Eating before exercise

leanne2376

I would like to know how long before exercise i should eat.

I was told 4 hours

What does everyone else think??

tricksee

Eat before exercise!!!?? Whooooaaa!!! take a step back, lady!!! the way i look at it, food fuels the workout!!

i want to attack my FAT STORES otherwise im just sweating my balls off to work off the toast I just ate!!! pointless in my book!!!!!
might as well just bin the toast and not bother with exersices as the results are the same calorie-wise.

Your body has FAT to use as energy so USE IT, don't fill up on carbs/sugars or whatever!!!

Do some FASTED CARDIO!!!! 20-30mins LIGHT EXERSISE!!!! thats all you need!! dont be spending 90mins on a treadmill like the other boffins I see sweating through 7 layers of clothes!!! its unnesseccary!!!

I lose weight just sitting here yawning!! I havent seen the inside of a gym since Noah built the Ark and Im LEAN AS HELL THESE DAYS!!!

USE THE FAT YOUR TRYIN TO LOSE!!!!

(just my oppinion, probably totally wrong, but maybe worth a shot, though?! thanks)

IsabellaGiano

I don't know the "theory" about when you should be eating before exercise in order to loose the maximum weigth, but, IMHO, exercise is good even just to take your muscles active, to make them grow as opposite to your fat mass, to tell your body it needs to burn its energy reservoir.
So, maybe you can just eat at your normal times, eat healthy, and everything will be fine.

Anyway, I don't think that doing exercise when you are hungry is good for you....

twelfty

any workout you do needs fuel, your body wont imdeiately suck fat from your body and use it, not enough for a workout anyway... this happens slowly or you could do a days worth of excersize and lose 20lbs, i normally eat with enough time for my food to go down so it's not sitting in my stomach (this will depend how quickly you digest food) it's more what you eat before that will govern what your body does with it, aim for low fat, some clean carbs and protein, (i like whole grain cereal but it's not for everyone) an hour before you're ready to start then after your workout have a high protein food/drink for your body to use to do repairs say a chicken dinner or protein shake depending on the time of day.

i prefer doing my workout an hour or so before i go to bed this way i feel my body is in repair mode right after a workout and i feel less achy the day after, also having had my high protein food i know it's not going to be sitting in my stomach all night because my body will be using it

now i will say - this is for me putting on muscle, however the difference being what i do in a workout and what you'd do, making the difference between putting on weight and losing it, your body still needs the same treatment with food:

energy to use before

protein to use after

the only deviation from this would be if you're not eating the calories you burn during a workout and you've already eaten your quota but even then i'd say move your workout or meal to fit the above

kbeech06

Don't know if or when there is a good time, but I typically have a bit of porridge before I work out. I get up at 7, and I don't eat breakfast till about 9...then try to start working out by 10.

Mulikme

I agree with twelfty. This seems in line with what my trainer has said too.

twelfty

i want to attack my FAT STORES otherwise im just sweating my balls off to work off the toast I just ate!!! pointless in my book!!!!!
might as well just bin the toast and not bother with exersices as the results are the same calorie-wise

the idea is you control your weight loss with less calories than you previously ate (ideally with lower fat content) to make you overweight, this would only be true if you were to eat too many calories and just do excersize,

you add cardio to burn off extra calories and fat over time, but, even just eating 1200 calories a day consistently you'd lose weight it would just take longer

doing excersize with no fuel will likely be very bad for you... you're drawing from enegry stores you don't have depending on how long ago you last ate, which will just make you feel sick,

finally buring off calories you've just eaten is no worse than buring off calories you've eaten the day before it's all off the grand total unless you'll never eat again

ChrisC_77

I am not trying to lose weight. I am increasing cardio and doing weight lifting. I eat an hour before. carbs, protein and fruit. I just ate 2 eggs, wild rice and cantaloupe. I am also going to have a protein drink. All in all about 700 calories. I consume about 3000 a day.

But you need to fuel your body with direct energy. Fat stores are not energy per se. I mean yes they are, but they don't burn immediately during a workout. That's why losing weight is gradual. Hope this makes sense. Good luck!

nezsorou

I'm not sure the "rules" , but yesterday I had a Luna bar before I exercised, like 20 minutes beforehand. I hadn't been up very long, thus hadn't eaten very much....and if I exercise when I haven't eat much, I cannot work out as well, and feel pretty horrendous and shaky afterward.

