In a small study published online in the British Journal of Nutrition January earlier this year in January, British researchers from Northumbria University’s Brain, Performance and Nutrition Research Centre concluded that men who exercise in the morning do not consume additional calories or experience increased appetite during the day to compensate for their earlier activity on an empty stomach.

They also learned that those individuals who had exercised in a fasted state (i.e., after waking up after a night’s sleep) burned almost 20% more fat compared to those who had consumed breakfast before their workout.

For all those early birds who head off to the lido, pool, lakeside, or seashore, this means that swimming or performing dryland training on an empty stomach provides the most desirable outcome for fat loss.

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