eating before and/ or after workouts

tobejune

Just wondering what people tend to do and why.

Obviously eating a large meal before a strenuous workout may cause some discomfort but my workouts tend to burn around 800-1600 calories so if I don't eat for an hour before I can feel just as uncomfortable towards the end.

Any tips or ideas for pre-workout meals or snacks?

Thanks

tobejune

anyone?

Altruista75

I workout as soon as I roll out of bed so I have an empty stomach. It just seems to work best for me I found.

shmoony

What do you do that burns 800-1600 calories in a typical workout. Unless your running 10-15 miles a day, you're probably overestimating the burn.

But to answer your question, I work out on an almost empty stomach (2-3 hours after a meal) and typically only do a protein shake after with maybe a light snack of fresh fruit, veg, or almonds.

Iceman420

I try to eat supper one hour before I work out. Usually a sandwich or a bowl of Chicken soup. I never saw the point in eating after a workout. Why gain back the calories you worked so hard to lose?

chimp517

I try to eat supper one hour before I work out. Usually a sandwich or a bowl of Chicken soup. I never saw the point in eating after a workout. Why gain back the calories you worked so hard to lose?

I used to think that way at one point in time. Achieved much better results from eating post workout.

majope

I usually have a slice of whole-grain toast with 1 tablespoon of peanut butter for breakfast before I run or work out, and if it's more than an hour after the toast before I get out the door, I tend to grab a banana on the way out.

After: if I burn more than 400 calories (~4 miles running), I have chocolate milk for recovery. Or sometimes a Chobani instead--just something to top up the tank. And I always try to eat back most of my exercise calories, or I feel like crap the next day.

starrchiild

I train in a fasted state as soon as I wake up then eat a good size meal (breakfast) after I get home from the gym.

sunman00

try eating some oaty porridge an hour before you start your workout, lots of slow release energy there

purplecharm

I try to workout before I eat. I workout early in the morning.
I do it because I don't like the idea of "just eaten" food being jostled around in my body while working out. I am afraid I might get sick.

particleastro

1600 cals, wow!

There is no difference in fat burning as to whether you train fasted or full. I train ABSOLUTELY full (Im still eating on the way into the gym!)

If you find your uncomfortable having eaten before you can negate the physiological effects somewhat by taking 15g or BCAA or EAA (Brach Chain or Essential Amino Acids). This will stop your excercise becoming catabolic without having a uncomfortable amount of food in you.

As far as Post work out, it is ABSOLUTELY the time to eat. Your muscles will be at their most sensitive to insulin and any protein or carbs you eat will be channeled towards those. Infact, if you are looking to maintain weight, it is the very best time to consume any starchy carbs you need in your diet. Not eating after working out will only lead to catabolism in the long run.

As always, send us a message if you want clarification on anything,
Good Luck
JU

victoriannsays

I cannot workout after I eat because I suffer from really bad acid reflux. I try to workout at least 3 hours after a meal, typically right before dinner.

SoDamnHungry

I work out before dinner, but eat a snack beforehand. I think I have exercise-induced hypoglycemia, so if it's too long after food I get cold, dizzy, and nauseous. But working out after eating a large meal makes me want to barf.

Ant_the_old_keith_lemon

my personal rule is light carbs before and protien after..

but i also start the day carb heavy and slowly work towards protien - trying not to have cabrs after 5pm..

i say Fuel the body to push harder to have a greater afterburn

HMVOL7409

I usually lift a 1-2 hrs after breakfast. I can't do fasted workouts bc of my blood sugars. If its been awhile my staple is a 1/2 whole wheat bagel with PB. I also take a few preworkout supplements. No matter what I always have protein and a small carb post workout.

Edit: And no offense but I think you might be greatly overestimating your burns there. You are rather small to be burning that much unless you are working out 3+ hrs a day.

cwolfman13

I workout a couple of hours after one of my snacks...I do my cardio at lunch at work and then eat my lunch afterwards...I lift in the evening around 6PM on non-cardio days and have my afternoon snack at 4PM. After lifting I have a protein shake and then dinner around 8:30PM.

I don't get in as good of a workout if I'm full with a meal. I always have my protein within 30 minutes of a lift session and my dinners are usually pretty protein dense as well.

victoriavoodoo

How are you burning 1600 calories in a workout? I wanna do what you're doing if that's accurate lol

30ismyyear

I'm new to all this and by no means an expert but I have kinda followed this guideline

http://pinterest.com/pin/217509856975046145/

MorgueBabe

I normally eat a Ezekial Muffin with PB for breakfast, and some black tea or coffee.
Then in about 2 hours I work out, then I drink I protein shake.

GingerBiscuit_19

I have 2 slices of toast at around 7.30am, then have a banana around 10.30. I then go to the gym at 12.30 for an hour and then have my lunch after I do prefer to go to the gym at night though, so I do that if I have a late lunch.

_SABOTEUR_

I was reading a really great medical journal paper that said that the best thing apart from actual protein shakes post-workout is flavoured milk (chocolate milk) because it has a good mix of carbs/fat/protein and rehydrates your body better than shakes and iso drinks.

