Anonymous wrote:No, you don’t need to.
It’s actually better to exercise on an empty stomach. I never eat before a workout in the morning, as long as I’m done with my workout before 9. If I’m working out later in the morning, then I’ll have breakfast, as long as there is at least a 2 hr window from when I ate last
It's not better, it's just different. Maybe it is better if you want to lose weight, but not everyone exercising in the morning wants to do that.
My health improved dramatically when I started eating breakfast before running (5-7 miles). And my fastest, most enjoyable runs are when that breakfast is mostly comprised of simple sugars. I'm not an Olympian and running isn't my job so I don't routinely have chocolate chip cookies for breakfast because that's not very nutritious, but when I do, my time drops by at least 15 seconds/mile, sometimes more.
For some people (i.e., reproductive-aged women at a healthy weight), fasting before hard cardio can delay ovulation.