Pre work out meals?

JesGrn

Looking for some good solid advice or suggestions on what and when to eat before a work out. As a rule I usually Don't eat before the gym and if I do it is at least two or three hours before. I do this for two reasons 1. I get nauseous If there is food in my belly and 2. I want to burn the food stored (fat) verses the the fuel in my tummy. This seems to work out for me unless I have a sneak attack by hypoglycemia which is rare. I try to get in a nice big dose of protein shortly after leaving the gym. All in all I'm happy with this but am always looking for ways to improve.

3dogsrunning

I'm not sure if I understand. What do you think will improve?

Do what works for you. If eating 2 hours before works, then do it. For the average person working out, meal timing isn't important. How much/when and what you can eat before the gym tends to be very individual. It also depends on what you are doing. I can eat a pretty good sized meal and lift. I can't do that and run.
Forcing yourself to eat because you think you should isn't going to improve your performance, it will more likely hinder.

geebusuk

What sort of workout are you doing?
How are you looking to 'improve' it?

What you're doing sounds fine to meet your needs.

Though, remember 'Calories in vs Calories out'.
If you were to have the same total food, but initially be burning more from food you've eaten recently, then it just means more would be burned from fat later.

If I'm doing reasonably intense cardio, I like to eat first or my performance suffers. If I'm doing light cardio - for instance a social club run with a lower group than I normally run with, I'm fine.

I usually eat before weights to try and make sure glycogen stores are topped up and there's protein sloshing around ready to go.