Can You Eat Before Working Out?
It is generally safe to eat before working out, but the specific timing and type of food you choose can affect your performance and comfort during exercise. Eating a small snack or meal before exercising can provide your body with the energy it needs to sustain your physical activity. This can help you perform at your best and avoid feeling tired or weak during your workout.
You want to eat enough to provide energy and fuel your muscles through the duration of the workout, but you also want to make sure that you are eating early and in small amounts so your meals do not sit heavy in your stomach, slowing you down during your workout. The foods you eat before, during, and after your workouts not only impact your performance, but also affect your comfort. While there might be a few obvious foods that you want to avoid eating before working out (ice cream and pizza, we are looking at you), there are some less obvious foods and food habits you are consuming or engaging in prior to your workouts that are not doing your body any favors. This means being intentional about what you eat before and after exercising will help you maximize the benefits from all that hard work you put in at the gym.
Eating a snack or meal that is high in protein and carbohydrates immediately following a workout will help make sure that you are giving your body the energy it needs to replenish what it used. Having a proper carbohydrate intake before your workout will make sure your body has the energy it needs to do a good job. In the 20-60 minutes following a workout, the muscles may be able to store carbohydrates and proteins for energy and help with recovery. A good way to begin your recovery is by eating a snack of carbohydrates and a moderate amount of protein, along with fluids and sodium, within 30 minutes of exercising.
| Is it okay to eat before working out? | What are the ideal eating times before a workout? |
| Eating 2-3 hours before a workout session will help you feel energetic during workout. | If you are going for a 30-60 minute workout session, then have a pre-exercise meal 2-3 hours prior to it. |
| It may also help you in building up strength and fitness even faster. | If you are going for a cardio workout, having a 100-200 calorie snack 1-2 hours before it will be best for you. |
If you are feeling worse at work after eating a suitable snack, add 10 minutes to the starting time. If time is tight, make the portions a larger portion of one snack, and have it approximately 45 minutes before gym time.
Make sure to eat a decent meal 3 or 4 hours before a dinner or late-night training session, or have a quick snack about 30-60 minutes beforehand. If you are exercising later in the day, I suggest having a snack 30 minutes to an hour before you workout, or working out two or three hours after eating a well-balanced meal. If you are going to eat a large pre-workout meal, aim for eating two or three hours before working out. If you are working out later in the day, and have eaten your meals within the past two or three hours, you should be OK doing the workout with no extra fuel sources pre-workout, says McDaniel.
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If you are exercising later in the morning for more than an hour, breakfast is probably going to be your primary fueling meal for the workout. If you know that you are going to put in time for a longer workout, or if you truly want to push yourself hard, ensure that you are fueled adequately by eating a smaller meal several hours beforehand. Generally, you should not have to eat before exercising, unless you are typically running out of energy when working out, or if it is been more than a couple hours since you ate your last meal. If you are working out first thing in the morning, chances are that you are not going to have time to have a full meal before hitting the gym.
You need to have a whole meal within one hour after your workout is over, so that you are more efficient at digesting carbohydrates and proteins and getting them back into your muscles. The general guidelines are to have a full meal three or four hours before your workout, a high-carb meal two hours beforehand, and/or small, easy-to-digest carbohydrates just before starting. Depending on how much you are eating, give yourself between one to four hours to properly digest your pre-exercise meal. If your lead time is much shorter–a pre-7am training session, for instance–eating a smaller, less-than-300-400-calorie meal an hour or so before your event may suffice.
To build up energy for the duration of the workout, the individual should consume complex carbohydrates 2-3 hours in advance, with any simple carbohydrates consumed 30–60 minutes beforehand. The majority of nutrients in the pre-workout meal should be carbohydrates, since these macronutrients fuel the body right away. Since glucose is the preferable energy source for most exercises, your pre-workout meal should consist of foods high in carbohydrates and that are easy to digest, like pasta, fruits, breads, energy bars, and energy drinks. In general, it is recommended that you have a mix of some proteins and carbohydrates to maintain energy and build muscle before a workout, says Kate Patton, R.D., a sports nutrition specialist at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.
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Combining some of the sources of lean protein mentioned above with faster-digesting carbohydrates an hour or so before a workout will make sure you are getting the nutritional kick you need to continue building muscle. If it is been awhile since your last meal, and you would like to refuel with a pre-workout snack, try eating a meal that includes an easy-to-digest carb like grains, fruits, or vegetables, along with a protein like dairy, meat, or a protein powder like collagen peptides or whey protein isolate). If you are going for a cardio workout, a 100- to 200-calorie snack should be high-carb, moderate-protein, low-fat (but do not necessarily go all-fat).
The farther your workout is from when you are eating, the larger and more amixeda your food should be, meaning that it may have some fat and protein on top of the carbohydrates. Meanwhile, those exercising 60 minutes to 90 minutes may benefit from a meal that is heavier in carbohydrates and lighter in protein and fat, says Nina Colbe. For people who are not athletes, refueling with pre-workout meals can be the best way to reap the biggest benefits of fat burning. Pre-Workout Fuel For best performance, your body needs protein and carbohydrates to power it before you work out.
Eating a light meal about a half-hour before a workout will let you go into it with the most energy–and pairing a complex carb with a lean protein is the best way to power up. If you are working out for more than an hour in the first part of the day, you should always have a small meal of easily digested carbohydrates — such as the options mentioned above — to give you the necessary energy to keep you going throughout the workout, says Kate Patton. While body size, age, sex, metabolic rate, gastric motility, and training type are all factors to consider when it comes to timing meals, most peoples ideal eating times are around 2 to 4 hours before their workout.
Whenever you try a new food or drink prior to exercise, you run the risk of having your body reacting in negative ways, potentially leading to upset stomach, gas, heartburn, or the like.
Is it bad if I eat before a workout?
Despite the best pre-workout meal or snack choice, consuming it the minute before you begin your workout is not a good idea. As your digestive system competes with the rest of your body for blood and oxygen, you will lose weight and have difficulty building and repairing your muscles because of the lack of oxygen.
What should you not eat before a workout?
It is essential to avoid eating greasy fried foods such as burgers, fries, and pizza before you go to the gym, as these foods contain saturated fats that remain in the digestive system for a long time and make it harder for you to digest them. Food bloating, cramps and diarrhea are possible side effects of these foods.
Do you burn more calories if you eat before or after a workout?
Does calorie burning increase when exercising on an empty stomach? No, whether or not you exercise on an empty stomach has no bearing on how many calories you burn while exercising. The calories you burn will, however, primarily come from fat reserves.