The Misuse of Fasted Training (When "Fat Burning" Becomes Disordered Eating)

Today's #TheWerk post is brought to you by Marni Sumbal (@trimarni). Marni is a Board Certified Sport Dietitian holding a Master of Science in exercise physiology. She is the owner of Trimarni Coaching and Nutrition, the author of 3 books, and a 20x IRONMAN finisher (six times at the IRONMAN World Championship). Marni lives in Greenville, SC with her husband Karel, 4 cats and her new canine companion, Sunny!

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The line separating fasted workouts from disordered eating can become blurry. Many athletes are drawn to fasted workouts but it's very easy to overuse/misuse fasted training as a way to manipulate body composition due to an unhealthy relationship with food and body.

While there are studies supporting the benefits of fasted training, what may start out as a genuine attempt to become more "metabolically efficient" can become a slippery slope that descends into disordered eating patterns. 

Although working out in a fasted state is not an eating disorder, it can be considered a form of disordered eating. Any type of rigid food rule about when you can eat may foster unhealthy behaviors around food and can stem from hyper-fixation on body composition.

In my professional opinion, I am not a fan of fasted training. While fasted training may increase fat oxidation rates, there's little to no evidence that working out on an empty stomach will enhance performance. Fasted workouts will increase the stress on the body in addition to the stress that is caused by life and training.

There are many other areas to focus your time and energy on that will bring you far better gains in performance and body composition.

Consistent training (with a fueled body) is an effective way to increase the capacity of fat oxidation. Through training, you generate more mitochondria, more enzymes, more transport proteins, better muscle blood supply and faster breakdown of triglycerides into fatty acids. The end result is a greater capacity to burn fat.

In other words: fasted training is not needed to become better at fat burning.

If you have not achieved at least 90% of your athletic potential through years of consistent training, healthy lifestyle habits, good restful sleep, proper recovery and optimizing mental health, you shouldn't be chasing the final 10%. The 90% are the real magic bullets that will help you optimize your health and performance.

Should you still wish to explore fasted training, here are some important tips to keep in mind:

For more information on nutrition, training, or if you've simply got questions, please feel free to contact Marni. Thank you!