Pre Workout Food

lavendy17

Hi!

I have not worked out in a while. But I know I can't lift weight if I'm hungry. What's good to eat before a workout?
Fruit?
Bread?
Nuts / nut butter?

willrun4bagels

Depends on personal preference and takes a bit of trial and error. I lift at 5am as soon as my gym opens, and I wake up at 4:30. The only thing I ingest is a scoop of preworkout dissolved into water, and then I'll drink about a half liter of water on top of the preworkout. I used to eat 75-100 calories of some sort of carb (usually pretzels or crackers as I was driving to the gym), but found that it made no difference whether or not I ate them, so now I go without eating anything.


I don't have any experience lifting later in the day or at night, so I am not sure what I would do. Though I think I'd probably try to eat something small 45ish minutes before the gym, like maybe a slice of toasted bread with some peanut butter, and eat again right after lifting.

katro111

During the week, I lift in the late afternoon/early evening (between 4 and 5pm) and I usually don't have anything right before. I've already eaten breakfast, mid-morning snack, lunch and afternoon snack so I've had plenty of fuel to lift. My afternoon snack is usually at 2pm-ish. On Sundays, I'll eat a Quest protein bar an hour or so before I lift. Sometimes, I'll eat a large snack late the night before and have nothing the morning of and that seems to work well, too.

I completely agree with willrun4bagels - it takes trial and error to figure out what works best for you.

krokador

Third on the trial and error thing.

Preworkout/caffeine is kind of a go-to of mine. I go into the gym at 6am most of the time so by that point I'm usually not too hungry.

Short of that, I've been somewhat okay with a single toast with either PB or honey on it (or jam,/jelly or nutella >_>). Anymore than that I feel bloated and slowed down. I prefer working out on an empty stomach when at all possible, but some days I'm just too hungry to make it. It happens. There are people that swear by poptarts preworkout, but those are mainly guys I follow on youtube who can afford to eat a bit more than us ladies >_<

lavendy17

Thanks everyone!

Just to update on the specifics:
I start lifting at 7pm having had lunch at noon. I get a big lunch and I don't need an afternoon snack, but no way I can lift 7 hours after eating.

randomtai

Depends.. usually some Dunkin Donuts or greek yogurt. Definitely have a pre-workout and caffeine.

KaterinaTerese

A hard boiled egg is good, or a scoop of peanut butter. I wake up at 6:15 and am out the door at 6:45, so I grab whatever. Cookies, banana, peanut butter... for me it's a mental thing (omg, I'm awake. Need energy!), but yeah, it'll take some experimenting. :happy:

jcdoerr

Thanks everyone!

Just to update on the specifics:
I start lifting at 7pm having had lunch at noon. I get a big lunch and I don't need an afternoon snack, but no way I can lift 7 hours after eating.

I'm pretty similar...I work out in the evenings from 6-7:30. I found that I can't/shouldn't really have anything in my stomach because I'll get the dreaded heartburn. So instead of having a large lunch I split it more into two meals and have about half of it at lunch and then the other half around 3:30. That way I still have energy to get through the workout and make it to dinner without getting too hungry. Of course, usually by the time lifting is over my stomach is growling anyway!

suremeansyes

I workout in the morning, usually mostly fasted (I drink coffee with protein powder, almond milk and coconut oil in it). Sometimes I'll have a homemade protein granola bar or a banana, I have had a pop-tart before working out once...lol.

arharris00

I work out late in the day (8pm) and find that my workouts are often the best after I've had a balanced dinner around 6:30ish. By the time I get to the gym I've fueled my body all day and have plenty of stored energy to keep progressing nicely on my lifts. If I try to sneak in a workout early in the day I notice that my lifts are significantly harder to get and I always fail. If I can't get a full meal in before my workout I usually have a package of peanut butter crackers (6 sandwiches) about 1 hr to 45 mins before I leave for the gym.

aprilricks86

I've noticed too, as some people have said, that workouts later in the day are usually better--my performance is always better, I'm more awake, have more energy, etc., because I've been eating all day long and moving around all day long already, so my muscles are typically less stiff as well. If I didn't have to fight other people for the squat rack and other equipment, I'd probably go in the evening instead, but I like it being less busy so I go before work. I was eating a pretty decent sized bowl of cereal (big biscuit shredded wheat, bran flakes) w/ protein powder and almond milk, but I was noticing my heart was beating more quickly than it would have been normally bc of the amount of carbs and it made me feel just slightly sick. I'm trying eating less today to see if I feel any better eating around 300 calories instead of high 300's-400.

For me, I absolutely need to eat something before I go workout, otherwise I have no energy and my workout will suck. I tried fasted lifting for about 2 days before I knew it wasn't for me. Fasted cardio is another story and I usually prefer not having anything in my stomach before running especially.