Pre-, Post-workout food

[snowpine]

Hi Everyone,

I am on day 17 and I am feeling tired and discouraged.

Looking at my food I think that one problem (one opportunity for improvement!) is that I am not eating enough for pre- and/or post-workouts.

I typically do 6am workouts 3 days a week (spin or a hard circuit class). This means I leave the house by 5:30, and have not been eating anything pre-workout due to the time of day, and also because I feel having something in my stomach will make me sick.

When I get home I have breakfast. However, I have been doing my breakfast/meal #1 based on the meal template and now think I should be adding extra protein?

Questions:

1. What are pre- and post-workout meal ideas?

2. How do others handle eating before early workouts?

Thank you.

[ar1zona1]

I have the same kind of schedule with a 6 am crossfit class.

Pre workout is 2 hardboiled egg whites, small spoon of almond butter and a glass of tea. Not much but enough to wake the system up.

Post workout is a big pile of shredded sweat potato cooked in coconut oil. A two egg omelette with sweet peppers, mushroom and a giant handful of spinach or kale cooked in ghee. Throw blueberries and blackberries on top.

Hope this helps.

[Tom Denham]

My favorite pre-workout meal is a boiled egg and my favorite post-workout meal is a can of tuna packed in water. The meal template offers more ideas: http://whole9life.com/book/ISWF-Meal-Planning-Template.pdf

[snowpine]

Thank you.

My goal for next week will be to get up in time to eat something for pre-workout before I go to class and see how I feel. When I run in the morning, I always eat before, but just have not previously incorporated pre-workout before a hard class.

What do you think about timing for Post-work out meal and Meal #1?

I feel like if I do Post-work out meal at approx 7:30-7:45, that would be combined with Meal #1? Is that right? I understand that Post-work out is not meant to replace a meal, but I'm thinking I should essentially add them together?

Or, would it be more in-line with the theory to do Post-work out meal, at 7:30am, then do Meal #1 later? I am concerned with doing Meal #1 later starts getting away from the 3 meals without snacks.

Thanks for any thoughts. Maybe I am confusing myself with the pre- and post-workout meals, but I was reviewing my progress yesterday and that is one part that I haven't been following well.

[ar1zona1]

I just combine my post workout meal with meal 1

[Juice06870]

I'm on day 11 now and I also prefer to work out first thing in the morning. Usually arrive by 530am. I used to down a protein shake with milk or water before heading to the gym and sometimes have a small piece of fruit. Just before I started the Whole30, I found these awesome bars online and ordered a few boxes. They are perfect preworkout because they are basically all protein (organic and grass fed), pack a decent punch in terms of protein, fat and calorie content and are not too big, so you don't feel like you are stuffing yourself before a good workout. I'll have one of these and half an avocado or some organic raw coconut flakes before heading to the gym and so far it's worked well for me. The bars are basically jerkey in a bar form, but a LOT more moist and not so chewy. They are actually very enjoyable to eat (just stay away from the Bison bar while on Whole30 because there is a small amount of brown sugar used in it's preparation, but otherwise if you are not on Whole30, it's also really tasty.

I tend to stay away from the boiled eggs because I really dont like the texture of the yolk after it's been boiled and I feel like its a waste to throw it out

https://epicbar.com/

Post workout, I have been eating about 5-6 oz grilled chicken and about a half to a whole sweet potato depending on how intense my workout is. I usually feel gross after eating that stuff after working out, but within an hour, it's all settled down and about another 30 minutes after that I am ready for breakfast