Fitness Tip Busted - Fasted Workouts Burn 20% More Calories

TLDL - Busted due to a crucial missing clarifier. Fasted workouts can burn 20% more FAT in a workout. But fat does not equal total calories burned and many people would benefit by simply focusing on getting the best workout possible.... which might require a small meal ahead of time.

Unless I am behind on the newest research (which you should always take with multiple grains of salt), this statement should read: Fasted workouts burn 20% more fat calories.

That is a huge difference and makes that tip busted.

Burning calories and burning fat calories are very different despite the obvious overlap.

Weight loss is about burning calories… not burning fat specifically. The fat loss will come when your goal is to burn calories.

Even if new research does support the above statement… it will rarely benefit you in the real world.

Many people will have decreased exercise intensity while fasted, reducing calories burned even more. This is due to the simple fact that many people do not perform their best on a completely empty stomach.

Fasted cardio CAN play a role in increased health benefits and caloric expenditure (especially in relation to maximizing fat metabolism), but the negative impact on total caloric expenditure is greater than the benefits for many people.

This is because most people do not workout enough as is, so every workout should focus on total body movement and high intensity. Make the most of your workout.

But if it works for you - do what works for you!

The most common sited example of a fasted workout is with “zone 2” style endurance training.

While there certainly are health benefits associated with zone 2 training, I feel that most people would benefit more from using their limited time for more resistance training and compressing their cardio into high intensity, shorter intervals.

But… if YOUR goals align with performing zone 2 cardio, and you like to perform fasted workouts… you would certainly benefit from this tip.

This is because zone 2 training targets the metabolic pathways that oxidize fat… and being fasted means your body will utilize the fat-burning metabolism quicker.

This is good for long term metabolic health.

Don’t get me wrong – I am not saying that zone 2 training is not good for you.

I am suggesting that most people do not have the time to waste a majority of their training on single goal / training intensity.

If eating allows you to hit a harder (e.g. more intense) workout, that will have greater impact metabolically and physiologically than a low-intensity fasted workout.

It is all give and take.

For example, a 205 lbs male performing 30 minutes of treadmill based zone 2 training will burn about 120 total calories. Of which roughly 70-90 of those calories will be from fat.

However, that same 205 lbs male performing 30 minutes of HIGH INTENSITY weight lifting + cardio can burn upwards of 350-450 calories in the half hour.

Furthermore, while the higher intensity workout not only burned 3-4x the amount of calories, he would also have burned more fat calories overall. About 100-115.

Therefore, if your goal is simply to burn fat, wouldn’t make sense to do the high intensity workout as well? You will burn more calories overall AND more fat calories.

As long as you are not eating extra, just your normal meal / snack before your workout, the caloric expenditure benefits favor the high intensity workout.

Is your goal simply to burn calories? In which case fasted cardio does not make as much sense.

Is your goal to get in a good workout? In which case fasted cardio does not make as much sense either.

Is your goal to accumulate 2 hours of zone 2 training while still lifting weights and performing high intensity interval training? If so, then perhaps performing the zone 2 training fasted will help yield better fat-calorie expenditure goals.

Everyone is different and has different goals.

For example, my wife cannot perform at any relative intensity to her potential when fasted. And when she exercises at a lower intensity, she burns less calories, no matter if she is fasted or not.

And don’t say she just has to get used to it – we have tried. It does not work. And she is not the only person in the world with that response.

As for me… I tend to workout fasted since I workout early in the morning. However, if I really want to maximize my workout intensity and performance, I know I perform best with a breakfast around 7:30am with my workout scheduled for 10:00 – 11:00 am.