Ok, I'm finally getting my butt into a self created exercise program. I am going walking/jogging three times a week and working out on my home jym three times a week. I have tried to do the work outs just after I wake up. But I really have no energy at that time. My goal is to get out of my current shape (round) and into better shape (oval).

What is the best time to work out? Wake up? Before lunch? After lunch? After dinner?

Try forcing yourself for a few mornings. Hardest part is getting out of bed and down there. Do that on autopilot, and the rest will take care of itself.

The best time to workout is the time you workout.

If your body is telling you mornings are not good, listen to it.

I run after work during the week.  Getting out the door on weekends to run is like pulling teeth.  I am not a morning workout person.  It sounds like you are the same.

Morning is the best time to do it because you burn more stored fat.  If you eat something before working out on the gym you will have more energy.  But I like to run before eating.

I always like working out in the evenings around 6 or  7.  This way I get in a good workout and still have time to wind down before I go to bed.

I really dont buy into that whole thing of running in mourning on a empty stomach thing and burning fat. The formula is quite simple, if you burn more calories in a day or week than you comsume you will lose weight. If you consume more calories in a day or week than you burn off you will gain weight. But doing you exercise in the mourning has been shown to elevate you metabolism thoughout the day.

You excercise when it feels best for you. Heck I used to run at midnight thats when it felt good for me.  Of course I was working midnights at the time. Now that I work day shift I often run in the mourning but I get the best workout in the late afternoon.

I changed my sleep patterns to adjust to an early morning workout routine.  Go to bed by 10pm, preferably by 9pm and wake up at 6am, preferably 5am.  Do 30 minutes of high intensity cardio and eat a diet high in lean protein (fish, chicken), heavy in vegatables and whole grains.  Drink 1-1.5 gallons of water a day and you'll see the weight melt off.

The other thing is when I walk/jog or work out in the morning, I'm not hungry until 10am or so. That kind of throws my who eating routine off.

Running on an empty stomach means you're burning muscle for fuel instead of food/fat.  If you're going to run in the morning, do it after breakfast.

Assuming you are on a first shift schedule, I think doing your jogging in the morning (after breakfast) and your workouts in the evening would be best.  Remember to eat healthy and small, but frequent, meals.

Being that I have to be at work at 6am, I already get up pretty early as it is.  I'm not getting up before 4am so I can do a little cardio, so I just do about 30 minutes of cardio after my workout in the evening.  If you do that, it may be a good idea to squeeze in a protein shake between the two.

Wife meets me at the gym 3 days a week after we both get off of work.

I've done mornings before, and once I get into it I'm ok, but evenings work better for my bride.

Gotta do what works best for you.

I am out the door to run every morning the second my feet hit the floor. If I don't do it then it doesn't get done. I originally started out walking because I was quiet overweight and over the course of a month or so have worked up to running six miles five days a week. Have a cup of water and a protein drink before you go. I also still walk two or three evenings a week with a couple of friends and that will sometimes turn a bit competitive so it is not unusual for us to run a couple, maybe three miles depending on the heat (gotta love Oklahoma summers).

Best advice I can give is be careful of shin splints. If you start out slow, they shouldn't be a problem. AND HAVE FUN!!

I just saw report on cnn i believe about the best times for doing anything in relation to the daily human body schedule.  It said between 5-6 pm for cardio leaving at least 3 hrs between the end of the workout and bed time so you can sleep easier and better.

www.realsimple.com/realsimple/content/0,21770,697461,00.html

There is truly no best time to do it. It should be done whenever you feel energetic and are into it so you will have the most energy and desire to push yourself and have a good workout.

For me its 4:00pm at the moment. I did it in the mornings for awhile but didnt like it.

We all have different biological clocks.  

A good hard cardio routine is just plain hard to do.  Listen to your body, and do it when you know you can give it your maximum effort.

I go after work and before dinner 3 times a week. Weekends usually after breakfast and if I feel up to it.

Wow. I just completed my work out and my ass is whooped!

I can't imagine doing this before my day starts.

I'm a late morning (9am or so) kinda gal (but I am home 5 days a week, so it's easy for me to do it then). If you can do it in the AM, it jump starts your metabolism. After my workout I make a smoothie (since I don't eat in the AM either) of OJ, berries, bananas and vanilla low-fat yogurt (filling and is a good after-workout combo.)

I prefer to do some cardio (6-10 mins) to limber up, then weight lift (larger muscle groups first) then 30 minutes on the treadmill at 4.0 MPH on a 6" incline.

This has been a steady routine for me for 4 years.  

I got rid of extra weight this way, and will add cardio workouts when the scale creeps up.

