Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Even though I’ve been working out for years now, I still for the life of me can’t figure out what and when I should eat pre-workout. I usually do cardio, weightlifting or bootcamp style workouts and I always do them during lunchtime. I eat breakfast around 6:30 and then try to aim for a snack around 10, so that I have two hours to digest before I workout. It seems that I have a habit of either eating too much and have uncomfortable heartburn or I don’t eat enough and feel tired or just cranky and hungry. On top of that, I’m not sure what I should be consuming, more carbs? More protein? I was having a green smoothie for a while there but found that all the fiber was upsetting my stomach and I know some people like to eat bananas but that’s a no go for me.
So what say ye PPK? What do you do for your pre-workout snack?

If I work out in the morning I'll eat a bowl of oatmeal with a tablespoon of peanut butter mixed in. It's bland enough that it doesn't cause heartburn (which I'm prone to, especially when running) and is filling but not too fibrous. In the mornings I generally eat 30 minutes to an hour before working out.

Since you're prone to heartburn, avoid intaking too much in the way of fats prior to cardio/bootcamp workouts. Stick with easily digestible carbs on these days. Also, I'm wondering if perhaps you should try to have a snack around 11 instead of 10, giving yourself only an hour after eating, rather than two, before exercise. If you pinpoint foods that work for you heartburn-wise, an hour should be plenty of time to digest without using up all of the energy you've consumed before even beginning your workout. I make muffins to keep around for the days I work out in the afternoon (my favorite are Isa's Best Pumpkin Muffins with reduced sugar and applesauce instead of oil), and they keep me well-fueled through my runs.

My pre-workout snack, in the AM, is a frozen waffle, toasted, with a half-tablespoon of peanut butter and 1 tsp maple syrup. I am far too lazy to wake up more than half an hour before exercising (I work out in the mornings, save for my kung fu class) but that's definitely enough time for me to feel digested and not gross when doing cardio!

Ditto what chop_sockey said about muffins. My favorites are those pumpkin muffins, the blueberry muffins out of JOVB w/applesauce instead of oil, and the zucchini-spelt muffins from, I think, Vegan Brunch.

I tend to eat a few dates stuffed with peanut butter. But I too have the heartburn problem, which leads to peanut butter burps, so this is probably a bad suggestion...

I find that I get nauseous if I work out with much food in my stomach. I can only have a little in there actually. Does anyone else have this problem?

I came across this article about a month ago

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/1 ... 65397.html

(yes, the image of the girl eating the banana is hilarious)

Now I try to eat SOMETHING before I work out. On the way to the gym after work I will eat some carrot sticks, a banana, or perhaps a luna bar, but at least 1 hour beforehand. On the weekends in the morning before a workout I will drink some soymilk and attempt to eat a banana. If I eat more than this, especially before a heavy cardio workout, I feel sick about 20 minutes into it.

After my work out, I try to eat something right when I come home, usually heavy on the protein.

I can't eat before a workout, I get sick too. I usually work out after work in the early evening, so there is a long enough time between lunch & my workout so I don't want to hurl.

If I work out in the mornings on the weekend I will usually just have a handful of raw almonds so my stomach isn't too empty.

I have a really bad digestive system (something I need to work on) but when it comes to exercise I usually eat 2 hours before any races/hard efforts or ill get really bad heartburn. As for morning workouts I always roll straight out of bed to do cardio (usually a 16mi ride to work everyday). It matters how long/hard your effort but assuming that your not going way over threshold for over an hour, fasted exercise can be a great benefit in helping your body transition in burning fat instead of carbohydrates. Eating with exercise is definitely a trial and error type of thing with everyone doing things slightly differently.

I do. I get nausea and heartburn, so I do my best to exercise first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

Thanks for the suggestions! I still feel sick if I eat too close to my workout but I started eating plain oatmeal with some vanilla protein powder mixed in and it seems to be working well for me.

Yeah, I can't workout after eating. Last night the only chance I had to do yoga was after dinner and I felt like I wasgoing to throw up a few times. If I'm starving I might eat a piece of fruit to get my blood sugar up.

I work at a personal training facility, and it's often suggested that people have a small serving of carbs and a little fat before cardio (a piece of toast and almond butter ya know) and protein, some fruit, and more carbs after. A smoothie with protein power and berries and a small cup of oatmeal is a good post-cardio meal.

As far as heavier, boot-campy type workouts go, I lift 5x a week and I feel like a banana 20-40 minutes pre-workout is just about perfect to get my energy up. But if that doesn't work for you, maybe some yogurt with hemp hearts would work? If my stomach is feeling funny, I will usually go for plain yogurt (I like Amande) and raw hemp hearts with a little stevia or agave or something.
Afterwards I will usually have protein, and lots of it, mostly a shake and then my regular meal for that time of day. If it was a particularly difficult workout, I'll throw in some extra rice or something.

I struggled with this for awhile, I tend to workout in the mornings and depending on the day my workouts can be really rigorous. The formula I've found works the best is having two large glasses of water, a banana and spoonful of natural peanut butter. It adds the sugar I need for the workouts and the protein creates a good base, the added plus is it's easy on my stomach (so I'm not cramping in the middle of spin class because I feel gassy and bloated).

After my workout I head to work where I eat breakfast. (This is where I still am working out the kinks, trying to find the perfect balance of complex carbs and soild protein, I'm trying to avoid peanut butter after the morning snack so thinking maybe sprouted toast and hummus?) We'll see.

Whatever I happened to have for breakfast a couple hours before. I don't really worry about it. My diet is high in complex carbs and I get plenty of protein, so it's not really an issue.

Today I had toast with pb and banana with a bit of tea about a half hour before working out. I didn't feel like I was gonna puke and made it through without tummy grumbles (I did 20 minutes on the elliptical and had some water while working out, then 80 minutes of ashtanga vinyasa yoga- I don't drink water during yoga).

I think the thing for me is to find a good balance between being hydrated and being bloated from too much water. Well, that and not eating *right* before working out (which I have a tendency to do if I am working out in my building or running outside).

Usually, nothing, but occasionally oatmeal and banana. I want to start with smoothies soon, but need to research some recipes.