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Everyone knows that athletes must plan and time their meals and snacks very carefully to reach their performance goals. But what about the rest of us? You try to squeeze in 30-60 minutes of exercise most days of the week. Do you have to be careful about what you eat before and after your workouts, too? Usually not. If you’re eating a healthy diet and getting enough calories to support your activity level, you can probably rely on your own appetite, energy levels, and experience to tell you whether you need to eat anything before or after exercise and what it should be. The basic rule here is: Find out what works best for you, and do that. There are some advantages to knowing how your body works and what it needs to perform at its best. The bottom line for healthy weight loss and fitness sounds simple: You have to eat fewer calories than you use up—but not fewer than your body needs to function at its best. The size, timing, and content of your pre- and post-exercise meals and snacks can play an important role in your energy levels during your workout, how well your body recovers and rebuilds after your workout, and whether the calories you eat will be used as fuel or stored as fat. Here’s what you need to eat and drink to get the results you want! Your Pre-Exercise Fluid Needs Being well-hydrated will make your exercise easier and more effective. Try to drink 16-20 ounces of water during the 1-2 hours before starting your workout. Your Pre-Exercise Meal or Snack News flash: Most of the fuel you use during exercise doesn’t come from the food you’ve recently eaten! It actually comes from the carbohydrates (called “glycogen”) and fat that’s stored in your muscles, liver, and fat cells. That’s enough to fuel 1-2 hours of very intense exercise or 3-4 hours of moderate intensity exercise. This means that if your overall diet is adequate to keep your fuel tanks topped off, you may not need to eat anything before you work out. So, if eating before exercise upsets your stomach or you like to exercise first thing in the morning or at a time when eating first isn’t convenient, don’t feel like eating first is a must. Some people do have a hard time exercising without eating first, especially if it’s been a long time since their last meal or snack. These individuals often are more sensitive to changes in their blood sugar levels, which fall during the first 15-20 minutes of workout. That drop in blood sugar can cause tiredness, mild dizziness, or even faintness—especially if your blood sugar was already low, but eating something beforehand can help prevent this. If you have health issues like diabetes or hypoglycemia that can cause low blood sugar, you’ll probably want to eat before your workout. If you get very hungry during a workout (and it interferes with your energy levels or focus), or become so ravenous after an exercise session that you end up overeating, try eating before you hit the gym to avoid these problems. Be sure to "Pin" this image for future reference and read below for more details.  1. Eat a small (100- to 200-calorie) snack about 30 minutes before you work out. This snack should include fast-digesting (high glycemic index) carbohydrates and very little fat (which digests slowly), so that you digest the meal quickly and the fuel is available during your exercise session. Here are some ideas:
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Nutrition Articles › Healthy HabitsWhat to Eat Before You Work OutEating Before Exercise for Maximum Results-- By Dean Anderson, Fitness ExpertSparkPeople advertisers help keep the site free! Learn more
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Dean Anderson
Dean Anderson has master's degrees in human services (behavioral psychology/stress management) and liberal studies. His interest in healthy living began at the age of 50 when he confronted his own morbid obesity and health issues. He joined SparkPeople and lost 150 pounds and regained his health. Dean has earned a personal training certification from ACE and received training as a lifestyle and weight management consultant. See all of Dean's articles. |
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A reverse grip adds challenge to this exercise.
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Member Comments
Second, exercising in the morning with a piece of fruit and 1 cup of milk, your muscles are going to retrieve glucose that is been there in the blood stream for energy. So by this being said, there is less effort for the muscles to uptake energy for your work out. Consequently, glycogen will only leave the liver when low or no glucose flows in the blood. So stored glycogen and fat will always be in their reservours until later in the work out or even not leave their storage places (liver and adipose tissue) at all.
p.s. Information based on my human anatomy and physiology class. - 4/4/2013 1:43:34 AM
Basically unless you're doing a very serious workout you don't need a preworkout snack. But there's still nothing wrong with grabbing a banana an hour or two before so that the sugars are there to make you go harder - 9/24/2012 7:21:59 PM
This is kind of important body science....So, which is it? - 6/20/2012 1:47:56 PM
y/fit people. This has helped me understand why I have such a hard time getting started. The first 15-20 minutes is so hard. I get dizzy, more tired, I feel so heavy and worry I am having heart problems because it scares me. I was recently diagnosed with asthma and thought it was related to that somehow. I had hoped my medicine would be the cure. I now believe that it is the low blood sugar problem you addressed in your article. I will follow your recommendations! I thank you so very much! I am actually, for the first time, looking forward to working out tomorrow! God bless you! SS - 6/12/2012 10:39:49 PM