is it better to eat before or after a workout if your goal is fat loss or weight loss and
what should you eat what are the best foods to eat before or after your workouts to really maximize
the workout and maximize your results that is exactly what i'm going to answer for you in this
video today as a fitness studio owner where i do personal training and small group classes as well
as an online fitness coach i get this question on a regular basis and i love to use questions like
this to make my videos because i figure if all of my clients are asking me this question i'm sure
all of you have the exact same questions but if you're new here welcome my name is michelle
roots kinesiologist personal trainer nutrition coach fitness and fat loss motivation specialist
this channel is all about helping you on your fitness and fat loss journey by answering all
the questions regarding nutrition and exercise that you might have so make sure you subscribe
to my channel and hit that bell to be notified so you don't miss out when i release new videos every
single week if you're already subscribed welcome back to my channel and of course i hope this video
was helpful for you too make sure you watch this video all the way to the end i'm gonna break down
should you be eating before or after your workouts and without getting too scientific
on you i'm gonna try and keep it as simple as possible why you should be eating before or why
you should be eating after your workouts if your goal is fat loss or weight loss then i'm going
to give you an extra bonus of five sample meal or snack ideas for pre-workout and five sample meal
or snack ideas for post-workout so whether you work out in the morning in the afternoon or in
the evening i'm gonna answer all your questions in this video today here we go let's start by talking
about pre-workout should you be eating before you workout so there are two ways to look at this so
some people for example work out first thing in the morning i have clients that come see me at 6am
some of them don't eat it all before they work out some of them do in the end in the big picture
working out that early in the morning it does come down to a personal preference but i'll tell you
my personal preference is if i work out at six a.m i'm getting up and i'm eating something and having
a coffee of course at around 5am to help that digest and i'll tell you the number one reason
why i always eat something before i work out is because it fuels me through my workout so there
are a few factors you want to look at what type of workout are you doing what time is your workout at
when was their last meal or snack that you had prior to your workout do you have enough fuel to
get you through your workout so one thing i tell my clients i've had clients come in to see me
to do a workout that say three o'clock in the afternoon or four o'clock in the afternoon
and we're about halfway through the workout and they start losing gas they're running out of gas
and they're dying and i say when was the last time you ate and they say 10 a.m and i say why
because i'm trying to decrease my calories and i'm trying to not eat enough but now
because you didn't eat enough you don't have enough fuel to push you through your workouts
if your goal is to get stronger and get leaner and blast more body fat and increase your metabolism
you need fuel in your body to push you through the workouts because those workouts are what get you
the results when you're looking at a pre-workout meal or snack you want to go carbohydrates and
protein so again with working out early in the morning i would say it comes down to preference
and it comes down to the type of workout you're doing if you're getting up to just do an easy 30
minute light jog on the treadmill or jog outside i personally would still probably eat a little bit
of carbohydrates before but the average person might be able to go and do fasted cardio that's
totally fine as long as you don't feel like you're getting gassed out or as long as you don't feel
light-headed while you're exercising it might be a trial and error kind of thing as well until you
find what is best for you that's okay as well but the main thing you want to think about is
food is fuel if you follow me on instagram or tic tac or anywhere on social media i am
constantly hashtag food is fuel because it's true starving your body will not get you anywhere so
in the grand scheme of things working out early in the morning small snack that can be quickly
digested stick to carbohydrates and protein and the same goes for an afternoon workout and an
evening workout so again if you know you are working out at 4 pm you want to try and eat a
carb and protein heavy meal about 3 to 4 hours before that so if you're having lunch around 12
or 1 o'clock you want to make sure you're eating your pre-workout meal then carb heavy and proteins
you can add a little bit of fats because you do have three to four hours for that food to digest
before your workout and again whether you have a pre-workout snack say at 2 30 or 3 o'clock
leading up to about an hour to an hour and a half before your workout depends on the intensity of
that workout if you are going into the gym and you are planning to hit some pr's and you are
lifting heavy and you're doing an intense like one hour strength session maybe a metabolic type
workout with battle ropes and sprints and all that you need to put some fuel in your body because
again that's going to maximize the potential in your workout and allow your body to really push
and get the results in the gym so there you go that's the simplest breakdown of what happens if
you're eating before a workout and why it might be beneficial for you to eat something before
your workout again this comes down to personal preference if you find that you personally are
able to get up for a six a.m workout and crush your workout you feel energized you feel great
