The Right Meal Before Exercise

During this mornings boot camp class, a camper said he was feeling nauseated and light headed. When I asked him what he ate before, he answered with the far too common, "nothing". I decided I would like to inform everyone about the importance of pre-workout nutrition.

You can’t starve your way to fitness. You must eat the right foods in order to achieve your goals. Whether you want to look thinner or more ripped, gain muscle mass, or just have more energy, food is your friend. That being said, feeding your body before a workout to generate the most amount of energy, create the chance to burn as many calories as possible, and fit into your real time schedule can be a bit of a dance.

To those of you who think not eating before exercising is a great thing to do you could not be further from the truth. First of all, if you are going to work out in the morning your body has just burned 80% of your glycogen (main energy source that is stored in your liver and muscles for energy) while you were sleeping. So you need to replenish your energy reserves to help your body work efficiently and to have enough energy to actually do the “work” in working out. I know you are probably thinking that you will burn more fat and get those shredded abs alot faster this way but the body just doesn’t work like that. Think of it as a car and gasoline, the car can only function when there is gasoline in it but if it is empty then guess what, it will not move. The same can be said for your body.

If you don’t normally eat in the morning then start off with small meals to get you accustomed to eating first thing. If you don’t want to eat, it’s fine to go the smoothie route, which is rich with nutrients. Oatmeal is great to sustain your energy. And for something quick and to the point, a banana with almond or peanut butter for a solid burst of energy is also great. Remember the goal is here to burn up body fat and build up your muscles.

To give you an idea of how we burn through different types of food, it takes four to six hours to digest fat, three hours to digest protein, and two hours to digest carbohydrates. I wouldn’t eat too much fiber long before or right after exercise since it can cause bloating and a bit of an irritation in your GI tract.

If you only have fifteen minutes as you head from work to boot camp, then drink a smoothie. Try rice or almond milk as your base, throw in some frozen fruit, powdered protein, a banana–and if you are getting wild, some greens–and off you go. If you feel like getting crazy you can add flaxseed meal for thickness and some Udo’s oil.

No, potato chips aren’t a great pre-work out meal, and watch out for energy bars. Eating too many sugary bars can work against you in the weight area: Some are not that far off nutritionally from a Snickers.

Remember “food is your friend!”

I hope this helps clear up any confusion about your pre-workout nutrition questions.