Does the time of day you exercise affect fat burn??

I'm so confused. I just told my friend that I exercise (do cardio) every night from 11 to 12 pm, and he said, no, that's totally useless. If you want to lose fat, you need to exercise in the morning, not at night. He said at night I will just burn from what I ate that day. Huhh...

I just really want to lose weight, and I don't know whether or not to believe him, because after all this hard work, I still haven't lost anything for about a week or so.

Anyone know the answer to this question?

I think that your friend is right.  I used to work out later at night and didn't see much of a result.  If you get your body going in the morning, then go throughout the rest of your day, your heart rate has already been elevated for a period of time.  (I'm just stating this based on logic.)

Personally, I'm not a morning person, but I know that if I want to lose weight and inches, my best bet would be to wake up early. 

The other good thing is, you get it out of the way, and have the rest of your day feeling energized, even if you are a bit tender at first. 

i totaly disagree with doing it at night, i exercise at the same time as you, 10pm/11pm till 12 and ive been doing that since jan o8 and ive lost almost 5 stone.. i hope that helps... i feel it helps more exercising at night time as your body holds alittle more weight from what u have eaten and drank through out the day (temp weight) so your body works has to work harder so more calories burned i hope that helps :)... but i do think it helps you keep motivated doing it in the day..im just a night person

Original Post by amy_doll:

If you get your body going in the morning, then go throughout the rest of your day, your heart rate has already been elevated for a period of time.  (I'm just stating this based on logic.)

And if you workout at night, then go to sleep, your heartrate has already been elevated for a period of time (also logic). It's not like you die when you go to sleep. You're still burning calories.

The difference between doing a fasted workout and working out after eating is minimal, and is further offset if you don't have as much energy until you eat. So whether you workout in the morning before (or after) breakfast, or in the evening, you are still going to be burning calories.

Let's just pretend that if you exercise after eating, the calories come from the food in your belly (not what happens, but for the sake of argument). Then that's less food that's going to be turned into fat. If you workout before eating, you burn fat, but then you eat, and those calories go to replace the fat that you just burned. So you end up with the same amount of fat/fat loss.

Look, I'm not a morning person and I already wake up at 5:30 in the morning to get to work. There is no way in he** that I'm going to workout then. I workout before dinner, and lost weight just fine. I think the only valid argument against working out at night (and it varies by person) is if it keeps you from getting to sleep, because you are still reved up.

What's most important is doing it at a time that works for you, so that you actually DO it. If there is any difference to the timing of exercise, it is so minimal, that you are better off picking a time when it will actually happen, rather than thinking that you are wasting your time if you do it when you want.

I have no idea about what's involved scientifically or biologically but when I work out between 10am and noon I see more weight loss over time than if I work out after 7pm.  I started out doing my elliptical in the evening and was losing weight (2 pounds a week) but when I started doing my elliptical before noon, I saw faster weight loss (half a pound a day).  That is my experience.

Sure does and this is how:

The time of day you will actually do the workout and give it 100% is the time of day that it will burn the most fat.

There is no magic time, but if your sluggish in the AM and cannot ive 100% you wont get 100%. I so all my workouts at night, after dinner around PM. this goes for weights and cardio. If your not seeing results, chances are your underestimating the calories your taking in.

I lose more weight when I schedule my exercise for the morning rather than the evening because if I wait until evening I probably won't do it!

I say, do what you're willing to do, when you're willing to do it.  Calories burned are calories burned, and exercise is never a waste.  Everybody has to come up with a plan that works for them on this journey...

Observational P.S.:  Why are so many of the evening exercise advocates purple people?  purpleorchid, ultra_violet, amethystgirl...

Original Post by mad4moon:

I lose more weight when I schedule my exercise for the morning rather than the evening because if I wait until evening I probably won't do it!

I say, do what you're willing to do, when you're willing to do it.  Calories burned are calories burned, and exercise is never a waste.  Everybody has to come up with a plan that works for them on this journey...

