Before or After?

[Heskey]

Simple question; when going to the gym to lose weight, is it better to eat dinner before or after the gym?

There's a lot of people on the internet who like to talk out their arse (hence why I'm posting here! ) and so there's a 50/50 split between:

Eat before, and you'll burn it off

And

Eat after, because your body still burns calories for about an hour after working out, and you won't simply be working off your dinner when you go TO the gym.

Can people get a straight answer about working out for once in our lives?

PS. I get a stitch regardless when I eat, damn tredmill!

Edited by Heskey on Thursday 6th November 10:13

[supermono]

I always reckon that working a hungry body has to use stored energy/lard. Eat a bit afterwards.

Plus you don't get the stitch.

SM

[Zod]

if you are doing any moderately serious exercise you will throw up if you eat before the gym.

[kambites]

If you were going there to get fit, I'd say before (at least two hours before though). If you're just trying to lose weight, I have no idea.

Helpful aren't I.

[lazyitus]

Avoid eating BEFORE and AFTER if you're looking to lose weight.

[Heskey]

kambites said:

If you were going there to get fit, I'd say before (at least two hours before though). If you're just trying to lose weight, I have no idea.

Helpful aren't I.

Not really xD Cause I'm sort of trying to lose weight & get fit...

I can eat an hour before, but not 2 hours before; I'm not home in time to factor that in before last admissions.

[Dave200]

Zod said:

if you are doing any moderately serious exercise you will throw up if you eat before the gym.

+1 for that.

[Heskey]

Dave200 said:

Zod said:

if you are doing any moderately serious exercise you will throw up if you eat before the gym.

+1 for that.

It's an intense cardio/weight mixed program for about an hour and a half.

[kambites]

Heskey said:

kambites said:

If you were going there to get fit, I'd say before (at least two hours before though). If you're just trying to lose weight, I have no idea.

Helpful aren't I.

Not really xD Cause I'm sort of trying to lose weight & get fit...

I can eat an hour before, but not 2 hours before; I'm not home in time to factor that in before last admissions.

Maybe you need to change the time you're going to the gym then. Personally, I think you need to have eaten between about two and five hours before you go. Something like that.

Longer than five hours and you wont have enough energy. Less than two and you'll make yourself sick.

Edited by kambites on Thursday 6th November 10:19

[Heskey]

Oh and could we have some justifications here along with the vote please?

[elle]

kambites said:

If you were going there to get fit, I'd say before (at least two hours before though). If you're just trying to lose weight, I have no idea.

Helpful aren't I.

[Heskey]

Weeeeeeell this isn't going as well as I hoped.

Half of you say don't eat before because you'll throw up, and half say do eat before you go because... Well, you've not given a reason.

[Arese]

You need carbs for energy before you workout, so maybe have a bowl of Scotts Oats or something an hour before you go the gym. If you're doing weights, be sure to take on some protein within 20 minutes of finishing your session too. I would prefer to eat dinner an hour before I go the gym, but it's sometimes not possible so I'll just have a bowl of soup when I get back.

www.myprotein.co.uk has a great forum at http://forum.myprotein.co.uk/ . Folks on there are very friendly and knowledgeable.

[Heskey]

Arese said:

You need carbs for energy before you workout, so maybe have a bowl of Scotts Oats or something an hour before you go the gym. If you're doing weights, be sure to take on some protein within 20 minutes of finishing your session too. I would prefer to eat dinner an hour before I go the gym, but it's sometimes not possible so I'll just have a bowl of soup when I get back.

www.myprotein.co.uk has a great forum at http://forum.myprotein.co.uk/ . Folks on there are very friendly and knowledgeable.

Cheers

[Matt_N]

Arese said:

You need carbs for energy before you workout, so maybe have a bowl of Scotts Oats or something an hour before you go the gym. If you're doing weights, be sure to take on some protein within 20 minutes of finishing your session too. I would prefer to eat dinner an hour before I go the gym, but it's sometimes not possible so I'll just have a bowl of soup when I get back.

www.myprotein.co.uk has a great forum at http://forum.myprotein.co.uk/ . Folks on there are very friendly and knowledgeable.

I would go with this, carbs to fuel your body for its workout.

I also like to take in some protein at the sametime as carbs, so that its 'on tap' during exercise.

Losing weight is about eating the right balance of food and doing enough exercise in order to burn your energy (fat) reserves up.

[AbarthChris]

I think you've got to look at it this way, at the end of every day if you have a negative calorie count, then you will be losing weight (i.e burn more than you use) as the body will resort to fat stores to fuel itself.

Now, if we're talking about eating the same amount of food as you would if you weren't gyming, rather than eating to purely fuel exercise, then eating before a workout would mean that you have glycogen ready in the muscles to burn during exercise which would enable a longer, harder workout.

Exercising without eating would mean that the body would start to metabolise fat sooner than eating before as there is less energy in the muscles already. The only problem is that the body finds this harder to do so you would probably find the workout harder than normal and maybe shorter in length. However, exercising in a fasted state trains the body to metabolise fat better, hence why early morning, pre-breakfast exercise can be very beneficial.

I'm no expert, this is just what I've gleaned from reading various articles.Please feel free to correct any crap i've spouted!

[Diss_50]

If working with weights only I eat before. Although if im going running, or working machines I tend to eat after.

[Digger.]

My current regime is working very well indeed. Lost 1.5st in 7 weeks. No booze, low fat diet and slightly more sensible meal sizes and times.

As regards timings and amounts in my experience a decent healthy breakfast is a REQUIREMENT followed by 3 or 4 smaller meals reduced in size as gym time approaches. If hunger pangs are an issue have a glass of water or rice cake with honey on it. . .until your next meal time. About 1.5-2hrs prior to gym i make a banana shake (banana, 1 scoop of Protein powder, 1 scoop of energy carb powder, skimmed milk). I take this as I am doing alot of cardio in the gym (1hr cardio and 20mins weights). Wearing a hrm (heart rate monitor) I make sure I burn 1000cals before finishing. If I start to feel faint during the cardio I have a Maxim energy gel sachet to hand. Walking home I eat an apple, maybe stop off at Waitrose and then shove a low fat meal in the microwave when I get home.

Whatever you do, do NOT have a large meal within 2hrs of going to bed, as it will just sit in your stomach and more than likely you will still be metabolising it when you wake up!

At the weekends I workout in the mornings, so to cheat a little bit I afford myself a bit more to eat the previous evening, but do NOT have any breakfast except for a strong coffee or possibly a blitzed banana (no powders). This means that my weekend workouts are almost exclusively burning fat and not the stored glycogen (usual stage before fat starts to be used up). Once i hit my target weight i will cut back on the gym work and attempt to maintain my weight.

Good Luck

Edited by Digger. on Thursday 6th November 11:12