To Eat or Not To Eat…Before Exercise – that is the question we hear often from people not only following Chris’ Carb Cycling program in his book Choose to Lose
but those just working out to stay fit or following their own dietary plan.
The good news is there really isn?t a right or wrong answer to this question! ?Well, that?s helpful,? you?re probably saying. But it?s true. Whether or not you eat before a workout depends on your body, when you exercise, and how long you exercise. Here are some basic guidelines:
- If you exercise first thing in the morning, you can get away with not eating anything or you can eat a light snack. Some ideas: a banana, a piece of bread (plain or toasted, and whole wheat, of course!), a bit of natural peanut butter, etc.
- If you workout later in the day, it?s probably best to wait 30-45 minutes after eating before you exercise, and even longer if your last meal was on the heavy side.
- If your workout is longer than 60 minutes, it?s a good idea to eat a light snack before exercising because you don?t want your body to run out of energy before your workout is finished.
- What works best for me is to split my meal in two and eat half before I exercise and half after I?m finished. That way I have some extra energy for my workout.
One caution: Some people experience nausea or, shall we say, ?intestinal distress? if they eat before exercising, so if you choose to eat pre-workout, start small and gauge how your body reacts.
And the most important thing to remember is to listen to your body. Figuring out what works best for you might take a little bit of trial and error, but once you figure it out, you?ll be good to go. Literally.
78 Responses
Does eating before help with headaches? I get headaches after working out. Thanks!
I’m not sure if eating will help but I often get a headache when I work out hard. It could be from dehydration. Try increasing your water and see if that helps.
Water! Water will help. Make sure you stay really hydrated. If you work out in the morning, drink a lot of water before bed.
I used to get terrible headaches on the days I ran in the morning. I found that drinking a small dose of caffeine right after my run would keep my headaches away. I heard somewhere that if you have a low blood pressure this can be common, and caffeine can help. Try a cup of coffee after your workout 🙂
I normally work out late in the afternoon and if I had eaten less than 3 hours prior my work out, I experience “intestinal distress” or nausea; therefore I either dont eat anything before working out or I just grab a couple of peanuts and that’s it. 🙂
Heidi,
Can you please tell the best way to start working out? I guess what I really want to is toget myself “goals” of 3 months at a time to loose the weight I need to, but not real sure how to get started or what to do.
Thanks
If you are following the carb cycling program and you split your breakfast as suggested, would you count your three hours from the time you finish the first half or the second half? I’ve been waking up at 6:00 and going to the gym around 6:30. So if I eat a piece of fruit before I go (to get something in my system 30 minutes within waking up) and maybe drink a protein shake after I am done working out, would I count three hours from the apple or the shake? Thanks!
Did you ever get a reply? I’m wondering the same thing. Thanks!
You’d start your three hours from the time you eat the first half. Learn more here: https://heidipowell.net/9194/qa-with-the-powells-to-eat-or-not-to-eat/.
Heidi,
I hope you can help. I’m wondering why my body doesn’t respond to the LC and HC days? I recently read Chris’ book cover-to-cover and followed his rules of eating 1200 calories on a LC day(carbs in the morning, protein and fat for other 4 meals) and then on a 1500 calorie HC day (carbs and protein at all meals, no fat). I followed this for 4 weeks. I also had my cheat day on Sunday 🙂 Still following the rules of course 🙂 Each week I’d weight myself and be super frustrated with the fact that the weight was not coming off. I’d see my husband have great success (yes, I know – don’t compare!)but I wasn’t losing any weight. I did notice the inches come off but I wanted the pounds to come off.
If I stick to a 1200 calorie/day (with carbs) I can lose 0.5lbs/day. Do you think my body feels like I’m starving it without the carbs? Could it be my hypothyroidism (I take medication for this) that doesn’t let me cut out carbs and lose weight? Am I burning too many carbs at the gym? I’m just a little bit confused as to what is going on. I’ve lost 55lbs and have another 30lbs to go to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Yes, I put on way too much weight but it was a rough few years trying to get pregnant. That’s all in the past and I want to move forward with a clean, healthy body!
Hope you have some suggestions for me!
Thank you so much,
Heidi, Will you tell me what a typical low carb day and a typical high carb day of eating looks like for you? I am nearly finished reading “Choose More, Lose More for Life” and will work on ‘making meals’ but it sure would help to see a full low/high carb day for you. Thanks in advance!
On option 2 where you can eat a “Free meal once per day on high carb day except dinner, which meal do you consider dinner?? The last mean at 7pm or is that a snack?
The 5th meal is “dinner”.
A simple trick to preventing catabolism (muscle loss) when working out in the morning on an empty stomach is to consume a free form amino acid drink before and during the workout. This won’t make you feel yucky since essentially they are already pre digested.
I swear I’ve heard you say it is best (or perhaps you burn more fat) if you workout first thing in the morning BEFORE breakfast as you will burn off fat rather then the calories from breakfast???
Hey there heidi!
Whats your vision on Intermittend fasting?
my first meal is at 13:00 hours and my last meal at 20:00 hours. eating window is 8 hours. good or not ?
Chris and I recommend eating 5 meals a day, start within 30 minutes of waking, and eat every 3 hours until all 5 meals are gone.