Here's the link:

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02640414.2011.619204


Personally, I always eat something before I workout, but not necessarily a whole meal. Just depends when I'm working out I guess. I can also do a weights workout on a full stomach but not a cardio workout because I end up feeling a bit nauseous.

tobejune

To answer these...

What do you do that burns 800-1600 calories in a typical workout. Unless your running 10-15 miles a day, you're probably overestimating the burn.

How are you burning 1600 calories in a workout? I wanna do what you're doing if that's accurate lol

...I use a heart rate monitor and have my metabolic rates tested every six months so I know it is accurate. I dance ballet 1-3 hours/ day. Typically averaging 400-650/ hr.

Seems like the responses are pretty mixed though the people eating before a workout are mostly consuming carbs.... I may start trying to have some high quality carbs 30ish minutes before and see if that helps and/ or if I feel ill.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I'm going to check out the resources people posted, too.

RoadsterGirlie

I have to eat dinner prior to my workout. My dinners aren't very large since I practice portion control. I usually wait about 10 minutes after eating, and then workout.

I haven't had any issues with cramping.

I have found though that work out before dinner, I don't have as much energy for my workout.

Lammerchops

Strange, I race (and therefore have both a very low resting and active metabolic rate) and only burn 1,600 cals on a half-marathon training run. Not sure ballet would create a comparable BPM, but I'm no dancer, and that's not the point of your question sooooooooooo....

Pre-workout meals are pretty standard: complex carb, protein.

Post-workout meals are also pretty standard - if it's a strength-training/weights workout, you want protein with a simple carb to drive that protein into your muscles (think protein shake with banana in it). If it was cardio, it would be important to get more complex carbs in after your run/swim/cycle to restore your muscles' glycogen muscles.

mmapags

1600 cals, wow!

There is no difference in fat burning as to whether you train fasted or full. I train ABSOLUTELY full (Im still eating on the way into the gym!)

If you find your uncomfortable having eaten before you can negate the physiological effects somewhat by taking 15g or BCAA or EAA (Brach Chain or Essential Amino Acids). This will stop your excercise becoming catabolic without having a uncomfortable amount of food in you.

As far as Post work out, it is ABSOLUTELY the time to eat. Your muscles will be at their most sensitive to insulin and any protein or carbs you eat will be channeled towards those. Infact, if you are looking to maintain weight, it is the very best time to consume any starchy carbs you need in your diet. Not eating after working out will only lead to catabolism in the long run.

As always, send us a message if you want clarification on anything,
Good Luck
JU

Dude, I'm not sure what you are using for sources for your info but I'd get some new ones if I were you. According to Lyle McDonald, training fed is slighty better than training fasted on terms of lipolysis and according to Alan Aragon the Anabolic Window is 24 hours. Also, carbs right after workout are somewhat counter productive to HGH production. In general, nutrient timing is a waste of time. A link and a quote fyi.
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/820577-meal-frequency-rev-up-that-furnace-lol

"The post-exercise “anabolic window” is a highly misused & abused concept. Preworkout nutrition all but cancels the urgency, unless you’re an endurance athlete with multiple glycogen-depleting events in a single day. Getting down to brass tacks, a relatively recent study (Power et al. 2009) showed that a 45g dose of whey protein isolate takes appx. 50 minutes to cause blood AA levels to peak. Resulting insulin levels, which peaked at 40 minutes after ingestion, remained at elevations known to max out the inhibition of muscle protein breakdown (15-30 mU/L) for 120 minutes after ingestion. This dose takes 3 hours for insulin & AA levels to return to baseline from the point of ingestion. The inclusion of carbs to this dose would cause AA & insulin levels to peak higher & stay elevated above baseline even longer.

So much for the anabolic peephole & the urgency to down AAs during your weight training workout; they are already seeping into circulation (& will continue to do so after your training bout is done). Even in the event that a preworkout meal is skipped, the anabolic effect of the postworkout meal is increased as a supercompensatory response (Deldicque et al, 2010). Moving on, another recent study (Staples et al, 2010) found that a substantial dose of carbohydrate (50g maltodextrin) added to 25g whey protein was unable to further increase post-exercise net muscle protein balance compared to the protein dose without carbs. Again, this is not to say that adding carbs at this point is counterproductive, but it certainly doesn’t support the idea that you must get your lightning-fast post-exercise carb orgy for optimal results.

Something that people don’t realize is that there’s no “magic anabolic window” that’s open for a short period of time near the workout & then rapidly disappears. As a result of a single training bout, the receptivity of muscle to protein dosing can persist for at least 24 hours (Burd et al, 2011)."

vanguardfitness

you dont have to eat before your workout. Nothing stopping you from consuming something half way through to tide you over for the rest of your workout. So try a mid workout snack.

vmekash

Though I can workout on an empty stomach (1st thing, a.m.), I find I prefer to workout about 1/2 hr. to an hour after my breakfast -- usually cereal. Then after my workout, I love to have a heaping tsp. of peanut butter (so heaping, it may be more than 1/2 Tbs.). I actually crave it after a workout.