Morning Workouts - Before or After Breakfast

[SharpMomOfTwo]

Hey all, I was just wondering - if you workout in the morning, do you eat before or not? I heard that you should NOT eat before, because if you do it on an empty stomach, you are burning fat, not what you just ate. I was doing that for a while, but I always felt like I didn't have enough energy. So now I eat my breakfast, then wait an hour, then get on the treadmill.
What do you do??

 

[donac]

I have to eat after because during the school year I don't have an hour to wait to do my exercise.

 

[3DisneyKids]

The idea is to "break" the "fast" (ie: eat breakfast) as soon as possible in order to wake your metabolism up and getting it going. Going for very long stretches without eating only slows your metabolism. You should, however, eat lightly before your workout. A banana. Or toast with PB. Something along those lines. Then protein after your work out.

 

[jessily]

I get sick if I eat much before working out. I usually have a hard boiled egg or a few saltines w/ peanut butter before the gym. Then a real breakfast when I get home.

 

[ohMom]

i find that i feel like i had a better workout if i have eaten before, i shoot for an hour to avoid a queasy stomach too. i usually eat light, peanut butter toast or yogurt, about 200 - 250 calories. but that is all for breakfast for me, nothing more until lunch. i used to get up first thing and workout and i really liked having it done so early. i think it's a personal call...

 

[bubba73]

Depending on what you are trying to do, one school of thought is to get up and drink 20 oz of water and then do your exercise. Now, this is great if you are doing cardiovascular training trying to loose weight or boost your metabolism. I personally don't have the strength in the morning to do a heavy weight training session no matter if I eat before hand or not. Ideally, I would do my cardio in the morning and my lifting when I get off work and have more strength.

 

[Tiger Lily 03]

I voted for before, but during the training I usually will take a banana or apple then go and finish after with carb/protein combo. At the events where we get up and participate after waiting around for a long while, I will try to eat some oatmeal before I start out.

 

[disneychrista]

It really depends on the day and what i am doing. If I have to go to work then I workout and then eat. If I am going to be home, I eat and then wait an hour or so then workout.

 

[Raenstoirm]

I always eat right when I get up. I wake up hungry, so I really don't have a choice. "They" tell you that you should wake up hungry as your body has gone a long time without eating. I read one study that said you should time your last pm meal, so that you are ready to eat when waking. If "they" are right is any body's guess.

 

[momto2girls]

I always feel much better if I work out first thing in the morning without eating anything. If I wait to work out (if I don't immediately do it upon waking up), I won't do it at all (because I hate exercise!). And I always tend to feel sick if I eat anything beforehand. So, I don't worry about what all of the "studies" say, I just work out however it works best for me.

 

[JudyS]

I have a lot of problems with blood sugar swings, and generally find that, no matter how ravenous I may feel, my blood sugar is steady until after I eat my first food of the day. (I check my blood sugar with a home glucose meter.) After I eat, though, my blood sugar goes all over the place (although now I take Byetta, which helps keep it more stable.) Before I starting taking Byetta, I used to find that I couldn't eat before exercising, because if I did, I would just about always have a hypoglycemia attack while exercising.

Even now that I am on Byetta and my blood sugar is more stable, I find exercising before eating helps me be less hungry later in the day, and even over the next couple of days. My theory is that this is because exercise on an empty stomach helps promote the release of growth hormones. (I have had my growth hormone levels tested, and they are usually very low.) I do take arginine and several other amino acids before I exercise, plus lots of water, but no carbs or fat.

I know there are all these claims that delaying or skipping breakfast will make you hungrier later, but I find I am much hungrier later in the day if I eat before I exercise.

 

[kaf7878]

I eat maybe 1/2 banana before and some water. Otherwise I end up feeling really gross and refluxing my food--esp if I'm running.