My clients often ask me what to eat before and after a workout. Let’s talk about that in this post – what pre and post workout meal timing to follow and what exactly you should eat so that your training brings maximum benefit.

Three options

Let’s look at the three options that raise the most questions: working out early in the morning, working out in the afternoon, and working out in the evening.

In general, that is normal for the regime to shift and change slightly to fit the workout schedule.

It’s normal to move meals in time or split them into two parts. In general, you need to make small rearrangements and shifts to fit a workout into your routine and meals.

Nutrition Nuances.

Many people who want to lose weight pay too much attention to various nutrition nuances.

They are concerned about what to eat before, during, and after the workout. In practice, all these questions are not so important as the overall nutrition during the day, during the week.

❕It’s the overall nutrition context that determines the final result

And all these fat burners, L-carnitines, BCAAs, anabolic windows, and so on are just small touches to the big picture where balanced nutrition and proper work out are the main elements: 90% of success in weight normalization depends on the big picture of nutrition and training.

The nutrition nuances around workout are no more than 5% of the effect.

They are just nuances and nothing more. They are essential for people with ideal nutrition and workout programs.

If you have adequate nutrition and a proper exercise program, the results will be brilliant even without anabolic windows and all of the above.

It’s just important not to overeat before a workout and not to leave a long hunger gap after a workout. And it’s wise to limit carbohydrate intake in the second part of a day.

Please note, many people try to disguise their overall poor nutrition with these fancy supplements like carnitine. And also with extreme workouts. But these “efforts” bring nothing but frustration. It’s the whole context that counts, not the separated efforts.

It also doesn’t make sense to keep calorie intake on 1,200 calories or less all the time. That will slow down your metabolism, negating any exercise effort. Also, few people would want to eat 1000-1200 calories a day for the rest of their lives.

As soon as they return to old nutrition (and this happens in the form of a “breakdown”), the body immediately begins to put on weight, preparing for a new stressful period of hunger.

As a result, these people will gain even more weight.

Workout In The Morning

If you manage to work out between breakfast and lunch, there’s nothing complicated here. Have a good breakfast, start working out an hour and a half later. After the workout, have lunch.

Questions arise if a person gets up early, and the only time he can carve out for a workout is from 6 to 7 am. Then your schedule might look like this:
Wake up, wash your face, drink half a glass of clean water.

In 5-10 minutes, you should have a small meal. For example, it may include a cup of coffee (its light, refreshing effect will make the workout more intensive), a couple of slices of low-fat cheese, a small toast, or a cracker. Many people would prefer fruit (half a banana, apricots, smoothies, etc.).

But the idea is to take a simple shake of protein powder (half a measuring spoon) and pure water. You can replace water with nonfat soy milk.

Already in 10-15 minutes, it will be possible to start a workout.

In short, you should organize your morning so that you have about half an hour before the training. Have a light snack, check your email or Facebook, make a plan for the day, and then start your workout.

Some clients and readers complain that they can’t eat anything at all early in the morning.

In this case, you should limit yourself to clean water and exercise on an empty stomach. That is acceptable if it doesn’t cause unpleasant feelings and if the workout lasts no more than 1-1.5 hours.

During your morning workout, it is useful to drink water from time to time (every 10 minutes), or better – a shaker with dissolved BCAA amino acids (about 5 g per 300-400 ml of water). That will provide your muscles with the right amino acids.

After the workout, once your heart rate normalizes and you stop sweating, you can take a shower and have a complete breakfast according to your nutrition plan.

If you use sports nutrition, your post-workout menu might look like this:
Ten minutes after the training, take a protein shake made of whey protein and water, after half an hour or an hour later – a full breakfast.

Workout During The Day

That is the most uncomplicated and most convenient time. Just shift your meals so you could eat 1.5 to 2 hours before and immediately after your workout.

The use of sports nutrition will considerably enrich your diet.

BCAA amino acids during exercise and whey protein with pure water after training will provide muscles with the necessary protein and minimum calories.

Workout In The Evening

The problem with a morning workout was “what to eat before it?” But with the evening training, you will face another question – “what to eat after it?“

For this case, I give you two options:
1.? Split your dinner into two parts.
For example, you have dinner at 6 pm. From 7 to 7.30 pm, you start working out. So, at 6 pm, eat half of your planned dinner: half a protein meal, half a vegetable meal, half a salad meal. 15-20 minutes after your workout, eat the other half of your dinner.

2.? Use sports nutrition.
At 6 pm, you have a full dinner, and after your workout, take one scoop of whey protein mixed with 200-300 milliliters of pure water. And for the night, eat a couple of boiled egg whites.

Try both and choose a more comfortable option.

Conclusion

As you can see, there is nothing complicated in pre and post-workout meal timing. Just follow these recommendations, and you will get good results. However, remember that the outcome will depend on proper nutrition, exercise program, and your approach – on your discipline, motivation, and willingness to get what you want to!