Eating before or after exercising?

I only walk for exercise because it is what I enjoy. It is my therapy as I am coping with a lot of other things right now. I tend to eat something small before heading out. ( 1 slice of toast and some fruit) and then I go walk 3-5 miles. I get home eat a hard boiled egg, drink some water and I have some fruit or waffles. (no syrup or butter).
I do my walks twice a day. I eat when I am hungry. I tried the starving method of losing weight and it did nothing for me. I was great the first week and after that nothing! If you do not get enough calories eventually your body will start to hold on to the fat as it believes its starving. This does take time though.
My advice is just keep track of your calories daily and make sure you are in the deficit. I managed to drop almost 40 pounds before I found this page by just walking and watching what I eat.

Whatever works for you.

Personally, I can't exercise on an empty stomach, I get really dizzy to the point where I can actually faint.

So, I wake up, have a 100~ cal snack (fruit or some other carb) + coffee, do stuff around the house (a light cleaning, planning the day, etc) for 45 mins, then workout.

After my workout I take a shower, then have my main breakfast.

But if you're just walking for weight loss and not for the fun of it, then I would say you're wasting a lot of time. Why walk 1 hour 6 times a week when you could strength train 45mins 3 times a week and get much better results?

Don't listen to this...its Rubbish...

Walking is the BEST way to lose weight, especially in the beginning.

WEight/Strength Training is only effective if you are doing ALOT of Compund Super-sets, and do them for an hour with very little resting.

Are you serious? I really don't mean to be rude, but refrain from commenting if you don't know what you're talking about. Walking is not the best way to lose weight. It's far from the best way. If she were morbidly obese and struggled with day to day life then of course I would suggest walking, but she isn't!
Let me break it down for you… Strength training builds muscle. Muscle burns more calories than fat. Therefore the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Strength training (and HIIT for that matter) also creates the "after burn effect" where the body accumulates an oxygen debt and has to work "overtime" to get it back to normal, so even when you're done your workout, you're still burning more calories to get your body back to it's normal resting state (search EPOC strength training). Strength training also increases your metabolism, meaning (you guessed it!) you burn more calories!

I don't have anything against light cardio if that's what people enjoy most, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone for pure weight loss reasons. Please, do your research, I'll even direct you to a few sites:

http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2010/02/01/what-burns-more-calories-cardio-intervals-or-weight-training/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/case-against-cardio/#axzz32oiS0ZMz

Of course, I'd like to tell the OP that the most important part of fat loss is a healthy diet. You can run as many miles as you like or squat until you collapse, it won't change a thing if you have a bad diet!
Good luck on your fitness journey (:

I'd just like to add that some people are talking about IF (intermittent fasting), and you should do your research before hand on the risks. I don't at all want to trash IF because I know many healthy women out there swear by it. But many say their bodies can't handle it. There has been little research into it for women, but what has been found it that it could POSSIBLY create fertility problems. Again, I don't want to trash it because I totally believe it can work fine for some and not for others. In my own experience, I found it great for the first month.. Until I didn't get my period. And then a few weeks later, I started eating normally again and I got my period almost straight away. I'm 18 years old, very healthy and have never had this problem before! Coincidence? Maybe, but I feel no reason to take the risk, I'm doing fine without IF!
I suggest you try it and see if it works for you, but if it doesn't, don't think you have to suffer through it to lose weight. It's not necessary and doesn't fit everyone!

I'd just like to add that some people are talking about IF (intermittent fasting), and you should do your research before hand on the risks. I don't at all want to trash IF because I know many healthy women out there swear by it. But many say their bodies can't handle it. There has been little research into it for women, but what has been found it that it could POSSIBLY create fertility problems. Again, I don't want to trash it because I totally believe it can work fine for some and not for others. In my own experience, I found it great for the first month.. Until I didn't get my period. And then a few weeks later, I started eating normally again and I got my period almost straight away. I'm 18 years old, very healthy and have never had this problem before! Coincidence? Maybe, but I feel no reason to take the risk, I'm doing fine without IF!
I suggest you try it and see if it works for you, but if it doesn't, don't think you have to suffer through it to lose weight. It's not necessary and doesn't fit everyone!

Well I would think that doing research goes without saying.....
Anyone looking to lose weight, or get in shape should do their research.

I am not telling the OP to do IF.....
I am giving my personal opinion in regards to her question....
And to illustrate the point that if you don't eat before your workout, you will not collapse and die.

I understand what you are saying, but you can't really illustrate anything because everyone is different. If I tried to do that I would certainly collapse (not die, but I would faint mid-workout for sure).

The before vs. after thing is a matter of preference for most people. About when you start raising the eyebrows of most non-athletes is when it starts to matter, and at that point the answer will be yes to both and possibly during as well.

I tend to get an upset stomach if I eat before I exercise. When I do my exercise in the morning, I roll out of bed, get dressed, and go straight downstairs to the gym. I also can't eat immediately after exercise for the same reason, so it's usually 30-45 minutes after a.m. exercise that I eat anything. For afternoon exercise if I feel like I need a snack I try to do that at least 30 minutes before to give my food time to settle.

You should do what feels right for you. As many others have stated, in the end, the thing that matters most is maintaining a caloric deficit. If you don't know which is best for you, try it both ways and decide after you've experienced both.

I found it great for the first month.. Until I didn't get my period. And then a few weeks later, I started eating normally again and I got my period almost straight away. I'm 18 years old, very healthy and have never had this problem before! Coincidence? Maybe, but I feel no reason to take the risk, I'm doing fine without IF!

I find this typical for most everyone that anything different must be bad. You have spent 216 months eating every few hours and after 1 month of restricting your eating window you call it quits. IF is about overcoming the attachment to food and the horrible effect having it all day has on your body. Lastly, saying you would 'certainly collapse' is completely untrue. You should know if you did it for a month. Did you collapse at every workout?

To the OP - your body will tell you what to do. Anyone can provide proof that fasting or not fasting will be most effective. Research is based on what the paying customer wants the researcher to prove. Try it yourself and see how you feel.

I'm not the one who said they would collapse. Someone else did. Just to be clear, I said that it didn't work for me but I know it can work for some and that OP should try it herself to find out. You can't argue with that.

I found it great for the first month.. Until I didn't get my period. And then a few weeks later, I started eating normally again and I got my period almost straight away. I'm 18 years old, very healthy and have never had this problem before! Coincidence? Maybe, but I feel no reason to take the risk, I'm doing fine without IF!

I find this typical for most everyone that anything different must be bad. You have spent 216 months eating every few hours and after 1 month of restricting your eating window you call it quits. IF is about overcoming the attachment to food and the horrible effect having it all day has on your body. Lastly, saying you would 'certainly collapse' is completely untrue. You should know if you did it for a month. Did you collapse at every workout?

To the OP - your body will tell you what to do. Anyone can provide proof that fasting or not fasting will be most effective. Research is based on what the paying customer wants the researcher to prove. Try it yourself and see how you feel.

I'm not the one who said they would collapse. Someone else did. Just to be clear, I said that it didn't work for me but I know it can work for some and that OP should try it herself to find out. You can't argue with that.

It really does not work for everyone. I have cortisol issues, so I NEED to have at least a little something in the morning or my blood sugar will skyrocket. Now combine morning cortisol with the cortisol spike you get from cardio, and you have a disaster on your hands. I did IF a few times just for the heck of it, and the only way it kinda-sorta worked for me is if my meal was breakfast, but that's social suicide you know...