Working out fasted/ skipping pre-workout meal

MizzEngelChen

Hi!

I found it difficult to find some good thoughts on this so I will try my luck here.
My question is, whether it will hurt my progress if I don't eat a pre-workout meal. I usually get up fairly early, get dressed, and go running or to the gym. My post-workout meal is then my breakfast essentially, which could be a couple of hours later. Sometimes, on the weekend, I would work out in the afternoon after having had breakfast, and I haven't noticed that I felt more energetic then. I'm tired in the morning but feel like I have just as much energy as when I work out in the afternoon. Does it make sense to include some meal before working out?

tomcornhole

tagging to follow

pandorakick

I workout fasted and haven't noticed it impacting my progress negatively. I think it is just a matter of personal preference to eat something before working out or not.

tomcornhole

While I don't have an answer for pre-workout, I have found that what I eat 2 days prior to a heavy lifting session can have a serious effect on my performance. Probably because I naturally gravitate to a low carb diet. If I don't do some carb loading 24-48 hours prior to the start of my 4 day lifting cycle, I will have difficulty hitting my numbers. I don't gorge myself, just eat some rice or oatmeal or drink some milk while staying in my calorie limits. That really helps me. I usually lift fasted and then carb back load but that's just an artifact of my natural tendency towards IF which is a fancy term for skipping breakfast.

jacksonpt

There are some relatively minor pros and cons to both working out fed and working out fasted. So to some extent it depends on your goals. Most people should let personal preference and workout performance/intensity dictate meal timing.