If you’re following the South Beach Diet lifestyle, you know that regular exercise will help you lose weight by revving up your metabolism and helping you avoid frustrating weight-loss plateaus. But does the time of day you choose to exercise make a difference in how much fat you burn?

According to exercise physiologist Joseph Signorile, PhD, who helped create the South Beach Supercharged Fitness Program in the South Beach Diet Supercharged, the answer is not as black-and-white as you might think. Current research suggests that slightly more fat is burned when a person exercises directly following the overnight fast. However, exercise can usually be performed at a higher intensity in the late afternoon when the body’s temperature and hormone levels peak and muscles are more flexible.

What may be more important factors to consider are how consistent you are and what kind of exercise you do. The Supercharged Fitness Program encourages alternating days for cardio and core exercises because if you try to do both on the same day, you may suffer muscle fatigue.

Dr. Arthur Agatston, leading preventive cardiologist and bestselling author of the South Beach Diet Supercharged, prefers to work out first thing in the morning, but recognizes that some people find it easier in the afternoon. His recommendation: Exercise when — and where — you will most enjoy it, which will make you most likely to remain faithful to your routine.

What if you miss a workout? Don’t sweat it. Just as you shouldn’t feel that you’ve blown it if you have a bad day on the eating plan, you shouldn’t feel as if all is lost when you must skip a day or even a few days of exercise. In the same way that you are learning how to make better food choices most of the time, with the Supercharged Fitness Program you are in the process of learning how to best incorporate exercise into your daily life.

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