Finding a healthy balance

Yes, you need to limit your caloric intake and exercise on an intensive level if you want to lose weight, but you have to achieve a perfect balance between the two if you want to remain healthy as well. So if you're looking for guidance on eating and exercising and knowing where to draw the line in both, here's what you need to know...

About exercising on an empty stomach

While it's ok if you're not a diabetic or have other medical ailments like high blood pressure and erratic blood sugar levels, you need to remember to keep it down to between 30 and 40 minutes of moderate or slightly intensive work outs. Early mornings are the best times of the day to exercise on an empty stomach as your body has energy reserves to last you for a while. It's not advisable to starve yourself for more than seven or eight hours and then exercise at the end of the day. If your body has no energy to fuel your workouts, it uses up your muscles, and this is not a good thing because muscles help boost your metabolism and assist in faster weight loss.

About working out with weights and eating

When you want to tone or build muscles, you need more protein in your diet. And you definitely need to eat well. Strength training or weight training takes up a lot of energy, and you need food to provide this energy. Bodybuilders eat many meals that are spaced throughout the day, focusing on protein, foods low in fat, and complex carbohydrates for their energy sources.