More motivation to workout in the morning

I’m a morning exerciser, but when I start work early, it’s all too tempting to delay those workouts until lunchtime. There’s something totally luxurious about taking 45 minutes to run in the sun – knowing that your shower and kitchen is a 20-second walk from your desk when you get home. But deciding to skip breakfast meant reverting back to morning workouts as I wasn’t sure how much energy I’d have by 1pm. However lovely it is to move at lunchtime, I remembered how accomplished and switched on I felt from sweating first thing.

Normally after a morning run, I’d refuel with breakfast so that took a bit of time to get used to. By 9am, I’d be sitting at my desk with a mug of black coffee and my vitamins and know that I’d have to wait another four hours before eating something solid – not the most comfortable of feelings. But, I couldn’t deny that I felt totally switched on and alert, thanks to my morning workout.

Sustained energy before lunch

11am tends to be the first dip of the day but while fasting, I didn’t have any crashes. I only really became aware of the difference in energy and concentration in week three, when I had breakfast in anticipation of going on a long run one lunchtime.

To prepare, I had a good, carb-heavy breakfast of muesli, yoghurt and a piece of toast and then set to work for a few hours. For the first time in weeks, my mind was everywhere but my work – something that only got worse when my plans changed and I could no longer go on my run. Had I really been this all over the place before, when I used to eat this sort of breakfast as standard? I put it down to having an intense sugar surge and dip which is fine when you’re working hard but rubbish for rest days.

Fewer hunger pangs

You’d think that fasting would mean feeling more hungry, but actually, the reverse is true. Sometimes I’ve woken up feeling super hungry (the morning after a half marathon, for example), but the moment I start to move, the feeling goes away. I’m rarely hungry before lunch and if I am, I fill up on herbal teas or a warm turmeric milk (which isn’t strictly in the fasting rules but is a tasty anti-inflammatory).

The one thing I have noticed is that having breakfast at the weekends has become a lot harder. I often have to eat my porridge around 7am if I want to be out on the road by 9am and it’s in recent weeks, I’ve really had to force myself to eat at that time.

“I tried the 18:6 intermittent fast for a month – here’s why I loved it so much”