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Proponents of training in a fasted (or carbohydrate-depleted state) claim that exercising when your body's glycogen stores are low (or depleted), will improve fat metabolism. Teaching the body to rely on the massive energy supply that fat provides as a fuel source is often referred to as "metablic efficiency" or "fat adapted." These sexy terms are frequently used among endurance athletes and can be intriguing when associated with phrases like;
Burn more fat.
Minimize the risk of bonking.
Reduced relience on sport nutrition (ex. exogenous fuel sources) during training.
Minimize the incidence of GI issues.
Body composition changes.
Steady energy.
Sparing glycogen.
It's understandable how the above claims of fasted training can be appealing to endurance athletes. But with much of the available literature studying the effects of fasted workouts and carbohydrate-restricted diets concluding that there is no correlation with enhanced performances in endurance athletes and exercising in the fed versus fasted state shows no difference in body weight/composition changes, why are so many athletes easily persuaded to intentional restrict carbohydrates before workouts?
While being a better fat burning is enticing for the endurance athlete who is seeking a performance boost, many athletes are primarily drawn to fasted workouts for the reasons of weight loss and/or body composition changes. Because fasted workouts are a frequent practice among endurance athletes, I have talked about this misued and misinformed nutritional strategy at nauseum for over a decade.
But it would be wrong of me to deprive all athletes of this nutritional intervention so I came up with a list of 38 "nail the basics" lifestyle, training and nutrition strategies that will yield much bigger improvements in fitness, performance, body composition and health than restricting carbohydrates and intentionally 'not eating' before your workouts.
And if this doesn't encourage you to nix the fasted workouts, I encourage you to check in with yourself about why you are fasting or restricting carbohydrates. For some athletes, the act of food restriction can bring on a sense of achievement, pride or self-control, having nothing to do with health and performance. This can be very harmful to your mental and physical well-being.
The original intent of becoming more health-conscious or wanting to improve performance can easily transition into something more severe, such as as a way to severely restrict calories, as an excuse to skip meals, feeling deeply afraid of gaining weight, having feelings of guilt when eating carbohydrates or intense fear of being fat. If you feel your effort for improved performance or healthy eating has gone too far and you are sabotaging your physical and mental health and development as an athlete, I encourage you to find a dietitian or who specializes in eating disorders to help you learn how to better fuel and nourish your body.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242477/
https://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/blog/is-intermittent-fasting-actually-a-symptom-of-an-eating-disorder
https://runningmagazine.ca/health-nutrition/new-study-says-fasted-workouts-dont-improve-endurance-performance/
https://jissn.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12970-021-00435-3#Sec12
https://www.mysportscience.com/post/2015/04/02/fat-burning-how-does-it-work