Morning workouts, breakfast before or after??

Options
vzucco
vzucco Posts: 229
in Health and Weight Loss
I've heard it both ways, that you need to eat breakfast before your morning workout to give you energy and break your night's fast to get you ready to burn calories throughout the day. AND I've heard that eating before working out will burn what you just ate instead of your stored fat. So which is it?

What has worked for you?
«13

Replies

  • rodegghero
    rodegghero Posts: 212 Member
    Options
    I think just pick the time when you are hungry....
  • Jennyzfit
    Jennyzfit Posts: 175 Member
    Options
    definately eating breakfast about an hour before exercising and drinking some water works for me
  • Rogiefreida
    Rogiefreida Posts: 567 Member
    Options
    I eat afterwards, but only because I'm too zombie to eat before if I work out in the am. lol:laugh:
  • nadiB
    nadiB Posts: 283 Member
    Options
    I eat afterwards, but only because I'm too zombie to eat before if I work out in the am. lol:laugh:

    Hahaha me 2, I only wake up half way through :laugh:
  • kyrstensmom
    kyrstensmom Posts: 297 Member
    Options
    I eat after, but mostly because I get up and head straight to the gym. If I tried to eat that early it would probably make running miserable.
  • mea9
    mea9 Posts: 561 Member
    Options
    glass of milk before and breakfast after per my dr (I was confused too).
  • catwrangler
    catwrangler Posts: 918 Member
    Options
    Totally personal preference.
  • haley_b_87
    haley_b_87 Posts: 45
    Options
    If I ate before I would get sick during!
  • Sidesteal
    Sidesteal Posts: 5,510 Member
    Options
    I've heard it both ways, that you need to eat breakfast before your morning workout to give you energy and break your night's fast to get you ready to burn calories throughout the day. AND I've heard that eating before working out will burn what you just ate instead of your stored fat. So which is it?

    What has worked for you?

    You should see which method makes you feel the best and get the best workout in, and then do it that way.
  • runnermama81
    runnermama81 Posts: 388 Member
    Options
    glass of milk before and breakfast after per my dr (I was confused too).
    I like this idea!
  • deanmarino
    deanmarino Posts: 41 Member
    Options
    Here's my thoughts on morning workouts. I definitely work out and eat breakfast after my workout, never before. Hopefully you will find some good information here:

    www.teamzapthefat.com/morning-workouts/

    Regards.
  • vzucco
    vzucco Posts: 229
    Options
    I think just pick the time when you are hungry....

    I think if I did this, I'd wait til lunch. I am not a breakfast person at all, but force myself to eat something small because I know it helps in weight loss.
  • MyCoachNYLA
    MyCoachNYLA Posts: 158 Member
    Options
    I've heard it both ways, that you need to eat breakfast before your morning workout to give you energy and break your night's fast to get you ready to burn calories throughout the day. AND I've heard that eating before working out will burn what you just ate instead of your stored fat. So which is it?

    What has worked for you?

    The physiology on that is that if your goal is fat loss, cardio training before your meal is more likely to help support your body pulling from the fat cell. If you have blood sugar issues, I usually recommend my clients have a form of protein and fat 40 minutes prior to the cardio training to avoid a serious drop in blood sugar.

    If you are weight training, a meal before the session will support your plan.

    Also, executing cardio before dinner is another max way to help insure your are pulling from the fat cell.

    This is all assuming that you are not training anaerobically (beyond the 80-85% THR).

    Great question. Thanks for the post.
  • irisheyez718
    irisheyez718 Posts: 677 Member
    Options
    I eat before and after :-)
  • jacksonpt
    jacksonpt Posts: 10,413 Member
    Options
    For the most part, I CAN'T eat before a workout. My workouts are generally pretty intense, and a high HR does not play well with my digestive system... so eating before a workout always leads to gut aches and sometimes worse.

    If I'm racing or have a particularly long cardio workout planned, I'll have something small about 30 minute before (half a PB&J, cliff bar, etc).

    But 99% of the time I have more than enough energy left over from dinner the night before to get me through my morning workouts.
  • vzucco
    vzucco Posts: 229
    Options
    If I ate before I would get sick during!

    Yeah, that's what I'm afraid of!
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
    Options
    Both have worked for me. I now workout in the evenings on work days and in the mornings on weekends. I eat before the weekend workouts, but then I usually wait until at least 11 a.m. before working out. When I used to do a big workout (run) in the mornings I simply didn't have time to eat and wait for the food to digest so I didn't eat first. I only ran 3 miles each morning, but I never had a problem with energy.
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
    Options
    today i had a nice big breakfast (diary is open, check it out). ate at about 9am, and i'm leaving now for my work out. but today is my day off, and don't have to rush.
  • nana_trina
    nana_trina Posts: 13
    Options
    I tried eating after for a while, but found I had more energy during the workout, if I ate before.
  • healthy4self
    healthy4self Posts: 198
    Options
    After! I would have no energy if I worked out before.

Categories