Eating and Exercising

Here is a part of an article from prevention.com website that had some advise on eating and exercising designed more for rookies like me that have no clue. 

What, When, and How Much

Here's a look at specific eating guidelines for preworkout fueling.

Eat 2 to 4 hours before a workout. This may mean planning your meals at different times to accommodate your workout schedule. For example, you may eat lunch at 2:00 p.m. so you can work out at 6:00 p.m.

Eat 400 to 800 calories at your pre-exercise meal. This amount should fuel your workout without making you feel sluggish or full.

Choose high-carb foods that are low in fat and have a moderate amount of protein. A whole grain bagel topped with tomato slices and low-fat cheese, or breakfast cereal and fruit with 2% milk or soy milk, are both excellent choices.

Drink at least 10 ounces of water or sports drink 2 hours before you exercise. This helps offset sweat loss during your workout. The 2 hours gives your kidneys time to rid your body of any excess fluid.

http://www.prevention.com/cda/article/eat-sma rt-before-exercising/e96088dc78803110VgnVCM10 000013281eac____/nutrition.recipes/nutrition. basics/fueling.your.workout/

That's great info, thanks Schelly!

Thank you for posting this!  This is exactly what I was looking for when I came onto the fitness forum tonight.  The only thing that it didn't answer was when to eat next?  How long after your workout should you eat next?  How many calories?  And What?

It's also slightly wrong.

 The current recommendation for Best Pratice is to have the solid meal 90-120 minutes before your workout, no later. The protein in your food mostly digests in 3 hours, and the whole point of pre-workout nutrition is to have protein available in your system while working out. Therefore, eating more than 2 hours before your workout leaves you without available amino acids in your blood stream at the end of your workout - not good.

 Alternatively, you have a liquid meal in the form of a protein shake 0-30 minutes before starting your workout - I personally feel this is the better option based on David Barr's research, but either way will work.

 Post-workout, a protein shake with moderately fast-acting whey protein taken within 30 minutes of your workout and containing carbs in a 4:1 carb:protein ratio is supposedly ideal for recovery.

 You'd then go on to eat your regularily scheduled meal within 90 minutes of having the protein shake, as whey protein mostly digests that fast.

 As for specifics: Alan recommends
Pre-workout
Protein = 0.25g/lb Target Body Weight
Carbs = 0.25g/lb TBW
Post-workout
Protein = 0.25g/lb TBW
Carbs = 0.5g/lb TBW

Calculate your individual needs based on either your lean body mass if you know it, or your target bodyweight if you don't.

 Drink water before your workout, and if you're doing strenuous exercise, also during. Calorie- and carbohydrate-rich sports drinks are mostly a waste of calories unless you're doing endurance workouts lasting longer than 60-90 minutes.

Thanks so much for this post. It is helpful when trying to balance eating and exercising. I always find myself  lost after  the gym. I can't figure out what or when to eat. This is so helpful.

Melkor, I have a question.

You say have a protein shake b4 your workout, then after and then have your regular meal.  I workout in the evening from 7:30-8:30 sometimes a bit later.  So would I have to drink a shake after my workout.........THEN eat another meal.  I usually don't like eating a full meal that late at night. 

 Well, adjust as needed - the generic "optimum" doesn't neccesarily fit into your life or schedule; and the last scheduled meal of my day is generally about four spoons of cottage cheese, not a dinner :)

 And completely optimal doesn't neccesarily make sense for the training stage you're in - when first starting out it's more important to get the habit of exercise established than to focus on the detail stuff. Only competitive athletes need to worry about getting everything right all of the time, the rest of us can settle for getting as close to optimal as practically possible. Nobody's paying us to get it 100% perfect, so you only work at a level of detail that doesn't suck the fun right out of it for you.

 Now, I'm a nerd, so the fiddly details are part of the fun for me, but this doesn't mean that you're required to find it interesting in the same way I do :)

Lol.  Before life set in (AKA when i was younger) I was a gym addict, workouts with a trainer 4 days a week (i mean hard workouts, she was an Army woman).  But she never got into the nitty gritty of everything like this website does.

I can handle a "meal" of a few spoons of cottage cheese........lol  I wasn't thinking that when i heard the word "meal".  I know that about 30 minutes after I get home from the gym, I am STARVING!!!! 

Nope, not a NERD, I totally love the "fiddly details" too....................i'm a bit OCD, and this website definitely feeds that part of me......lol 

Thank you for the answers