Energy food before morning work out?

SnowWhite824

What do you eat to give you energy before your morning workout? I get up around 6am, but I can't get to the gym till about 9:15am. I can't to eat a huge meal, just something small. I've been drinking this protein shake that I got from Trader Joe's 30-45 minutes before my workout, and I have more energy than I can imagine when I get there, but the cans are darn expencive.

Any suggestions? I'm open to making my own powder protein shakes, if anyone can recommend a good one.


TIA!

momof2winsplus

I eat two eggs with a piece of toast. Way cheaper.

TheMerryPup

1/2 a toasted bagel with 1 tbsp. raw peanut butter. 2 cups of coffee with light cream, (1/2 tbsp. each), and by the time I do my workout a few hours later I'm good to go.

Miche37

Oatmeal with blueberries. I don't get to the gym until about 9:30 (have to wait for the kids to go to school) and I used to go on an empty stomach and it was a struggle to work out hard. Now that I eat first, I have much more energy.

JNick77

What do you eat to give you energy before your morning workout? I get up around 6am, but I can't get to the gym till about 9:15am. I can't to eat a huge meal, just something small. I've been drinking this protein shake that I got from Trader Joe's 30-45 minutes before my workout, and I have more energy than I can imagine when I get there, but the cans are darn expencive.

Any suggestions? I'm open to making my own powder protein shakes, if anyone can recommend a good one.


TIA!

If whey protein is too expensive try cottage cheese and some oatmeal.

Before I lift I eat, whey protein shake with 1 cup of oats and 1 serving of natural PB

Stay away from the cans, they're overpriced and often low quality anyway. Ordering online is your best bet, like Bodybuilding.com. Good brands of whey protein:

- Optimum Nutrition (ON) Gold Standard 100% Whey
- Gaspari Nutrition Myofusion
- MusclePharm Combat Powder

just to name a few... there are others.

sslloyd5

I TOO ALWAYS AM TRYING TO FIND A LOW CARB ENERGY BOOSTER THAT WON'T MAKE ME CRASH LATER.
Today I had a cup of Tazo Awake Tea with splenda and peanut butter on a sandwich thin before working out and then had my breakfast post workout that is like a mid-morning snack.
Do you mind sharing the Trader Joe product that you use?
BTW, they have the best honey Greek yogurt.

Koketa0510

Oatmeal with blueberries. I don't get to the gym until about 9:30 (have to wait for the kids to go to school) and I used to go on an empty stomach and it was a struggle to work out hard. Now that I eat first, I have much more energy.

Same here.. I add bananas, 1/3 cup of greek yogurt, oatmeal and make a smoothie out of it.. thick smoothie but it's been working for me.

Michele7091

I eat two eggs with a piece of toast. Way cheaper.

Ditto...I'm having this tomorrow morning before I head to the gym...inexpensive, quick, filling, & tasty!

DannyMussels

I've tried dozens of powders, and some are amazing, some are just...like flavored flour.

Regardless, I usually stock up on what's cheap, and have picked up a few tricks to make ANY flavor/brand taste decent.

Adding a frozen banana will give it a great texture, sorta like a milkshake.

Cottage cheese + sweetner will give them a cheesecake flavor. (add cocoa, vanilla , cinnamon...virtually anything here).

Instant coffee to chocolate whey will give you an iced cap flavor.

You can pretty much tweak it into whatever you'd like. Peanutbutter + berries is a decent PB&J.

If you luck out, your local (whatever) store may have some on sale. A few times our Walmart had $25 tubs for $5. I even recall $50 ones for that low.

Otherwise a handful of sites have daily deals where you could pickup a tub or two. Check a site like amazon, or even google reviews on the flavors if you're leary.

The best part about whey is getting creative and using it for cooking.

I highly recommend it for a $0.25-$0.50 snack, or meal. Again, if it's too costly, I won't buy it. If you want it as a meal replacement, add a few healthier things to it to up the calories.

suzgyo

Eggs or small bowl of oatmeal or any good whole grain bread

Anomalia

I eat toast with hazelnut butter, so good!

plushkitten

I have a citrus fruit, 1 oz of almonds, and either a hard boiled egg or a morning star sausage patty.

ahealthy4u

I drink prepair before I work is what I do. If I eat before I work out it makes me feel sick for the rest of the day even if eat a banana.

Jellyphant

Whole wheat toast with peanut butter or raspberry preserves. When I'm in a hurry, just a medium banana. I workout from 7ish to 8am. Does the job.

sportyskylar

oatmeal is my absolute fave. its perfect because carbs are great before a workout, and it keeps you full and satiated = GREAT EXERCISE

MegaByte81

I've tried dozens of powders, and some are amazing, some are just...like flavored flour.

Regardless, I usually stock up on what's cheap, and have picked up a few tricks to make ANY flavor/brand taste decent.

Adding a frozen banana will give it a great texture, sorta like a milkshake.

Cottage cheese + sweetner will give them a cheesecake flavor. (add cocoa, vanilla , cinnamon...virtually anything here).

Instant coffee to chocolate whey will give you an iced cap flavor.

You can pretty much tweak it into whatever you'd like. Peanutbutter + berries is a decent PB&J.

If you luck out, your local (whatever) store may have some on sale. A few times our Walmart had $25 tubs for $5. I even recall $50 ones for that low.

Otherwise a handful of sites have daily deals where you could pickup a tub or two. Check a site like amazon, or even google reviews on the flavors if you're leary.

The best part about whey is getting creative and using it for cooking.

I highly recommend it for a $0.25-$0.50 snack, or meal. Again, if it's too costly, I won't buy it. If you want it as a meal replacement, add a few healthier things to it to up the calories.

These are great ideas. I usually get the Walmart "vanilla" whey because I find it the easiest to add stuff. I usually throw in half a frozen banana and a bit of peanut butter. Sometimes some berries but I almost always use half a banana as a base. 1 benefit of the banana is that they help reduce cramping too!

wolfchild59

Are you lifting or doing cardio?

If I'm lifting I'd have some egg whites with two slices of center cut bacon and avocado about an hour before.

If I'm running a short distance, 5 miles or less, some egg whites and two slices of toast about an hour and a half before. Or something simple like a Luna or Luna Protein bar about 45 min to an hour before, depending on how much time I have.

If I'm running longer distance, I'll have a couple of eggs, bacon and toast with some PB2 about two and a half hours before. Then a Luna bar around 45 minutes before. If its a run over 8 miles, I typically have two Clif Shot Bloks at some point during the run as well.