Morning is my preferred workout time, and I do it almost every day. I used to eat something before my morning workout (most commonly 1/2 banana with a little almond butter or peanut butter). I was hungry for that small pre-workout snack and felt that I needed it.
Then I heard about the benefits of a fasted workout for burning fat. Because you have been fasting for many hours, your body is more likely to get into fat burning mode on that morning workout. [Note, this is not recommended for workouts over 1.5 hours or particularly intense workouts]. So, I decided to try it out.
After awhile (and I forget the time frame) of not eating pre-workout, I was no longer hungry in the mornings – at all. I really didn’t want to eat anything.
I am back to eating pre-workout and now am hungry again when I wake up. This is amazing to me how we can train our bodies to be hungry. It isn’t real hunger that builds over time and that I truly feel in my stomach. This is habit hunger. And it’s strength is amazing to me.
Personally, I am actually going to stick with the pre-workout snack for now. I feel, whether true or not, that for me, it helps to get my metabolism going so that I am more hungry later in the day. I have a phenomenally slow metabolism, and I actually feel that this hunger later in the day helps to control my eating, so I ultimately think it leads to better eating and less of it. This seems counter-intuitive and is complicated. It is mixed with emotional eating issues, more habit issues, and my own body and its metabolism. We are all different, and I am trying to work on trusting that instinct more and more and honoring my uniqueness.