Eat Before Or After Workout To Lose Weight

Some people affirm that to train they have to eat some food before. On the contrary, others indicate that they cannot exercise with a full stomach.

There are also people who say that they must allow at least 2 hours to pass from the intake before going to the gym or doing another sport.

Some athletes eat during exercise. Perhaps you have seen, for example, tennis players consuming a fruit between each set. Other athletes ingest energy gels. In any case, it is recommended that they be carbohydrates, as they are an efficient source of energy for aerobic exercise.

In this article, we will try to answer these questions. Which is better, train before or after eating?

Train on an empty stomach: yes or no? 

Actually, eating before, during or after exercising is a personal decision based on various parameters:

•        What and how much we eat.
•        What is the type of training we do?
•        What other activities we do.
•        To what goal we aim.

For example, for a person with normal muscle mass and adipose tissue percentages who want to stay fit, the ideal would be to eat before to have a good performance.

If you are overweight, then you will have to eat lightly to burn more calories than ingested during exercise.

We must bear in mind that although fasting training burns fatter, it is not beneficial in the long the term since the body always acts as a “saver” of its reserves

If we spend energy without having provided the necessary fuel, then it will accumulate fat when we eat during the day. The balance will be unfavorable because what you spend will always be less than what you save.

In matters of the organism, not everything is as perfect as in theory. Because it is also important to make sure how we feel, what time we train, how much we perspire, if we have high or low pressure, etc.

For the body, exercise is synonymous with stress. Therefore, it must adapt physiologically and achieve optimal performance as well as recover after the effort. The important thing is to have enough energy for the activity we want to carry out.

When to eat according to the training 

schedule?

Another aspect that we must take into account is the training schedule. For example, if the practice takes place during the morning it is better to have breakfast 2 or 3 hours before the sport. It is not necessary that the intake be copious or caloric. For its part, the ideal is to avoid sugary and processed foods (stimulate the action of insulin and increase the risk of early depletion of reserves) and choose to skim milk and whole grains.

When you finish training, it is advisable to consume carbohydrates of the high glycemic index (easy to absorb and that provide fast energy) such as, for example, fruit juices and cereals.

The meal 3 hours after exercise needs to be abundant to also provide carbohydrates and prevent the loss of muscle mass.

Other tips

If dinner has been light without carbohydrates, it is advisable to have a good breakfast before exercising to perform properly. If, on the other hand, it has been copious with hydrates, fats or sugars, you can train on an empty stomach or with a light intake such as fruit or juice. Other tips are:

1. If you train at night or at sunset, it is advisable to have a snack between 2 and 3 hours before exercise to maintain energy levels and yield 100%
2. At the end of the practice, we must try to consume dishes that are rich in carbohydrates and proteins to counteract what was lost in the exercise.

Under the excuse of "I have already fulfilled my daily dose of exercise I can now eat whatever I want" many times we give the body extra calories that it does not need. Therefore, even training, we must follow a balanced diet because, despite exercising, we can also gain weight.

It is essential to make a balance between exercise and diet to keep us healthy

Keep in mind that spending too much energy on the gym and not eating enough calories is not good because it weakens us. However, neither is eating in quantity after having gone to train.

Finally, pay attention to the signals that the body gives you. If you feel too tired to do the exercises, it may be because you lack enough energy or your stomach is too full. 
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