Should You Exercise While Fasting?
A healthy lifestyle must include regular exercise. According to MedlinePlus, regular exercise may help you maintain a healthy weight, lower your chance of developing diabetes and heart disease, and build your muscles and bones.
However, there are situations when you would wish to proceed with exercise caution. One of those situations is fasting, which is the practice of going without food and liquids for a predetermined period of time.
Is It Safe to Work Out if You’re Fasting?
Generally speaking, exercising while fasting is acceptable, particularly if you are already in generally good health, according to William Dixon, MD, an emergency care doctor and clinical assistant professor at Stanford University in California.
Certain populations should be guarded, though.
The main categories that require caution include individuals with coronary artery disease (a condition in which the arteries have difficulty delivering blood, oxygen, and nutrients to the heart), as well as those who take medicine for diabetes and high blood pressure.
Dr. Dixon, the co-founder of the Signos app for continuous glucose monitoring, advises people with coronary artery disease to exercise carefully in general and to avoid overdoing it. These people should closely monitor the intensity of their exercise since they are more prone to cardiac problems when their heart rate increases. Fasting increases the perceived difficulty of physical exercise, which increases the risk of problems for those with these illnesses compared to those who are not fasting.
Those with type 1 or type 2 diabetes who use insulin or take drugs to reduce blood sugar levels run the risk of having their blood sugar go dangerously low if they go for extended periods of time without eating.
According to the American Diabetes Association, this is known as hypoglycemia, and symptoms include trembling, sweating, confusion, a rapid heartbeat, nausea, and headaches (ADA). According to Dixon, exercising while fasting may cause or exacerbate hypoglycemia in diabetics.
However, no matter how hard they work out, those who take blood pressure medications like beta-blockers may find it difficult to increase their heart rate. Dixon observes that these people "might be more prone to feeling lightheaded, especially if they're not drinking enough water."
It's crucial to discuss with your doctor if it's healthy for you to exercise while fasting (for either dietary or religious reasons) if you have one of these diseases.
Additionally, it's crucial to remember that low-intensity, brief workouts are preferable to longer, high-intensity workouts for anyone who plans to exercise while fasting.
According to Matthew Accetta, CSCS, an exercise physiologist with the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City, you can use the rating of perceived exertion (RPE) scale to determine your intensity.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the RPE scale ranges from 0 to 10, with 0 representing the amount of effort required to simply sit in a chair (none) and 10 being the amount of work required to complete an exercise stress test or another strenuous activity (extremely heavy). When fasting, Accetta advises aiming for an effort level of 4 (fairly heavy) or lower. Walking, cycling, swimming, yoga, and Pilates are all excellent choices.
While fasting, exercising in the heat or the cold is acceptable, but safety precautions should be followed, advises Accetta. Be careful to fuel your body correctly before commencing the fast and limit your intensity (remember, go no higher than a 4 on the RPE scale) (again, go no higher than a 4 on the RPE scale).
Additionally, Dixon advises staying well hydrated and getting plenty of sleep. Both of those are crucial for healthy exercise and recovery, especially during periods of extreme heat and cold.
Once the fast is over, Accetta advises eating a well-balanced diet.
Your daily food intake should include complete proteins like meat, eggs, and milk, or quinoa, chia seeds, and soy if you follow a plant-based diet, along with fruits, vegetables, and carbohydrates. Carbs should make up about 40 to 60 percent of your overall calorie intake, protein should account for 20 to 30 percent, and healthy fats (such as avocado, fatty fish, nut butters) should account for the remaining 10 to 15 percent.
You can get advice from a licensed dietician if you're not sure where to begin.
Does the Type of Fasting Affect Whether It’s Safe to Exercise?
Fasts can last anywhere from a few hours to several weeks.
According to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, eating and drinking are only permitted during predetermined hours (dusk to dawn) during spiritual fasting rituals like Ramadan, a holy month in the Islamic religion.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, some eating habits, like intermittent fasting, are used for weight loss or health benefits.
Exercise and several of these fasting styles might not go along. Exercise is dangerous during certain types of fasting, including those lasting 24 hours or more, those where you're reducing calories and nutrients (like a juice cleanse), and those where you're not drinking any water.
According to Accetta, "the body hasn't had a chance to ingest new nutrients and replenish its stores." At this time, your body is operating on fumes. Not only will exercising be difficult, but it can also raise your risk of dizziness, fainting, nausea, and headache.
According to Accetta, exercising with intermittent fasting is generally harmless. Some people decide to just eat once, for six to eight hours each day, and fast for the other sixteen (plus or less) hours of the day. According to Johns Hopkins, some people would rather eat normally five days a week and only consume one meal of 500 to 600 calories on the other two days.
If you get permission from the doctor administering the treatment, it's usually okay to exercise before a medical procedure, according to Accetta.
Tips for Exercise While Fasting
Even with safety precautions, working out while fasting can be dangerous. Before working out and fasting at the same time, Dixon advises speaking with your doctor if you're taking any drugs, have one of the illnesses listed above, or have another health problem that could affect your ability to safely exercise (or safely fast).
Follow these guidelines for a safer, not to mention more relaxing, experience if you want to exercise while you're fasting.
Watch your level of zeal. Stick to lower-intensity workouts while fasting to save energy for the rest of the day, particularly if you're exercising at the start or middle of your fast, advises Accetta. Aim for an intensity of no more than a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 representing rest and 10 being full effort. However, if the workout is brief, you can probably increase your intensity. “If you only have 20 minutes to exercise, you can certainly do a higher-intensity workout and get equal benefits as a longer, lower-intensity activity,” Dixon adds.
Keep it short. Long-term low-intensity exercise can lead to higher-intensity workouts. This means that even a low-intensity three-hour stroll may not be a smart choice while fasting. When exercising while fasting, keep your workouts to the shorter of your usual workout sessions of 30 or an hour.
Stay hydrated. While fasting, make sure to drink lots of water and monitor the color of your urine to determine your level of hydration: "The darker the color of your urine, the more dehydrated you are," advises Accetta. He continues by advising drinking at least eight glasses of water daily.
Exercise at the beginning. If your schedule allows, attempt to work out toward the beginning of your fast. According to Mary Wirtz, RD, CSSD, a board-certified sports dietitian located in Colorado Springs, as long as you've recently eaten, your body still has plenty of resources stored to fuel the workout. In contrast to trying to exercise at the end of your fast when your body is nutrient-depleted, this may make exercise more tolerable.
Recognize when your body is warning you that you are doing too much. Pay heed to your body's signals and stop working out if you experience nausea, dizziness, or a headache, advises Wirtz. Perhaps you should replenish with a quick snack.
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