Before OR After?

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Heyman09
Heyman09 Posts: 184
in Food and Nutrition
So what do you think? I've had some great weight loss in the last 4 weeks...7 lbs in 4 weeks but I've had a lot of people telling me that I'm not going to lose anymore weight because I don't eat before I go to the gym...I'm usually there at 5:30am and as soon as I get home I eat something....Sooo Whats better eating before or after a workout?
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Replies

  • amonroe1343
    amonroe1343 Posts: 206 Member
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    You should eat before and after. Get a little carbs and protein in before and after your workout. Split up your breakfast in two maybe. You want to have energy to complete your workout to the best of your ability so eating before is important and you want to also eat within 90 minutes after your workout to keep your RMR up and feed your muscles! Get a good amount of protein in after your workout. Even if you just have a protein shake as something quick and easy.
  • jlt1968
    jlt1968 Posts: 77 Member
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    bump
  • piebird79
    piebird79 Posts: 201 Member
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    That's BS. It's totally irrelevant when you eat. You can eat 6 small meals a day or practice intermittent fasting (IF). What matters is finding a schedule that works for you.
  • AmberJo1984
    AmberJo1984 Posts: 1,067 Member
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    I would like to know this too. I've never heard that one is better than the other. I sometimes eat before... and sometimes after. I look forward to hearing the answer to this question.
  • Cocochickdeleted
    Cocochickdeleted Posts: 343 Member
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    Eat when you are hungry. If you find that you lack endurance for completing your workout, eat a small snack before you go, but there is no physiological requirement to eat before working out. Some of us actually perform better on an empty stomach.
  • miqisha
    miqisha Posts: 1,534 Member
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    You have to figure out what works for you, some people can eat before and some can't. However, I dont believe eating before or after determines whether you lose weight or not.
  • taunto
    taunto Posts: 6,420 Member
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    I don't think there a reason any difference between eating before OR after. Whatever is your preference.

    I personally like to eat something light about an hour before I workout. This way I have something to keep me energized throughout the workout, plus with an hour in between I won't feel sick to my stomach.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    It doesn't matter unless it affects how you feel.
  • amonroe1343
    amonroe1343 Posts: 206 Member
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    My comment wasn't really to help with losing weight. When it comes to weight loss it doesn't matter what time you eat it was just information that I got from my nutritionist about eating to lose body fat and preserve lean muscle mass.
  • SavCal71
    SavCal71 Posts: 350 Member
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    I lost 89 pounds ... pretty much never eating before workouts.

    No one else can tell you what will be right for you. You'll have to experiment and see what happens.
  • fcp1234
    fcp1234 Posts: 1,098 Member
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    AS far as weight loss, dont matter when you eat. I dont eat anything before working out, only because I dont have time.
    Ive noticed I get a better workout if I do eat though. So whatever works for ya
  • chivalryder
    chivalryder Posts: 4,391 Member
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    In terms of weight loss, it doesn't really matter what you do.

    However, in terms of performance, what you eat before and after, how much you eat, and the time between can make a huge difference. To get the most out of your workout, try to eat 2 hours before your workout, and eat according to what you're going to do: complex carbohydrates for cardio and protein for strength training.

    You want to eat as soon as you can once a workout is over. The best you can do is 30-50g of protein to speed up the repair of your muscles, and 30-50g of simple carbohydrates to give you the all-important insulin spike which will speed up the process of moving the protein you just ate/drank to your muscles. Try to avoid fat as much as possible at this time, because that will slow down how quickly protein will get to your muscles, and the insulin spike will cause your body to store the fat into your fat cells faster.

    But as I said, in terms of simply losing weight, I don't know of any benefit (or vice versa) from eating before or after a workout.
  • julieh391
    julieh391 Posts: 683 Member
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    It doesn't matter. I was eating a granola bar on the way to the gym at 5:30 only because I felt like I should have something in my belly before a workout (not because I was particularly hungry.) Then I realized I was eating 100 exercise calories back before I even exercised, making waking up at 5:30 feel a little more sucky. So now I don't eat before I go, and I don't feel any different.
  • Awkward30
    Awkward30 Posts: 1,927 Member
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    That's BS. It's totally irrelevant when you eat. You can eat 6 small meals a day or practice intermittent fasting (IF). What matters is finding a schedule that works for you.

    This! Whatever works best for you is... Best for you.
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
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    So what do you think? I've had some great weight loss in the last 4 weeks...7 lbs in 4 weeks but I've had a lot of people telling me that I'm not going to lose anymore weight because I don't eat before I go to the gym...I'm usually there at 5:30am and as soon as I get home I eat something....Sooo Whats better eating before or after a workout?

    Both ;)
  • MinnieInMaine
    MinnieInMaine Posts: 6,400 Member
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    ETA: congrats on your loss! :)

    There is no difference as far as weight loss is concerned. The most important thing with eating for weight loss is not going over your calorie budget.

    However, when you eat and what you eat can affect your performance, and maybe that's what these people meant? Before I go for a run, I make sure I eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich - a good amount of carbs with a little protein mixed in. Afterwards, I eat a protein bar to aid recovery. For regular gym workouts (30-40 minutes cardio then 5-10 minutes strength) I don't stress about it too much, just make sure I've had a good breakfast so I have enough energy to put my all into it.

    If you feel like you're doing just fine with the way you're doing it now, ignore what they say and keep on it. Or play around and see if maybe having a quick snack before helps your performance.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    In terms of weight loss, it doesn't really matter what you do.

    However, in terms of performance, what you eat before and after, how much you eat, and the time between can make a huge difference.

    Agreed so far.
    To get the most out of your workout, try to eat 2 hours before your workout, and eat according to what you're going to do: complex carbohydrates for cardio and protein for strength training.

    But not when we get to this point as it's largely personal preference. Some people perform much better while fasted. I'm not saying the above is wrong, I'm suggesting that what is ideal will vary from person to person.

    You want to eat as soon as you can once a workout is over. The best you can do is 30-50g of protein to speed up the repair of your muscles, and 30-50g of simple carbohydrates to give you the all-important insulin spike which will speed up the process of moving the protein you just ate/drank to your muscles.

    You really don't need to shuttle in protein post workout and this is especially true if you aren't training fasted as you'll likely still have ample blood amino acid levels to maximize synthesis. Additionally, a dose of protein without any carbohydrates will still provide a big enough insulin spike, basically negating the need for PWO carbohydrate.

    Alan Aragon:
    "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)."
    [/quote]
  • katscoots
    katscoots Posts: 255 Member
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    That's BS. It's totally irrelevant when you eat. You can eat 6 small meals a day or practice intermittent fasting (IF). What matters is finding a schedule that works for you.

    Agree 100%
  • andreanicole686
    andreanicole686 Posts: 406 Member
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    Thats bull. You can go to the gym without eating anything or just something small. You'll probably have more energy if you eat something small like a banana before. Post workout food is more important I would say to replenish your muscles.
  • rml_16
    rml_16 Posts: 16,414 Member
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    On weekends when I exercise in the morning, I don't eat first. It makes no difference.

    And the "you should do XYZ" people are telling you what THEY do, not what you have to do. Do whatever works for you.

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