If you want to make your morning exercise routine more impactful on your health, you might want to consider skipping breakfast before you work out.

Over the course of a 6-week study, researchers from the universities of Bath and Birmingham studied dozens of sedentary men who were overweight or obese, from the Bath region in England. The study showed that those who worked out before breakfast burned twice the amount of fat than those who exercised after a morning meal. The researchers also found that those who exercised after fasting overnight had lower insulin levels during exercise.

Although working out before breakfast over 6 weeks didn’t lead to any weight loss differences, the study found it did have a positive impact on the participants’ health, because their bodies responded better to insulin. This effect has significant long-term ramifications: It kept their blood sugar levels in check and had the potential to reduce the risk of conditions such as heart disease and diabetes.

Although you don’t necessarily need to skip breakfast before your workouts, it’s certainly something to keep in mind if you want to get more out of your morning exercise routine.