Crossfit

Quoted: I'm a late morning (9am or so) kinda gal (but I am home 5 days a week, so it's easy for me to do it then). If you can do it in the AM, it jump starts your metabolism. After my workout I make a smoothie (since I don't eat in the AM either) of OJ, berries, bananas and vanilla low-fat yogurt (filling and is a good after-workout combo.) I prefer to do some cardio (6-10 mins) to limber up, then weight lift (larger muscle groups first) then 30 minutes on the treadmill at 4.0 MPH on a 6" incline. This has been a steady routine for me for 4 years.   I got rid of extra weight this way, and will add cardio workouts when the scale creeps up.

I took my 30s off. Now, I'm paying for it.

Quoted: Ok, I'm finally getting my butt into a self created exercise program. I am going walking/jogging three times a week and working out on my home jym three times a week. I have tried to do the work outs just after I wake up. But I really have no energy at that time. My goal is to get out of my current shape (round) and into better shape (oval). What is the best time to work out? Wake up? Before lunch? After lunch? After dinner?

That's because you've essentially just been fasting for the past 10 hours or so. You have nearly zero glucose in your muscles for the muscle cells to use. Eat 300-400 calories immediately upon waking up.

The best time is when you're most likely going to actually work out.
Don't pick a time period where you find your self skipping workouts more often than not.
If that's what happens, try a different time.
Don't pay attention to all the science mumbo-jumbo about morning is better or vice versa.
Just a time when you WANT to work out.

I do my workouts after work, between 4:30 pm - 6:30 pm.  I just don't like getting up early.

Quoted: Running on an empty stomach means you're burning muscle for fuel instead of food/fat.  If you're going to run in the morning, do it after breakfast. Assuming you are on a first shift schedule, I think doing your jogging in the morning (after breakfast) and your workouts in the evening would be best.  Remember to eat healthy and small, but frequent, meals. Being that I have to be at work at 6am, I already get up pretty early as it is.  I'm not getting up before 4am so I can do a little cardio, so I just do about 30 minutes of cardio after my workout in the evening.  If you do that, it may be a good idea to squeeze in a protein shake between the two.

Running on full stomach is a recipe for abdominal cramping.  If one eats properly, the actual glycogen stores in the muscles & liver should contain ~1500 kcal - enough for a jog/healthy run.  Anything in the stomach will require significantly more time to digest & metabolize than any time spent on the road.  The method should be to have the calorie stores already available for use.  That means eating far enough ahead of time.  Eating right before a run isn't that time, although liquids are fine because they process quickly.

I workout at 2:00.  I take a short lunch and my schedule can be flexible.  That's when I have the most energy, middle of the day a couple hours after eating.

Quoted: Ok, I'm finally getting my butt into a self created exercise program. I am going walking/jogging three times a week and working out on my home jym three times a week. I have tried to do the work outs just after I wake up. But I really have no energy at that time. My goal is to get out of my current shape (round) and into better shape (oval). What is the best time to work out? Wake up? Before lunch? After lunch? After dinner?

I like to work out 60-90 minutes after I eat a protein-rich meal.  Other times I don't seem to have the energy.

Also, you should continue burning fat so long as you don't expend your oxygen saturation in the blood stream.Once you exceed your ability to provide oxygen to your body it burns glucose in the absence of oxygen and the byproduct of that is lactic acid!

If you are too tired to work out it's possible that either you're not getting enough calories overall or not enough sleep or both(or working out too much).It's hard to eat 3600 calories (good food) without felli8ng stuffed.The only way to do this is to break your meals down into about 6 meals a day .Eating this way not only speeds up the metabolism by providing more calories but also everytime you initiate the digestive process you boost your metabolism.This also balances out the hormones like insulin and cortisol (more benefits if you care to know).
Also note that dehydration can make you tired and can cause food cravings.

And lactic acid equals = sore as hell for two days.


And btw 3600 is just way too many cals in a day, you will be a friggen meathead taking in that much.

Lactic acid breaks down muscle tissue and can cause injuries due to tight muscles.3600 calories is perfect depending on what you are doing.The best way to burn fat is to build muscle.If you hit a plateu and your work outs are weak and can't make any gains then you either try more sleep more food or less work out.I'm 5'9" 165 lbs, I can maintain my weight on 2000 to 2400 calories a day . To build muscle you have to provide the raw material as well as the fuel , it doesn't come out of the air.Maintain vs build.

Both.

Weights in the morning, cardio in the afternoon.

