The journal Obesity recently published findings which state that early morning workouts, between 7 and 9 am, might actually help more with weight loss. 

Why is the morning the best time for working out?

Tongyu Ma, an assistant research professor at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and his team collected and used two years of data from the CDC national health and nutrition survey and found that if adults exercise before they take in calories, they’re more likely to shed pounds. The research also included the exercise, eating and lifestyle habits of more than 5,200 adults who were over age 20.

“My cautious suggestion from this study is that if we choose to exercise in the early morning, before we eat, we can potentially lose more weight compared to exercise at other times of the day,” said Ma.

The study concluded that people who engaged in moderate to vigorous exercise in the morning had lower body mass indexes (it is worth noting that most medical journals and professionals have moved away from the BMI as a way to gauge health) than people who exercised later in the day or into the evening. However Ma has stated that this could be due to a number of factors, only one of which is the time of day that people chose to exercise.

The researchers did determine that morning exercise could have a positive impact on those who are sedentary for most of the day, such as people with office jobs. However, it’s very important to keep in mind that this study was observational and not a clinical trial – and only a clinical trial can determine if morning exercise is best for weight loss.

Getting in the morning movement is great, and will have tons of health benefits. But remember to speak with your doctor regarding your daily caloric needs, as well as what kind of exercise will work best for you.