might pass out on your run because you get light headed, but you will burn off fat. And if that is your goal along with fitness then don’t eat before a run. The run will be harder because the body goes into debt because it’s not normal for it to want to burn fat. And because of the previous reason, the more you run without eating the more the body will learn to conserve its glycogen stores making it harder each time to get at the fat. It will also fuck up your blood sugar for a minute because it goes awry when fat is being burned rather than sugar. Sugar is the preferred fuel. Fat means emergency. It could possibly push your body into starvation mode. Now if you want to run longer, quicker, more efficiently or train for races and or marathons, then maybe you should consider eating. Because the carbs/sugars in food will act as fuel and not allow you to tucker out. Carb loading will give you a better performance, but it will take away from weight loss since carbs come with calories. Which do I advocate? Neither. I’m not a coach. I run all the time without eating because I tend to run right when I get up because that’s my only opportunity. But I have had hard runs lately and I’m thinking that not eating has really contributed to them; especially since my body is getting used to the activity. Not finishing and/or passing out on a route is not cool and not losing weight is pretty shitty too. This, my friend, is a choice you make for yourself…. Peace

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