Should You Walk Before or After Eating?
Walking before a meal can help you burn fat while walking after a meal can help with weight loss and blood sugar management
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Walking on a consistent basis is good for your health and well-being. Not only can it affect your sleep quality and boost your heart health, but it also can improve your mood and increase longevity. It can even lower your risk of heart disease and lower blood pressure. Some research suggests that the timing of your walks—such as before or after meals—can impact how the activity affects your health.
Researchers have found that if you walk on an empty stomach, you are more likely to burn fat and boost your metabolism. Walking right after you eat may be more useful in losing weight, improving digestion, and managing blood sugar.
Is It Better To Walk Before or After Meals?
Whether you walk before or after you eat depends on your goals and preferences. Both have benefits, including helping with weight loss and blood sugar control.
Walking before a meal can help burn stored fat and promote weight loss. Walking after eating may help you lose more weight, regulate blood sugar levels, and help with digestion.
The key is to talk with a healthcare provider about your unique needs to determine which approach is right for you. Your underlying health conditions and specific goals will help determine whether you should walk before or after eating.
Benefits of Walking Before
When you walk on an empty stomach first thing in the morning or three to four hours after eating, it can boost your metabolism and help your body burn fat instead of any recently consumed calories. It also can help you lose weight.
One study found that people who exercised on an empty stomach burned about 70% more fat than those who exercised two hours after eating.
Walking before you eat can also:
- Boost your energy levels for the day
- Increase your metabolism
- Improve your blood circulation
- Reduce lipids in your blood
- Manage blood sugar
Benefits of Walking After
Walking after you eat can also be beneficial. It can improve your digestion, help you manage blood sugar, and promote weight loss.
Improves Digestion
Research has found that walking after a meal speeds up digestion and can reduce bloating.
In fact, researchers found that for people who had a history of gas, bloating, and belching, walking for 10-15 minutes after every meal helped reduce their symptoms.
Helps Manage Blood Sugar
Perhaps the biggest benefit of walking after eating is the impact it can have on your blood sugar. Whether you want to prevent diabetes or have already been diagnosed with the condition, walking after eating can help manage your blood sugar.
Multiple studies have found that walking after eating burns glucose and lowers blood sugar levels. Even just walking for two to five minutes can be helpful.
Promotes Weight Loss
Walking consistently helps promote weight loss regardless of when you do it. However, one older study found that walking at a brisk pace for 30 minutes as soon as possible after eating a meal leads to more weight loss than walking one hour after a meal. Another study found similar results.
How Long Before or After Meals Should You Walk?
The timing of your walks will depend on your goals. If you are planning to walk before you eat, make sure it has been three or four hours since your last meal or that it is first thing in the morning after fasting all night. This way, your body will burn fat for fuel instead of the calories you just consumed.
If your plan is to walk after your meals, you need to do so as soon as you can, especially if you are hoping to stabilize blood sugar levels or boost your weight loss efforts. For instance, glucose increases to its maximum 30-60 minutes after a meal. So you need to get your walk started before your glucose level reaches that level in order to regulate blood sugar.
Additionally, you will lose more weight if you plan your walk within that 30-minute window right after eating.
Research has found that a brisk walk for 30 minutes right after lunch and dinner leads to more weight loss than walking one hour or more after a meal.
Tips For Walking For Digestion
Walking consistently, regardless of the time of day, is good for your health and well-being. Not only can it promote sleep and boost heart health, but it can also improve your mood and increase longevity.
If you are walking specifically to impact your digestion, there are a few things to consider:
- Consider the timing: If you plan to walk after you eat, exercise as soon as possible after your meal, especially if you want to manage or reduce blood sugar.
- Think about what you eat: If you plan to walk before you eat, pay attention to your food choices afterward. Research has found that people may make less nutritious choices if they eat after exercise because they consider it a reward or they had a negative experience walking. You also do not have to eat right away. Research has shown that you have up to four hours after exercise to eat without affecting your glycogen stores.
- Do what you can: If you are not up for a 30-minute walk after eating, especially if you are new to walking, then walk for as long as you can. Research has found that walking as few as two to five minutes can be good for you.
- Avoid high-intensity or rigorous exercise: Walking is preferred over high-intensity exercise after eating due to its impact on the gut. Studies have shown that people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) fare better with walking because high-intensity exercise can make symptoms worse. The same is true for people with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
- Pay attention to your overall steps: If you are walking to prevent diabetes or manage type 2 diabetes, set a goal of 10,000 steps a day if you can. While it is important to walk before or after meals to regulate blood sugar, having higher overall daily step counts makes this goal easier to attain.
A Quick Review
Walking before or after eating is good for you. Walking before you eat helps you burn fat and lose weight, while walking after you eat may promote greater weight loss as well as blood sugar control.
No matter which approach you choose, walking daily can be beneficial to your overall health and well-being, especially if you aim for higher step counts. Just be sure to talk to a healthcare provider before starting a walking regimen—especially if you are a beginner.
This story originally appeared on: Health News - Author:Sherri Gordon
