To lose weight or get in shape, many people follow diets, low-fat products and supplements, without lasting results. A Spanish nutrition specialist points out that there is a free habit, within the reach of almost everyone, which requires only 20 to 30 minutes and no gym.
For him, the moment you move, the state of your stomach and the morning light make all the difference.
This doctor-nutritionist is Javier Fernández Ligero. His golden rule can be summed up in one sentence: “Walking on an empty stomach while exposing yourself to the first rays of the sun helps speed up your metabolism“.
In passing, he speaks out against the culture of diets.
“Indeed, we are obsessed with the idea of losing weight and all this exploded many years ago, with the madness of ‘light’ products, skimming and counting kilocalories.”
Why Javier Fernández Ligero relies on walking on an empty stomach and the morning sun
The problem, he explains, comes from our busy mornings. Sweet breakfast, seated commute, sedentary work: blood sugar rises then falls, and hunger returns quickly.
“By starting the day gorging on carbs, instead of getting sustained energy levels, what we get is very high spikes in blood glucose.”he explains. Result: desire to snack all morning, even though you barely move.
To break this circle, Javier Fernández Ligero offers a very precise routine. The simple fact of “walk between 20 and 30 minutes before going to work (if possible on an empty stomach)” helps, according to him, to limit glycemic peaks and localized fat.
He advises delaying the first meal until arriving at the office, around 10 a.m., then focusing on quality proteins and fats. “It is enough, for example, to take walks on an empty stomach early in the morning, exposing ourselves to those first rays of sunlight of the day.”
Stress, cortisol and lack of movement: what slows down metabolism
The fasted walking plan is not enough if the rest of the day remains sedentary. “We live in a society sick with stress, where we want everything for yesterday and where we rest little and poorly”he observes.
He warns that this stress, combined with “blood sugar spikes” and lack of movement, creates a breeding ground for abdominal fat. Many people, he points out, don’t reach the recommended 10,000 steps and think that going to the gym two or three times a week makes up for everything.
How to integrate walking on an empty stomach in the sun into a sustainable routine
For Javier Fernández Ligero, this morning walk is just one pillar among others.
He recommends “getting, at a minimum, seven hours of quality sleep”, taking a cold shower to start the day, doing weight training to increase muscle mass which burns calories even at rest, then managing stress through yoga or meditation.