Tip: Run on empty

If you're trying to use cardio-type exercise for fat loss, then the most sensible way to aid this process is to perform the exercise - let's say it's running - when your stomach is as close to empty as possible.

Think about it... when you exercise, your body first makes use of the energy that is immediately available to it - this is whatever is currently floating around in your stomach and digestive tract - before moving on to 'emergency' stores - your fat cells

You are trying to make your fat cells smaller, so having to first burn through a bunch of energy in your stomach means you'll be running for ages before you even tap into the reserve tank.

By running first thing in the morning, you circumvent this problem because there should be little or no energy available to your body except for whatever you have stored as fat. This means you get the fat-burning process going much quicker.

The perfect recipe:

Get out of bed, drink a glass of water and a cup of strong, black, unsweetened coffee and hit the road. The coffee wakes you up a bit and may stimulate the release of energy from fat cells.

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