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Pre & PostWO snacks make all the difference!


kruddock

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Just to let you know, eating pre & PostWO snacks, as recommended (no deviations!) make all the difference in the world to my workouts, energy levels and recovery times. I Crossfit 4 x week, 2 runs (1 short + 1 long) & 1 yoga class and I still have energy to spare! Follow the recommendations and you can't go wrong. This is provided that you are eating 3 proper template meals of course! ;)

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Just to let you know, eating pre & PostWO snacks, as recommended (no deviations!) make all the difference in the world to my workouts, energy levels and recovery times. I Crossfit 4 x week, 2 runs (1 short + 1 long) & 1 yoga class and I still have energy to spare! Follow the recommendations and you can't go wrong. This is provided that you are eating 3 proper template meals of course! ;)

Yeah, I hate to say I told you (all, not you specifically) so, but well............... yeah............ ^this   ;)  :D

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Hi! Today is my first day of Whole30. My husband & I are doing it primarily for weight loss but I am also hoping to kick my sugar addiction.

 

I've done a lot of research and have a bunch of meal plans/ recipes, but the pre- & post-WO meals are still a little confusing.

 

I do zumba once a week, a mixed cardio (kickboxing or step) and weights class once a week, and intense flow yoga once a week. Zumba & cardio are both after work. Yoga is right after I wake up. I then normally have a meal after getting home from class & showering, so between 30-45 minutes after working out.

 

Today before zumba, I was thinking handful of almonds? And then after, should I eat half a chicken breast, shower, and then sit down for chicken & veggie dinner? I did read on another thread that if your goal is primarily weight loss, you might be OK skipping post-WO. Not sure if that's true.

 

I guess I am struggling with quick/ portable pre-WO meals, and also I wonder if my forms of exercise (which are certainly not Cross Fit or straight running) really deserves the 2 extra mini-meals?

 

Appreciate all advice :)

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Pre & PostWO meals are very personal & will depend on the intensity of your sessions as well as the timing of them.

When you train in the morning I'd say that regardless of what you do, if when you eat your meal one it will be more than an hour after wakening then you should have a preWO. If your session is intense then you should also include a small post WO meal of protein & optional starchy carb (it need only be a few bites of each), then shower/change etc, then eat meal one.

For your evening sessions you may well be fine without the preWO depending on how long it's been since meal two. I often pre-empt the need for a preWO meal in the evening by including more fat at meal two, then just opt for a postWO meal, but I've figured this out through trial & error and I know what works for me.

I wouldn't skimp on the postWO though as that's when your body needs the protein most.

PreWO I eat at home before I leave for the gym but portable options are hard boiled eggs, & chicken with guac/olives or mayo.

PostWO the most popular option is chicken & sweet potato, but any starchy veg or lean protein will work just as well - tinned tuna in spring water is a good portable one.

Don't rely on fruits for either pre or postWO as you'll be doing yourself a great injustice.




 

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I typically have to workout (crossfit) on my lunch hour due to time restraints and kids to take care of after work.  What do you recommend for a situation like this for pre wo and post wo vs lunch somewhere in there?

 

Today is day 1 for me. so I wanna make the best of this!!

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When I run or Crossfit at lunchtime, I usually have a couple boiled eggs 30-45 min before the workout but you could have any protein + fat snack and bring a small snack of protein + starchy carb veg to eat immediately after at the gym. Then have your lunch when you get back to work.

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Thanks!  I am going to try hard boiled eggs again, but I just don't like them that way.  That makes me sad, because it seems like everyone suggests that!

Try them soft boiled!  Hard boiling makes them somewhat harder to digest (someone explained it on the forum the other day, something to do with fully cooked making them less digestible).  

 

You can also do a chicken thigh or some meat balls or a couple bites of steak or some canned sardines.  Basically whatever protein you like for pre workout.  Chicken breast and sweet potato is a great post workout option.  No real requirement to have eggs, they are just easy to transport but so is everything else if you are prepared!  :)

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Thanks!  I am going to try hard boiled eggs again, but I just don't like them that way.  That makes me sad, because it seems like everyone suggests that!

Some other preWO snacks I have are: thinly sliced steak with grainy mustard mayo, turkey sausage with avocado, chicken with sunshine sauce. Ladyshanny is right, if you make sure your eggs aren't hard boiled they are more palatable. I usually try not to overdo mine too much.

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Try them soft boiled!  Hard boiling makes them somewhat harder to digest (someone explained it on the forum the other day, something to do with fully cooked making them less digestible).  

Hard boiling changes the molecular structure & removes the lipase in the yolk making them harder to digest. Scrambling or frying is easier on the tummy due to the lipase in the fats used for cooking. Soft boiling is a happy medium  :)

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Thanks!  I am going to try hard boiled eggs again, but I just don't like them that way.  That makes me sad, because it seems like everyone suggests that!