Observational P.S.:  Why are so many of the evening exercise advocates purple people?  purpleorchid, ultra_violet, amethystgirl...

 i agree about what u said..just do what makes u happy and what is better for you, and i noticed that to about the purple lol..

if i exercised at 11 at night, i wouldn't be able to sleep, which would totally screw up my appetite, energy, and everything else. 

other than that, i doubt that there's any appreciable difference.

Yeah, your body works on calendar time, not clock time - the energy equation is the same no matter what the clock says.

 Baylward nails it, work out when you can push yourself. I do most of my workouts late in the evening since that's when I'm warmed up and feel efficient about it. Mornings I'm too foggy to push hard which makes it a good time to stagger out to the coffee pot but a bad time to plan workouts ;)

 One of my crazy friends jumps out of bed, chugs a protein shake, and runs a couple miles. I've never been able to wrap my head around the concept, but it seems to work for him.

Your friend doesn't know what he's talking about. Calories in vs. calories out from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed is what matters. I work out at night and have lost about 25lbs. that way. Like another poster said, when you exercise you don't use the food that you ate that day because that food has not been processed and stored as glycogen yet. when you work out your body uses it glycogen supply as energy. Then to get more energy, your body uses fat to turn it into more glycogen so that you can stay awake, etc. 

I've actually found that when I work out in the morning or earlier in the day, I can't control my eating AT ALL. It does jumps tart your metabolism for the day, but when I did it, I ended up feeling SOO incredibly hungry the rest of the day (I think because my metabolism was all revved up) and so I kept overeating every day and hardly lost any weight. Once I started jsut working out whenever is convenient for me is when I started to see a loss.

So basically, work out whenever is convenient for you and if that means working out at 11pm, then do it.

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I will just continue to work out at night, and be patient and see if I lose in a bit.

Your friend is clearly a morning person who doesn't understand that not everybody is.  The earliest I start my regular workouts is 7pm - and I've been known to start as late as 10pm.  Sure, I go for the occasional afternoon hike or bike ride, but formal exercise is relegated to the evenings because that's when it fits into my schedule and that's when I'll work hardest at it.  This has worked fine for me, and I see no reason it wouldn't work fine for you.

Just to add another nail into the coffin :) of the fact of "Do whatever works for you."

I go to gym at about 4ish and it absolutly works for me, its my break from the day, feel alive and pumped and then I still have time to settle before I eat. Then when I do eat I feel completely full and happy and don't crave anything after. 'They' say you should wait an hr after exercising before you eat.

What I also feel is that with exercising is that you are building up muscle, even if that is not what you are going for but you are toning your current muscles and THATS what burns caloroies long after you've exercised.

So as long as your getting those muscles going I believe it doesn't matter when.

But I have heard about the morning rule : Morning is cardio and Evening is strength training.

It honestly doesn't make any real difference what time of day you exercise as long as you do it! I wouldn't choose to exercise that late at night (I like to exercise in the late afternoon when it cools off outside), but if that's when you can fit it into your schedule and you enjoy it, go right ahead.

I think that working out in the morning get's your metabolism working faster  and better than if you did not workout.  It will continue to work better throughout the day.  This will help with burning calories.

I've been avoiding working out at night because of what "they" said - morning is best.  I'm definitely not a morning person, and morning workouts are usually half-hearted, at best.

It's good to know that "they" are not always right - I'll be working out at night now!

I guess I could just repeat what's been said, but I won't. Amethystgirl explained quite well, I think. So yeah, whatever works, it's certainly never "useless." Personally, I can't workout to late, cause I'm revved up and can't fall asleep, so I like to do morning workouts.

Original Post by loudflower:

I've been avoiding working out at night because of what "they" said - morning is best.  I'm definitely not a morning person, and morning workouts are usually half-hearted, at best.

It's good to know that "they" are not always right - I'll be working out at night now!

 People who workout in the mornings are weird . I can do just about anything better at night.

If you want to burn more fat you could add some strength training in to your routine? 

I'm a huge advocate of go when you can and when you'll be able to push yourself, but I don't think that you burn more fat specifically in the morning vs in the evening. Plus, even if you work out in the morning its a good idea to have something to eat (a small snack). 

whatever time of day i have the most energy that is when i work out, and that is usually after a nap and then a snack, lol.