When I was a fitness trainer and worked out all the time some days I worked out in the morning and some in the afternoon, I was never a night workout person, like 5 or later. Now since I work a 8-4 job I work out when I get home at 4:30 and it has been working pretty good. I do 20-30mins on my elliptical, then lift weights for about 30-45, do a lil stretching and yoga, then I usually take my dog for a walk. I just started working out again and am easing into it. It sucks but I just keep doing it even though I don't feel like it and I always feel better after and it gets easier the next day.

But I would say do what feels best for your body, but it is also good to switch it up to trick your body. And if you do weights mix up your sets and do different cardio if you can, bike vs treadmill, etc. I wish I could get up before work and at least do my elliptical for 20 minutes, I keep trying so maybe one of these days when the alarm goes off I will just get up. Good luck!

Quoted: Lactic acid breaks down muscle tissue and can cause injuries due to tight muscles.3600 calories is perfect depending on what you are doing.The best way to burn fat is to build muscle.If you hit a plateu and your work outs are weak and can't make any gains then you either try more sleep more food or less work out.I'm 5'9" 165 lbs, I can maintain my weight on 2000 to 2400 calories a day . To build muscle you have to provide the raw material as well as the fuel , it doesn't come out of the air.Maintain vs build.

You do what you do then.

3600 is insane.

Again that's entering into the meathead  zone.

I guess your work out depends on your goals,body type , age.I'm 37 and I've had a few off and on periods .Two years off is about all I can take. My last off period was brought about by the birth of my last son who caused my work out room to be turned into a nursery and more hours at work with less sleep .When I get started back I just start out slow with mostly just the weight routine then after a couple of weeks I start adding more weight and then start introducing some cardio.I don't start adding calories until my bodyfat comes down or I start hitting plateu's.3600 calories a day is not a suggestion for a maintanance diet for a beginer.Also as I said before this is in 6 smaller meals through out the day.This keeps insulin levels down (thats what makes you store fat!) and it keeps your blood sugar levels from having any low spots(this keeps cortisol levels low!).Not getting enough calories increases cortisol.Decrease calories 50% and cortisol goes up 38%.Cortisol breaks down muscle to provide fuel for the body wether you are a fat ass or not.cortisol also causes insulin resistance.high insulin levels make you store fat.(THATS INSULINS OTHER JOB).You can lso get enough calories during the day but go too long between meals.that means your sugar gets low and cortisol goes up . Then you eat your big meal and trigger an insulin response by eating too much and the insulin makes you store everything. Also remember that if you reduce calories to try to lose weight your metabolism just slows down to compensate and you go into catabolism.
-good luck and stay out of the MEATHEAD ZONE...

Quoted: I guess your work out depends on your goals,body type , age.I'm 37 and I've had a few off and on periods .Two years off is about all I can take. My last off period was brought about by the birth of my last son who caused my work out room to be turned into a nursery and more hours at work with less sleep .When I get started back I just start out slow with mostly just the weight routine then after a couple of weeks I start adding more weight and then start introducing some cardio.I don't start adding calories until my bodyfat comes down or I start hitting plateu's.3600 calories a day is not a suggestion for a maintanance diet for a beginer.Also as I said before this is in 6 smaller meals through out the day.This keeps insulin levels down (thats what makes you store fat!) and it keeps your blood sugar levels from having any low spots(this keeps cortisol levels low!).Not getting enough calories increases cortisol.Decrease calories 50% and cortisol goes up 38%.Cortisol breaks down muscle to provide fuel for the body wether you are a fat ass or not.cortisol also causes insulin resistance.high insulin levels make you store fat.(THATS INSULINS OTHER JOB).You can lso get enough calories during the day but go too long between meals.that means your sugar gets low and cortisol goes up . Then you eat your big meal and trigger an insulin response by eating too much and the insulin makes you store everything. Also remember that if you reduce calories to try to lose weight your metabolism just slows down to compensate and you go into catabolism. -good luck and stay out of the MEATHEAD ZONE...

Lots of good info in your post.

You could still do all the things you you mention but not take in almost 4000 cals a day.

Absolutely.

I like to run every day (to burger king).

I also lift twice a day (milk shakes)


I also do cardio every day. (Cardio Consuela Sanchez, she's my housekeeper)

Generally, the morning is supposed to be the best time to work out because your body is energized from a good night's sleep.  However, those of us who are no longer in the military and therefore have day jobs, cannot do this.  

This means that I get to work out at night when I come home from work.

But, you fit it into your day wherever you can.

Also , if you're trying to maximize your work outs the morning is when your body is in a fasting state, blood sugar is at its lowest and it is claimed that you can burn twice as much fat at this time of the day.Of course you should work out at a rate that you don't exceed your ability to oxygenate your tissues or you will shift to burning what glucose you have and then the process to lactic acid.