should i eat before or after i workout?
There’s plenty of evidence showing how important nutrition is for exercise, from enhancing performance to aiding recovery but it’s often confusing to know whether it’s best to eat before or after you exercise.
To answer this, you should first consider what you’re training for, as your goal could influence whether you'll benefit more from eating before or after.
Secondly, you need to consider the level that you’re training at. As an elite athlete’s needs are completely different from a beginner and probably influences how much energy from food is needed and even the quantity of meals.
And lastly, you need to think about what works for you. Some people thrive when training in a fasted state, while for others, it’s the complete opposite.
So let's workout what method is best for you.
Make sure to consider your goals and workout style
When it comes to the eating/not eating debate, workout type matters. You might make it through an hour of pilates without stomach growls interrupting your flow but you’re unlikely to make it through a 10-mile run without some kind of nutritional boost.
Longer duration endurance sports have seen evidence of improvement after a high-carb meal 3 to 4 hours before. For shorter duration workouts, the science is still mixed. Most research shows little difference in performance between fasted and fed exercise in workouts lasting less than an hour. Your best bet? If you know you’ll be putting in the time for a longer workout or really want to go all out, make sure you have enough energy with a small meal a few hours before.
Eating Before Exercise
When we exercise, our bodies need energy. This energy is supplied by fuel, either stored in our bodies (as carbohydrate in our liver and muscles, or from fat stores), or from the food we eat. If the exercise is demanding or if we exercise for a long time, we use more stored carbohydrate (known as glycogen). Studies show that carbohydrates in our diet are important in topping up our glycogen stores between bouts of exercise and when eaten before exercise sessions.
If your energy is somewhat low, or you’re doing a longer or more demanding session, consuming carbohydrate-rich foods – such as pasta, rice, cereals or fruit – around three to four hours before exercise can help provide the energy you need to keep moving.
Eating After Exercise
On the flip side, however, recent research has demonstrated that training in a fasted state, for example, first thing in the morning, before breakfast can lead to positive adaptations linked with efficient fuel use and fat burning. This doesn’t necessarily mean greater weight loss, but it could optimise fuel efficiency, which may be important for those training for a marathon to help delay fatigue. Fasted training could also have other health benefits such as improved blood sugar and hormone regulation.
But if we think about the point of training, it’s all down to how we recover and adapt from it. This is where nutrition has a significant role to play. Of course, we are aware of the important role protein plays in repairing muscles and speeding up recovery time.
But early research has shown the benefits of eating carbohydrates after exercise to restore muscle glycogen will affect our ability to train many times a week, by helping muscles recover faster, it’s also shown to affect how well we perform.
Pre workout: if you do not want to train fasted a bowl of high-protein , natural yogurt with fruit and low sugar granola is an excellent pre-workout snack. The combination of easily digestible carbohydrates from the fruit and granola will provide quick sustained energy whilst the Greek yogurt is rich in protein supporting muscle repair and recovery during exercise.
Post workout: if you are looking for a post workout snack before your next balanced meal try roasting some chickpeas. With a 1:3 protein-to-carb ratio these beans are great for releasing slow energy maintaining blood sugar levels post exercise whilst containing plant-protein for muscle repair. Plus they are packed with nutrients.
