The Best Time to Exercise, Eat Your Meals, and More
Source: The Best Time to Exercise, Eat Your Meals, and More
Between work, friends, family, and social commitments, we're lucky if we can manage to get enough sleep, eat balanced meals, and squeeze in enough time for exercise. But did you know that there's a right time to do some of these things? And by right, I mean that there's actually an optimal time to eat, exercise, go grocery shopping, and more to benefit our overall well-being? Get your pencils and pads of paper ready because you may be shocked at some of these results!
The best time to eat breakfast, lunch and dinner: You should always eat breakfast within an hour of waking up. About 4.5 hours after that, you should have lunch, and a couple hours after that, dinner. If you delay these times, you're going to be hungry, and the hungrier you are, the more likely you are going to cheat and eat fatty junk food. According to Dr. Oz, the big rule of thumb is that you need to have dinner more than three hours before you go to bed, so that you aren't going to bed with a full stomach.
More From FitSugar: The Best Exercises For When You're Not Feeling It
Best time to weigh yourself: Weighing yourself first thing in the morning will provide you with the most accurate read on your weight since it's after you go to the bathroom, when you aren't wearing much clothing, and before you eat breakfast.
Best time of the day to go grocery shopping: Heading to the grocery store at 10 a.m. is the best time because you are still full from breakfast, but there's been an hour or two since you first woke up, so your blood sugar levels are at a stable point. If you go grocery shopping when you are hungry, your blood sugar levels are low, which impairs your judgement and therefore, you'll be more inclined to buy unhealthy sugary or fattening treats.
Best time of day to workout: Morning! A new study found that subjects who were put on a high-fat diet and worked out before breakfast gained no weight after six weeks, while those who worked out after breakfast gained three pounds. When you exercise in the morning - cardio and strength training is key - you kick-start your metabolism, which will help you burn more calories throughout your day.
Best time of the day to visit the doctor's office: If you need to go to the doc's, it's best to schedule your appointment first thing in the morning. Not only will this decrease your waiting room time since you'll secure the first appointment of the day, but it also means you won't be overly hungry if you needed to fast before a morning lab test.
Best time to boost your metabolism: The best time to rev up your metabolism is at 8 a.m. At this time, you'll be getting up, weighing, yourself, and hopefully exercising, which is when your metabolism is the slowest and needs a nice boost. It's also wise to have a glass of cold water. Cold water will fill up your stomach, and you'll burn calories to warm the water up.
Best time to cheat on a diet: Talk about saving the best one for last! If you want to sneak in one or two of your favorite foods on a particular day, there's actually a time when you can enjoy them and get away with it. The best time to eat fats is at 10 a.m because fat acts as a source of energy, so have your fats in the morning so you can burn them off all day. For carbs, 1 p.m is the best time to indulge since they increase your level of serotonin and will prevent snacking throughout the rest of the day - yay for pizza for lunch. Sugar intake is 2 p.m since this will give you instant energy during your midafternoon slump, and 5 p.m is the best time for an alcoholic beverage since in small doses it can act as a stimulant, but in high doses it's a depressant, so at 5, this will give your body lots of time to metabolize it by bedtime. Three cheers for happy hour!
Related Content:
10 Workout Secrets (From Experts Who Learned the Hard Way!)
It Adds Up: How to Shave Calories at Each Meal
Our Eating Habits, or How We Lie About Them
Follow FitSugar on Twitter
Become a Fan of FitSugar on Facebook
