According to a recent study detailed in the New York Times, researchers in Belgium found that those who exercise before eating breakfast, even if they absolutely gorged on food later in the day, ultimately reaped the most health benefits from their time working out.
Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”
This is admittedly a small, somewhat odd study, but seems to fit with most people’s holiday-time eating patterns, aka throwing caution to the wind and eating until we’re rummaging for that one pair of pants in the back drawer with an elastic waistband. Regardless, the broader implication seems to confirm that exercising in the morning does really boost your metabolism throughout the rest of the day, and help your body to efficiently burn fat and calories until nighttime.
Ultimately, this is just one more reason to jog in the mornings in Shanghai. You’re avoiding traffic and crowds, and can eat an extra basket of delicious xiaolongbao or two without any pangs of guilt.
For travelers to Shanghai, waking up early is just sort of a given thanks to jetlag, and most find themselves wandering around a hotel room at 4:30 a.m. wondering what to do. To make the most of your time in Shanghai, that is the perfect time to take an early morning jog through Shanghai’s sights. UnTour Shanghai‘s Run This Town tour starts early, run through the parks and best landmarks, and then end with a typical Shanghainese breakfast treat (or two). Waking up early never sounded so good.
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