without eating anything in the morning good on you and go for it because that works for you
but again there is no cookie cutter recipe of what will work for everybody basic science of why you
want to eat a small snack or a meal three to four hours before your workout is to fuel your body
through that workout so that's just something to think about before your next workout so let's talk
now about post workout nutrition should you eat after a workout how long after a workout should
you eat what kind of foods should you be taking in after a workout so again this all depends on
when was the last time you ate and what type of workout you did so for example again let's
go back to the strength training example so if you had a small snack before your workout you do
an intense one hour of strength training maybe metabolic training where you're really really
blasting calories and pushing your body to the extreme your goal in that workout most likely is
to build strength build lean muscle in order to again blast body fat decrease your weight on the
scale feel amazing look leaner all of these things so in order to help your body recover from that
intense workout and begin to recover after that workout you want to give your body again some fuel
and nutrition to help with that process so there are so many different theories you will find on
the internet from many different people and again i don't think there's one right way or wrong way
i would say within an hour after your workout try and consume some kind of higher protein
snap getting protein right after your workout is gonna help your muscles rebuild and recover
after your workouts and i'll just give you a quick explanation of what happens when you're
doing a strength training workout so for example i'm doing really heavy bicep curls okay what's
happening in my muscle is i'm actually breaking down the muscle fibers so we're breaking down all
those muscle fibers that's what causes that muscle soreness because our muscle fibers are breaking
down because we're lifting weights and we're challenging those muscles so when you then recover
after your workouts your muscles are rebuilding that protein helps with the rebuilding of your
muscles in turn making them bigger and stronger again increase your metabolism again decreasing
your body fat so this is something you want to think about when you're looking at a post-workout
snack or meal so just like pre-workout nutrition post-workout nutrition again is on an individual
basis if you are someone who's not really hungry after your workout if i do a really really intense
workout i'm not usually really hungry after it'll usually kick in about one to two hours
after my workout so what you can normally do if you are someone who doesn't get hungry a lot
even some protein powder and water a glass of chocolate milk or something that's just gonna help
begin that rebuilding process and again what i call hanger prevention so you don't want to get to
the point where you know it's after your workout you go home you shower you do your thing and then
you're making your meal and you're actually so hungry by that point because you didn't have
anything post-workout that you're actually eating everything in sight or you feel weak or you feel
tired because you didn't have that post-workout meal and now you're eating everything in sight
and taking in way too many calories while you're cooking or making the meal that you're supposed to
have as your post-workout meal so that's something to think about when you're looking at what you
should eat after a workout again if you're going out for a light jog or you're going for a walk
or you're doing some light yoga these are things that you don't really have to look
at your pre and post workout timing you should just be making sure you're fueling your body
properly with carbohydrates proteins and good fats just like i say in all of my other nutrition
videos you'll find on this channel i'll link some of them below if you want to check them out
remember that food is fuel starving your body is not the way to go giving your body ample nutrition
to do what you're asking of it is the most important thing you'll probably find a bunch
of other videos on youtube that are going to get a lot more scientific with you about
pre and post workout meals snacks timing all of that stuff again this video is more
for beginners i just want to break it down for you simply to change your mindset from dieting
to fueling your body and making it do what you want it to do to get the results that you want
now i'm going to give you five simple meal or snack ideas you can eat before your workout to
fuel your body and as i said before your pre-workout meal you want to include carbohydrates
and proteins so carbohydrates as much as everybody is scared of them
they are the best fuel source for a strength training workout so when you eat carbohydrates
they are stored in your muscles as glycogen and that is actually fuel for your muscles
to push you through a workout to get gains to hit prs all of those things again protein is great
as well but do not be scared of carbohydrates pre-workout idea number one oats so quick oats
steel cut oats it's a slow digesting carbohydrate a little bit of protein in there i'll tell you my
pre-workout and actually the breakfast i eat every single morning whether i'm working out or
not or just training clients half a cup of oatmeal half a banana and a little bit of almond butter
it fuels me through my workouts it fuels me through training clients idea number two
some whole grain toast and either a little bit of peanut butter and some banana on top you
could have a little bit of avocado and some lean meat or a hard-boiled egg a little bit
of fat is okay as well especially if it's peanut butter or almond butter or avocado
