Continued from The Benefits of Coffee for Weight Loss.

The Fatty Acid Connection First and most importantly, more of the energy burned during moderate treadmill work in the fasted state comes from fat, compared to energy use after a meal.

Eating before getting on the treadmill caused the dietary sugars from breakfast to get shuttled into the working muscle and reduced the need for fatty acids.

Choosing to eat before getting on the treadmill is the metabolic equivalent of saying you want to preserve your fat stores and reduce the amount of sugar that can replenish your muscle glycogen stores after a night’s sleep.

While the total difference for each session isn’t an astounding amount (roughly 5 grams of fat), over time, this difference can easily result in the loss of an additional pound of stored body fat in three months with no additional work!

As tedious as cardio is and the absolute need to cut fat without affecting the ability to maintain muscle fullness and strength, it makes little sense for gym rats not to follow this simple plan if they are serious about their goals.

Another interesting point learned in the study was that the glycemic index of the meal made no appreciable difference.

It was assumed that the high glycemic meal would reduce fat calorie use by a greater degree compared to the low glycemic meal, but the effect was the same for both, even though more insulin was released after the high glycemic meal.

This suggests that once a threshold amount of insulin is released, fatty acid release is effectively shut down; making it important to emphasize that no creamer or sugar should be added to coffee if it’s consumed prior to the workout.

Granted, it’s easy to fall into the trap of hitting the snooze button or staying up all night playing the Xbox 360, but when you consider the benefits of an early morning jaunt on the treadmill, combined with the need for a good night’s sleep to avoid fat gain (a clear association has been established between not getting enough sleep and weight gain/fat gain), it makes for a strong argument for hitting the sack before any television show with the word “late” in its title comes on the air.

Our parents used to say, “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.” Perhaps for the “Iron generation” it should be, “Early to bed, early to rise, brings out the abs without losing size.”