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Breakfast before working out...

alloyd815
alloyd815 Posts: 37 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I am new to working out in the morning... and doing weights. Is it best to eat breakfast before or afterwards? I usually have a shake but I was listening to a podcast that talked about fasting before a workout.

What should I be doing?

Replies

  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,439 Member
    Eating when you are hungry.

    Meal timing is irrelevant, unless you are an elite athlete like Usain Bolt or Michael Phelps.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    It doesn't really matter. Getting adequate calories throughout the day is what matters. There isn't really any benefit to fasted training other than for endurance athletes and other meal timing stuff is really only applicable to high level/elite athletes.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited July 2018
    Eat before or after or neither or both.
    It's personal preference and not a requirement to do anything but fit your exercise and food into your schedule anyway that suits you.

    Did your podcast quantify any benefits for a regular Joe or Jane in fasting before working out?
    If they were talking about depleting glycogen or making you burn fat instead of carbs it's both nonsense and completely irrelevant for weight loss anyway.
  • RelCanonical
    RelCanonical Posts: 3,882 Member
    I agree with eating when you're hungry, and that eating won't impact calorie burn. Try both and see how you feel. I prefer to exercise without food in my stomach, but if I workout in the morning, I need to make sure I drink water before or else I feel sluggish from not drinking for 8 hours (during sleep).
  • alloyd815
    alloyd815 Posts: 37 Member
    edited July 2018
    @cwolfman13 Thank you! I’m definitely not a high level/elite athlete so I won’t worry about fasted training lol...
  • alloyd815
    alloyd815 Posts: 37 Member

    sijomial wrote: »
    Eat before or after or neither or both.
    It's personal preference and not a requirement to do anything but fit your exercise and food into your schedule anyway that suits you.

    Did your podcast quantify any benefits for a regular Joe or Jane in fasting before working out?
    If they were talking about depleting glycogen or making you burn fat instead of carbs it's both nonsense and completely irrelevant for weight loss anyway.


    I honestly can’t remember why she mentioned the fasting before the workout. I have heard people mention it before as well.

    I’m just trying to learn as much as possible and it seems to confuse me lol...
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    alloyd815 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Eat before or after or neither or both.
    It's personal preference and not a requirement to do anything but fit your exercise and food into your schedule anyway that suits you.

    Did your podcast quantify any benefits for a regular Joe or Jane in fasting before working out?
    If they were talking about depleting glycogen or making you burn fat instead of carbs it's both nonsense and completely irrelevant for weight loss anyway.


    I honestly can’t remember why she mentioned the fasting before the workout. I have heard people mention it before as well.

    I’m just trying to learn as much as possible and it seems to confuse me lol...
    Unfortunately you need to read/listen between the lines.....

    "Fasted training is better than fed training" might actually mean for some people and make about 0.1% of a difference to results anyway but only for some people.
    You can make the opposite argument that feeding before training makes a positive difference, again for some people.

    Do what suits you, experiment perhaps to find what suits you best. Might be fed, might be fasted, might make no discernible difference at all.
  • DancingMoosie
    DancingMoosie Posts: 8,619 Member
    I think it depends on how early your workout is, how long it is, how intense. I basically workout as soon as I get up, pee, get my hair up and my sports bra on. I don't want to eat and then wait for it to settle, then go start my workout, I ain't got time for that, lol. Now, if I'm going to the gym to lift or out for a long run, I'll eat a little first. Before a long run, maybe banana or apple and peanut butter.
  • alloyd815
    alloyd815 Posts: 37 Member
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    alloyd815 wrote: »
    sijomial wrote: »
    Eat before or after or neither or both.
    It's personal preference and not a requirement to do anything but fit your exercise and food into your schedule anyway that suits you.

    Did your podcast quantify any benefits for a regular Joe or Jane in fasting before working out?
    If they were talking about depleting glycogen or making you burn fat instead of carbs it's both nonsense and completely irrelevant for weight loss anyway.


    I honestly can’t remember why she mentioned the fasting before the workout. I have heard people mention it before as well.

    I’m just trying to learn as much as possible and it seems to confuse me lol...

    People have to make things confusing because that's how they make money. The fitness industry is a multi billion dollar industry and they can't sell simple.

    There is currently a lot of hype and woo surrounding fasted exercise...namely that you're going to burn more fat because you aren't fueled. The bottom line is that you're always cycling through energy sources throughout the day. Net fat loss is a result of your calorie deficit, not fasted cardio or IF or any of that.

    When I was first starting years ago, I had a rule that if something was confusing or seemed to defy logic and/or common sense then it was probably bull *kitten*. It made my life much easier. Things really aren't complicated. Eat well and get in appropriate calories to fuel your activity and exercise...that's pretty much it outside of more advanced body composition or training goals.


    Thank you so much for your help. I definitely feel better about what I am doing.
  • MelanieCN77
    MelanieCN77 Posts: 4,047 Member
    I'll usually eat some yoghurt and fruit at least, but it does depend how hungry I am and how quick I plan to get out and go work out. Yesterday I just had cantaloupe because I'd eaten quite heavy the day before and wasn't too hungry yet. Some days I have a mini bagel and egg whites. I always eat something though. If you can get away with doing your workout fasted there's no harm in that either if you feel ok, plus it banks your cals for later which is neat sometimes.
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