Sharkington

You don't need a 4 hour space in between your meal and a workout. :huh: I have seen some people say they do not eat anything before they work out, but that has never worked for me and I end up feeling sluggish, which leads me to put in much less effort. Usually, when I do cardio, I eat foods high in carbs with some protein mixed in, about an hour before I work out. Oatmeal, nuts, and fruit is typically what I go for. (I might eat some nuts or something right before if I feel like i need it). I eat something when I get back from my workout, as well. (Usually a banana.) You don't need to wait an hour like I do, of course, just see what timing works best for you.

xampx

I never really thought about it. I go to the gym on my way home from work, so I eat around 1pm, go to the gym around 6, get home and eat again around 8.

On weekends, I go to the gym in the morning before eating because if I ate, I would need to wait 2 hours to get the food out of my stomach so I didn't throw up on the cross trainer

There may be a right and wrong way to do it, but as far as I care, I fit exercise in where I can, and this is working for me.

twelfty

mmmmk well you do it your way.... and make yourself ill and everyone else will do it the way their body needs it...

yes retard humans are dependant on food it's what we need to live.... see a councellor sounds like you have some food issues

and if you want the body of a kenyan by all means go for it lol....i'd rather look healthy

you can read? i don't think there were pictures in caveman times but you'll notice cavemen are never depicted as skinny because they were successful hunters and ate regularly

girlinahat

Its only due to our unhealhty eating habits and meal frequency that we HAVE BECOME DEPENDANT ON FOOD!!!!!!

did you really just say that?

food is over rated and depending on the intensity of the exercise can be DONE WITHOUT!!!!

and that. really? because the end result of hunger strikes is usually, er. death.


to the OP - I have a snack before I exercise. Usually a boiled egg and some carbs. If I don't, and bearing in mind it's probably 6/7 hours since I last ate, I don't get a good workout in. I feel sluggish, I can't lift the weights and I can run. My workout becomes ineffective. We need fuel to do a workout, and it won't come straight from our fat reserves.

shewearsfunnyhat

I drink some good old fashion milk about 30 min before It has some carbs and protein. Its important to have some sugar in your blood system to help fuel the workout.

melaniecheeks

4 hours is definitely excessive a wait. But you wouldn't want to be bouncing around immediately after having had a big meal, either.

For me, I find it depends on the exercise. There's been studies that show advantages of cardio on an empty stomach, but really, the benefits are only noticeable for fit athletes. Having said that, I can go for a run before breakfast no problem. Weightlifting? I'll get dizzy unless I';ve eaten first, so i try to have a piece of toast with peanut butter about half an hour beforehand.

There's no rules - find out what works for your body.

tricksee

I MEANT UNHEALTHILY DEPENDENT ON FOOD!!!
my badd!!!

LernRach

isn't it a matter of each to their own??
Last week, went to gym straight from work at 12:30, having not eaten for about 4 hrs. had an awesome workout..... until I blacked out, like totally!!!! took me a long while till I was strong enough to get up, had to eat chocolate (said the trainer in the gym!!!) and for rest of day i felt out of it.

That's me and my weird blood sugar levels... The fact is, each of our bodies work differently, some need food before, some don't.... I see some die hard gym goers, eat banana in the gym, i saw another guy eating a row of chocolate, and omg he was built!!!! so, you need to work out what's best for u.

to those of you going on about Kenya and cavemen, that's what evolution is about my dear..... THey can cope with it because their body is built for it, ours are not!!!

twelfty

I MEANT UNHEALTHILY DEPENDENT ON FOOD!!!
my badd!!!

Sorry but you clearly didn't, it's obvious from the rest of your post what you're saying, arguing aside, it sounds like you do have some issues with food, it would be a good idea to do a good bit of reading up about food and the body, and before you go spouting off your insane perspective of food and it's use to humans as facts make sure it's correct. which it quite clearly isn't

infact depending on who you're telling that **** to you could cause someone some damage similar to lernrach's experience, now that experience off a machine is dangerous enough but on a treadmill mid way at full pace you're talking serious injury... and if someone takes it as fact and doesn't deviate for a week because no one has corrected you the more likely that is to happen.

LernRach

infact depending on who you're telling that **** to you could cause someone some damage similar to lernrach's experience, now that experience off a machine is dangerous enough but on a treadmill mid way at full pace you're talking serious injury... and if someone takes it as fact and doesn't deviate for a week because no one has corrected you the more likely that is to happen.
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Oh boy, I have fainted off a treadmill too - a few years ago (I have issues with blood sugar levels!) and omg was not a pretty sight!!! Or feeling.... Poor other ppl in the gym who had to deal with me! Either way, i don't think anyone should take what ppl say here as fact.... If that silly person(forgot their name) wants to give ridiculous suggestions and ppl actually think it's sensible, so be it.... We shd all be thinking for ourselves...

kiramcneely

Depends what kind of exercise. I can do a weight training workout and not eat before hand. If I try and run for 30+ minutes I eat and then go.

bobf279

I normally train after work so have eaten breakfast and lunch with probably 4 hours between lunch and training. At weekends I don't normally eat before exercise unless I feel particularly hungry. If I do eat before I follow the advice I got as a kid "don't go swimming until 2 hours after eating" substituting exrecise for swiming in the sentence.

