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 it will help you avoid frustrating weight-loss plateaus. But does the time of day that you 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 utilized when one 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, since this makes muscles more flexible and produces the best ratio of testosterone (the muscle-building hormone) to cortisol (the hormone that does the reverse).

Dr. Signorile also notes that if you try to do both your interval workout and your core workout on the same day, the exercise that’s done later in the day may very well suffer due to muscle fatigue. That’s why the Supercharged Fitness Program encourages alternating days for cardio and core exercise.

Dr. Arthur Agatston, leading preventive cardiologist and bestselling author of The South Beach Diet Supercharged, prefers to work out first thing in the morning, before he’s confronted with the demands of the day. However, there are those who find it easier to exercise in the afternoon. Therefore, Dr. Agatston’s recommendation is to exercise when and where you will most enjoy it and, more important, at a time when you are most likely to remain faithful to your routine.

And remember, 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. Just as you are learning how to make better food choices most of the time, with the Supercharged Fitness Program you are learning a more efficient way to incorporate exercise into your daily life.