 

chicken salad (diced chicken, diced veggies, mayo, mustard, seasoning) works well, especially for lunchtime workout Pre-WO. I bring a bit extra to eat before workout and then eat the rest as my lunch on a huge bed of greens.

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Thanks!  I am going to try hard boiled eggs again, but I just don't like them that way.  That makes me sad, because it seems like everyone suggests that!

I can't eat them plain - So I make egg salad (Basically deviled eggs chopped up) for PreWO - Delish! 

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All I can say is, after today's experiment, I don't recommend having a tin of kippered herring prior to a heavy cardio workout - Urp! :blink:  Sure, its protein and fat but, man! burping fish all the way through Spin class is not a great thing.

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Can I add to this question? 3 days a week I crossfit at 7am. I usually wake up around 515 and have coffee with coconut milk and 1 or 2 eggs. Post workout I eat sweet potato, egg, and sometimes sausage. Am I eating too much post workout for me to not be hungry for breakfast. I feel like I'm eating too much pre and post wod! I usually don't get hungry for breakfast till around 11. Then that messes me up for lunch. Help :)

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One egg is probably fine with your coffee/coconut milk for a preWO, and you should ditch the egg in your postWO as it contains fat which will slow down absorption of the protein which is what you need most.

I eat my postWO literally as soon as I am done - just a few each of protein & starchy carb - shower, change, then eat my meal one as soon as I sit at my desk in work.

 

Hope this helps.

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I have generally done a smoothie post workout. I used to use unsweetened almond milk, hemp protein, spinach, blackberries and some avocado for the fat. Once I get to work I eat some nuts and raisins or an apple with almond butter.  A few questions:

 

1. Is it okay to drink a smoothie post workout? Does anyone have a sub for the unsweetened almond milk which as Carageen in it?

2. Am I eating enough or should I switch to so some hard boiled eggs or sausage and some sweet potato?

 

Thanks!

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I have generally done a smoothie post workout. I used to use unsweetened almond milk, hemp protein, spinach, blackberries and some avocado for the fat. Once I get to work I eat some nuts and raisins or an apple with almond butter.  A few questions:

 

1. Is it okay to drink a smoothie post workout? Does anyone have a sub for the unsweetened almond milk which as Carageen in it?

2. Am I eating enough or should I switch to so some hard boiled eggs or sausage and some sweet potato?

 

Thanks!

Smoothies are discouraged on a Whole30. The idea is to chew your food vs. drink it, as chewing is more satiating.

 

Further, the post workout recommendation is protein and optional carb (no fruit or fat), so whole eggs, nut milks and avocado are not a great option here (nuts, egg yolks and avocados are fats on a Whole30).  You want lean protein, so sausage also isn't the best protein choice.  A popular post workout option around here is chicken and sweet potato.

Regarding your food when you get to work, nuts and raisins or apple and almond butter are snacks - not full meals.  Have you seen the recommended meal template?  Our meal recommendation is 1-2 palms of protein, 1-3 cups of veggies and a compliant fat. 

 

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I am a newbie and looking for feedback.  My question is in regard to pre-workout meals or my lack thereof. I wake up at

3:45 a.m. pack my food for the day and leave the house at 4:40 a.m. Arrive at the gym and start training at 5:00 a.m. Because I train so early I usually train fasted. I have found that whenever I eat prior to training, I have stomach issues. I have also found my energy level has dropped since starting the Whole30, which as I understand is to be expected.

 

How would adding 1/2 - 1 tablespoon coconut oil in my black coffee affect the Whole30 protocol?  I have read where coconut oil is a medium chain triglyceride and these fats are absorbed quickly by the body so it will be used as an energy source (requires no further digestion by the liver). I lift weights four days, one day steady state cardio and abs, one day high intensity cardio and abs.  

 

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A fair few people opt for BPC for their preWO 'meal' of choice, although personally it always made me feel a little off kilter.

I'd say though that it's definitely better to have some kind of fat in your system rather than none though, given that from wakening until eating it's obviously going to be way over the one hour mark.

Having played around &  failed in the past with BPC I pretty much always trained fasted too, until about two weeks into my first Whole30 when I started to feel dizzy & had the change in my peripheral vision that used to accompany my migraines back when I was a sufferer of them so you may find it will change for you too - I'm guessing that eating a full on breakfast within an hour of wakening on the mornings I didn't train had a lot to do with that...

Suck it & see - but just don't skimp on your postWO.

