Does Fasted Cardio Really Help Lose Weight?
To lose weight you have to burn more calories than you consume. There is mixed research on whether fasted cardio actually helps lose fat.
A study was done, it involved 20 young females that were split into two groups. One of the groups was instructed to do fasted cardio for 1 hour 3 days per week for four weeks and the other group was instructed to do non fasted cardio for the same period. Both groups also followed the same diet plan.
At the end there was no difference in weight loss or body composition between the two groups.
However, there is still some research that supports fasted cardio as a more effective way to lose fat and burn calories.
A 2016 review that was published in the British Journal of Nutrition [1] recorded that “aerobic exercise done in a fasted state burns more calories than exercise done after eating”.
Further review on the research said that, although fasted cardio does burn more calories than non-fasted cardio, the difference between the two isn’t much.
Calories can also be burned with exercise. Research has shown that 15% of calories burned in a day is as a result of non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) [2]. These are activities that aren’t exercise, eating or sleeping.
In general, all you need to do to lose weight is increase your daily activities whether fasted or not. More importantly you should also create a diet plan to fit.
Constant daily activities like walking, climbing stairs, getting up from your desk regularly, and regular skipping is a more effective approach to weight loss than a 1 hour session of fasted cardio.