StrawberryThief

I have a handful of cashews (and maybe some fruit juice) about half an hour before gym. Leaving it any longer just isn't an option for me; I get dizzy and sick otherwise.

LokiOfAsgard

I get up at 8
Usually start eating around 8:30
And I'm finished by nine, which is when I do my exercise

Seems to work okay for me

Some people exercise then eat, but I can't do that. Tried it once and nearly passed out.

stacifahlsing

A friend of mine passed out on the treadmill (she is 5' 4" and weighed at the time 160 lbs and was a regular at the gym) because she hadn't eaten in 6 hours. So, clearly food is necessary. Last night I had a long conversation with someone which delayed my dinner time and exercise time. If I was to exercise and eat before my evening cut off of 7pm for food & drink, I HAD to eat and run right after each other. I run a 5K in 40 minutes on the treadmill ... not fast and not slow! I ate 35 minutes before I ran and nothing came up! I didn't get a stitch in my side or any problems... and it was a 500 calorie dinner and a 535 calorie burn. I don't feel like I wasted the calories I burned with what I ate, because I was still just below 1200 for my day! And I ran so my muscles would be healthy along with my heart! So eat, drink and exercise... be merry!

tricksee

Ridiculous suggestion?! WHAT THE HELL?!! have you never heard of FASTED CARDIO?!

I never just made that *kitten* up on the spot!! people have been doing it successfully and safely for YEARS!!!

I'm pretty in tune with my body and know when to use fasted cardio and when not too!!
It's not my fault if you blacked the hell out, pay attention to your body and you might get more out of it!!!

My original post stated LIGHT EXERCISE!!! I didnt' say run a damn marathon without eating did i??

it's just advice anyway, worked perfectly for me and you guys can take what you want or dont want from it!!

fasted cardio is debated and there are people who say it works and people who say it doesn't - all im saying is it's an option!!!!

MJackson54

I've never been able to eat anything within a few hours of exercise because I will throw up. Yep that's right. Guess that's why I do my BEST workout early in the morning. That way I have not eaten anything for many hours before a tough workout. Doesn't matter what the fitness gurus say... I just absolutely cannot eat before I exercise!

LokiOfAsgard

Ridiculous suggestion?! WHAT THE HELL?!! have you never heard of FASTED CARDIO?!

I never just made that *kitten* up on the spot!! people have been doing it successfully and safely for YEARS!!!

I'm pretty in tune with my body and know when to use fasted cardio and when not too!!
It's not my fault if you blacked the hell out, pay attention to your body and you might get more out of it!!!

My original post stated LIGHT EXERCISE!!! I didnt' say run a damn marathon without eating did i??

it's just advice anyway, worked perfectly for me and you guys can take what you want or dont want from it!!

fasted cardio is debated and there are people who say it works and people who say it doesn't - all im saying is it's an option!!!!

Oh look, a study of Fasted Cardio.

http://blogs.menshealth.com/bellyoff-nutritionist/the-truth-about-fasted-cardio/2011/04/14/

"The group that ate BEFORE the moderate cardio session continued to burn significantly MORE calories up to 24 hours after the exercise bout."

DeeVanderbles

I wait at least an hour after I eat before I work out. Otherwise I feel awful and like I'm going to throw up my meal. Do what works and feels best for you.

LittleWorld

Since I usually workout during lunch hour, I faced with this dilemma...

Workout before lunch : Feed me! Feed me! Feeed me! (No heavy snacks could convince my tummy otherwise)

Lunch before workout : So, you do want to lift this iron five times? Let's make it ten.

Interestingly, many other people told me that they preferred to workout before lunch, since eating lunch makes them feel bloated and heavy. I say try it both ways, let your tummy cast the final vote.

thedescentofhope

If I go for a run @ 6am I usually eat a banana & a tsp of peanut butter, sometimes a probiotic yoghurt drink & couple of corn cakes. I always have some small before I exercise, it works for me. Oh & I would usually eat about 30-45 mins before.

stacifahlsing

I think Tricksee has more problems than the food issue... Why do you have to be such an attacking expletive!?!!!!! Many people are on here for support, not to be attacked!