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Day 55/90

 

Added Xfit and jogs in AM.  Appreciate feedback on past two days meals as I feel like I'm eating SO much fat:

 

Day 1

 

P-W/O:  1/2 can tuna in spring water + garlic

 

About an hour later:  3 eggs soft fried in ghee w/ 4 c wilted spinach

 

3 1/2 hours later (bt classes):  apple + 4 brazil nuts

 

2 hours later:  1 can tuna + 1/2 tomato + 1/2 onion + 1/2 avocado

 

4 hours later:  1/4 butternut squash sauteed w/ garlic in ghee + grapefruit

 

 

Day 2

 

P-W/O:  1/2 can tuna in spring water + garlic

 

1 hour later:  3 eggs soft fried in ghee + kale w/ garlic and ghee + 1/4 butternut squash (DELISH!!  ghee + squash + kale = AmAZING FLavor!!)

 

3 hours later:  1/2 can tuna + 1/2 tomato + 1/2 onion + 1/2 avocado

 

Appreciate the feedback!

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Day 55/90

 

Added Xfit and jogs in AM.  Appreciate feedback on past two days meals as I feel like I'm eating SO much fat:

 

 

OK - are you familiar with the recommended meal template? For best results, aim to create each meal of 1-2 palms of protein, 1-3 cups of veggies and a compliant fat. Look to create meals that satiate you for 4-5 hours, starting with M1 within an hour of waking.  You get to add pre and post wo meals to those meals for intense workouts.

 

Is your P-WO pre or post workout?  In either case, that's a fine protein choice.

After that, beyond the day one and two 3 egg+ meals, it looks like most of your meals are not big enough. Your spacing between meals and need to snack is another indication to increase the size of your meals.  The last meal on day 1 had no protein and the meal before that had little veggies.

Try adding another egg or meat/fish to your meal 1. Spinach wilts down to nothing, so feel free to add more of another kind of veggie to get yourself satiated for 4-5 hours.

More veggies in the tuna/tomato/onion/avocado meal (and more protein on the 2nd day you had it).

The amount of fat you have is fine. You could even increase the fat  to the upper end of the template to help satiate you. Note also that when you saute, much of the cooking fat stays behind in the pan, so you may need to compensate for that with more fat afterward.

 

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I am not a moderator but in my opinion, you are not eating enough food, including the fat. Is "P-W/O" pre or post workout? A Pre-WO Snack should include: protein + fat, eaten just before you workout and a Post-WO Snack should include: lean protein + starchy veg, eaten immediately after your workout. If you do Crossfit you should be having both a Pre & Post WO Snack. You should also be eating 3 template meals every day in addition to any Pre & Post WO Snacks. Template meals should consist of 1-2 palm size servings of protein + 1-3 cups of vegetables + fat serving. You shouldn't be snacking on fruit & nuts by itself, if you are hungry between meals eat more at each template meal. If you are going to eat fruit it should be with your template meal (no where else) and it shouldn't replace any of your template meal, like your vegetables. Fat should be added to your meal, do not include the fat you cook with or the fat in eggs or meat. You should try to eat on the high end of the vegetable amount. You need to bulk up your vegetable servings with more dense vegetables, spinach will cook down quite a bit, not sure if your spinach measurements were before or after cooking. That's my take on it, a moderator may have something else to add.

And there you go, moderator to the rescue!

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Thank you for the replies @GFChris + @kruccock.

 

I'm eating Post-Work-Out. 

 

Tweeks are in blue for review. 

 

Post-W/O:  1/2 can tuna

Meal 1:  4 eggs + kale + squash + garlic sauteed w/ fat (and 5-6 cups kale?)

 

Coffee w/ 1 Tbs ghee whipped in

 

Snack:  tinned smoked herring + apple + brazil nuts (on 2 days/week, I've no time for a meal b/t 9-3, it was all I could do to scarf the apple + nuts b/t meetings)

Meal 2:  1/2 tuna + 1/2 onion + 1/2 tomato + 1/2 avocado + lay on top of 3 cups of spinach

Meal 3:  8 oz hamburger + tomato + onion + garlic + cabbage "skillet ovened" + grapefruit on the side

 

The grass fed beef is really lean and so I usually top the skillet with a generous splash of olive oil. 

 

Also, canned sardines w/ vegetable oil + tomatoes were 1/2 the price of the smoked herring for 2x as many ounces.  Is the ratio of quality ingredients the reason?  I've avoided ALL oils except olive, coconut or ghee.  What is the cost of adding minimal amount of veg oil into diet?

 

I also went through my food journal and noticed I was eating 1 sweet potato or beet gratin or some other starch rather than more leafy greens.  I do know that yesteray I jogged 3.4 miles after Xfit and only began to feel tired in the last 10 minutes, which is the way "it used to be" before I went down the crap-gutter of fast food/junk.  #NSV

 

THANK YOU FOR YOUR EXPERIENCE AND WISDOM!!! 

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Much better. :-)

Also consider getting in at least a fist-sized serving of carb-dense vegetables daily. A good place would be in meals where the bulk of your veggies are leafy greens. Also, consider adding that to your post wo on the days you Crossfit.

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