it's a little bit slower digesting in your body but they're also very high in nutrients and a
great fuel source for your body idea number three a fruit smoothie so scoop of protein powder some
fruit some almond milk or water ice blend it up i always add spinach to my smoothies because why
not it's just extra greens and drink that again this will come down to personal preference so if
you're working out first thing in the morning and you're having a coffee you're probably not going
to want to have a fruit smoothie as well because you're going to be peeing your entire workout so
that's something again personal preference often if i'm working out around 4 or 5 p.m
i'll have a fruit smoothie around 3 o'clock or 3 30 and that's gonna fuel me through my workout
and then hold me over until i have my dinner after my workout number four
plain greek yogurt super high in protein you can throw in half a banana or some other fruit
you could throw in a little bit of granola or some hemp seeds or chia seeds you're going to
get a little bit of carbohydrate and you're going to get your protein and again that's
going to be a great fuel source number five this is a great one if you have three to four hours
before your workout for this food to digest sweet potatoes or rice vegetables and chicken super easy
that's something you can make in advance you can meal prep that but again a bigger meal like that
i would say at least three hours before your workout you should be eating that to make sure
your body can digest it and really get that food into your muscles so you can crush your workout
okay now let's talk about five post-workout snack or meal ideas again remember why you want to get
something in after your workout refuel re-energize and recover from your workouts i'm not going to
touch base in this video about any supplements so pre-workouts bcaas and the benefits of all those
if you are interested you could probably google it and there'll be a bunch of videos on that
as well maybe if you want me to make a video about specific supplements let me know in the
comments below i'd be happy to do that but again i want to keep this video as simple as possible
number one for post workout of course protein powder and water protein powder and almond milk
a fruit smoothie or just a glass of chocolate milk this is a great option to have in your gym bag to
drink on the way home after workout so when you get home you can shower you can do your thing
and you're not in a rush to quickly eat and then you have a little something in your system so that
then one to two hours later when it's time to cook a meal or eat a meal you're not ravenous
and you've done a little bit of muscle recovery already by getting that protein into your system
right after your workout and then you can sit down and eat a proper meal idea number two this
is great if you are working out in the morning you get home from your morning workout an egg omelette
egg white omelet with a bunch of veggies and maybe half an avocado and a piece of toast solid
meal loaded with protein carbs and good fats to help your body recover from your workout and fuel
you through the rest of your day number three this is great if you work out late at night and
you have eaten dinner before your workout and then you get home later at night but you want
to eat something to help your body recover but you don't want to have a big meal plain greek
yogurt or cottage cheese and berries and maybe a little bit of peanut butter or almond butter
very good for your system high in protein good carbs and will help your body recover number
four was also included in our pre-workout food but in our post-workout i'm looking at oats but what
i like to do if i'm eating them after my workout i like to get a little bit more protein in so i will
add a scoop of protein powder into my oats mix it up with half a banana and some peanut butter
it is oh so tasty filling and solid to help your body recover from your workout and number five
tuna salad chicken salad maybe mixed with a little bit of mayo or with avocado on a piece of toast
great source of protein and again carbs and good fats so those are just five simple ideas there
are so many more i'm just giving you kind of my favorite go-to's let me know in the comments if
you have any questions about would this be a good pre-workout or post-workout but i do hope that
everything i've kind of explained in this video will help you decide
if a food is great for pre-workout or post-workout based on its nutrient profile so there you have it
is it better to eat before or after a workout if your goal is fat loss or weight loss it really
depends right i guess that's the sum of this video is there are benefits to both pros and cons and i
think it comes down to you as an individual what type of workouts you're doing what are your goals
what kind of foods you're eating and what time of day you are working out so i hope all of the
information i provided in this video will help you make a better decision as to whether or not you
should be fueling your body before your workout and after your workout most likely the answer is
yes but again i'll let you make that call based on the information i provided today another great
resource you want to check out is the video i posted last week my best low calorie high protein
snacks i'm giving you all of my favorites and these are also great for pre and post workout i'll
link that video in the description below and if your goal is to lose fat and gain muscle to appear
leaner check out this video right here i break it all down for you the best case scenario of what
you want to do if your goal is to appear leaner and stronger i'll link that in the description
below as well so thanks so much for watching you guys if this video was helpful make sure you give
it a like and of course don't forget to subscribe to my channel and i'll see you guys next week
bye