Best Fat Burning Pre workout

You’re Doing it Wrong: Pre-Workout Eating

“What do I eat before working out?”

I get asked this question all the time.

Because while most people know what to eat after a workout, they’re clueless as to what they should be putting in their bodies beforehand. And the truth is, it’s not an easy question.

Because like so many things in life, it depends on your own personal goals.

And from my experience, there are basically three goals most people have when choosing what to eat before working out:

Goal #1: Extreme fat loss

If your goal is to lose the maximum amount of fat possible, your best bet is to work out first thing in the morning without eating anything beforehand. Hence the term, “fasted cardio” that you may or may not have seen thrown around in serious fitness blogs, magazines and books.

Yes, you might feel dizzy, nauseous or weak if you decide not to fuel up beforehand. And no, you won’t be able to put in the full amount of effort you’d be able to put in if you worked out later in the day after eating a couple of good meals.

But, you will burn more fat.

Goal #2: Maximum performance

If you’re looking to have the best workout possible and maximize performance, you won’t skimp out on calories—at all.

You’ll eat whatever it takes to fuel your body to help you perform the best you possibly can.

For example, if you are running a marathon, doing a triathlon, or competing in an important match or game, you wouldn’t worry about eating too many calories beforehand. You’re going for performance here, not weight loss. If that means a giant pasta dinner the night before, twice as much breakfast as you normally would eat, or downing sports drinks or energy gels during your race/event/game, so be it. Whatever you need to feed your body in order for it to do its best.

The drawback to this is it’s possible that you consume as many calories before (and after) your workout as you expend during your workout, making fat loss minimal to zero. Heck, some people even gain weight eating for maximum performance.

Goal #3: Fat loss + performance

If you’re like most people, most of the time your goal will be to lose fat while still performing as well as possible.

What does this mean for you? It means you need to eat strategically before your workout. It does not, however, mean you should gorge yourself before your workout.

Because I don’t know about you, but whenever I’ve tried to work out without eating something beforehand, my performance suffers a lot. I get light headed and dizzy. I can’t do as many reps. I plain just can’t work as hard. And research backs this up, showing that exercise endurance improves significantly when you eat a snack beforehand.

So, assuming you’re with me in boat #3 here (#1 I don’t need to advise you on, since you’re not eating anything, and #2 you need to experiment with what types of food give you the most energy and power for your workout), you should ideally be eating a small meal 30-60 minutes before you train. The actual time may vary depending on how long it takes you to feel like you’re not too full to work out, but don’t wait too long after you eat or you’ll realize you’re hungry all over again (speaking from experience here).

What—and when—to eat before a workout

So what should a pre-workout meal consist of?

The ideal pre-workout meal should have some protein, some carbohydrates, and a little healthy fat. Yes, carbs! Carbs give you energy, and before and after your workout is the best time to consume them.

So again, it depends on your personal goals, but ideally you’ll aim for something close to this:

• 20 grams of protein
• 20-40 grams of slow digesting carbohydrates like oatmeal, sweet potatoes, beans, fruit, or wild rice (slow-digesting carbs produce a relatively slow increase in blood glucose and a modest insulin release in response)
• About 5 grams of healthy fat (much more than this can slow down the digestion of protein)

And another thing to remember: the longer or harder your workout is, the more carbohydrates you need beforehand.

Pre-workout meal ideas

Not sure how the above translates into an actual meal? Here are some pre-workout meal ideas to get you started:

A protein shake. Yep, you can have a shake before and after your workout. Aim for about 20 grams of fast digesting whey protein and some carbohydrates from berries, oatmeal or a banana. Avoid putting too much nut butter in this shake, but you can have a little.

Probably the perfect pre-workout meal, oatmeal with protein powder will give you both short and long-term energy to power through your workout.

Veggie omelet and fruit. Eggs have protein, fat and will keep you feeling full, and the veggies and fruit will give you energy to push hard.