What to eat & when.

connundrum

I've gone back 6 or 7 pages and can't see anything relevant, and to search would be useless due to the key words I'd be searching. (apologies if this has been covered a million times )

I train in the mornings, Mon Wed Fri 6am - 7.30am (days may vary with schedule), and I sometimes can squeeze in a weekend session.

I'm only doing cardio at the moment including light free weights. I'll probably start into proper weight sessions come Feb 2009.

The night before a session I don't really watch what I'm eating i.e. could be a normal meat, two veg and spuds dinner, and I'd have a protein shake with Nutrition X Pro Matrix. I don't eat in the morning before training at all, and obviously find that I'm starving for the hours after a session.

Following a session its any combination of cereal, fruit, smoothies etc that keeps me going.

I'm wondering what is best practice food wise regarding:

a) the night before a session
b)the morning of, but prior to the session
c) directly after and in the hours following a session

I don't want to fizzle away any good I'm doing by eating the wrong stuff.

All help welcome

Dave

terrywibbs

You should not eat before going to bed as the food will not digest properly while you are lying in bed. This is due to you lying down. It is also not good for your body as your body will attempt to digest the food and will not rest properly. You would be better off to eat (or drink your shake) before your morning exercise. You should leave 30 to 60 minutes after eating before you exercise.

It is also better to drink only water, and try to drink a glass about 20 to 30 minutes before you eat, and none while you eat or for 30 to 60 mins after, as the water will affect proper digestion of the food by working against your stomach acids.

After sessions, eating a good amount of food would be a good idea I think.

Also, as for feeling hungry for hours after training, I would say it is because that fruit is digested very quickly and lots cereals won't take long either. Try porridge, jumbo oats, if you can. It is better to eat fruit before other food, as if you eat fruit after another food, it may lay on top of the food in your stomach and ferment. Fermintation can also happen if you eat fruit late at night before going to bed.

connundrum

terrywibbs wrote: »

You should not eat before going to bed as the food will not digest properly while you are lying in bed. This is due to you lying down. It is also not good for your body as your body will attempt to digest the food and will not rest properly. You would be better off to eat (or drink your shake) before your morning exercise. You should leave 30 to 60 minutes after eating before you exercise.

I apologise, I should have pointed out that I'd have the dinner and shake 2-3 hours prior to going to bed.

And while I would like to eat before a workout, it would mean getting up at 4.30am

Killme00

terrywibbs wrote: »

You should not eat before going to bed as the food will not digest properly while you are lying in bed. This is due to you lying down. It is also not good for your body as your body will attempt to digest the food and will not rest properly. You would be better off to eat (or drink your shake) before your morning exercise. You should leave 30 to 60 minutes after eating before you exercise.

It is also better to drink only water, and try to drink a glass about 20 to 30 minutes before you eat, and none while you eat or for 30 to 60 mins after, as the water will affect proper digestion of the food by working against your stomach acids.

After sessions, eating a good amount of food would be a good idea I think.

Also, as for feeling hungry for hours after training, I would say it is because that fruit is digested very quickly and lots cereals won't take long either. Try porridge, jumbo oats, if you can. It is better to eat fruit before other food, as if you eat fruit after another food, it may lay on top of the food in your stomach and ferment. Fermintation can also happen if you eat fruit late at night before going to bed.

:eek:

COH

What are your goals? What you eat and when really depend on that.

yomchi

terrywibbs wrote: »

You should not eat before going to bed as the food will not digest properly while you are lying in bed. This is due to you lying down. It is also not good for your body as your body will attempt to digest the food and will not rest properly. You would be better off to eat (or drink your shake) before your morning exercise. You should leave 30 to 60 minutes after eating before you exercise.

It is also better to drink only water, and try to drink a glass about 20 to 30 minutes before you eat, and none while you eat or for 30 to 60 mins after, as the water will affect proper digestion of the food by working against your stomach acids.

After sessions, eating a good amount of food would be a good idea I think.

Also, as for feeling hungry for hours after training, I would say it is because that fruit is digested very quickly and lots cereals won't take long either. Try porridge, jumbo oats, if you can. It is better to eat fruit before other food, as if you eat fruit after another food, it may lay on top of the food in your stomach and ferment. Fermintation can also happen if you eat fruit late at night before going to bed.

Any scientific links to that statement? I've a bunch of grapes to eat...

Degsy

Its whats technically known..in the trade,like..as bollocks.

Killme00

Somebody better tell the astronauts that gravity effects digestion.

Curlypinkie

Killme00 wrote: »

:eek:

Yeah I was the same. So if I come home from training at say, 9.30pm, havin had a quick snack after my training on my way home, I am not allowed to eat anything before I go to bed at 10? (I'm up at 6 in the mornings).
I'd absolutely MURDER the fridge in the middle of the night, I would....

connundrum

Erm.. ok so thanks for the help thus far anyway.

/thread dies.

celestial

connundrum wrote: »

I've gone back 6 or 7 pages and can't see anything relevant, and to search would be useless due to the key words I'd be searching. (apologies if this has been covered a million times )

I train in the mornings, Mon Wed Fri 6am - 7.30am (days may vary with schedule), and I sometimes can squeeze in a weekend session.

I'm only doing cardio at the moment including light free weights. I'll probably start into proper weight sessions come Feb 2009.

The night before a session I don't really watch what I'm eating i.e. could be a normal meat, two veg and spuds dinner, and I'd have a protein shake with Nutrition X Pro Matrix. I don't eat in the morning before training at all, and obviously find that I'm starving for the hours after a session.

Following a session its any combination of cereal, fruit, smoothies etc that keeps me going.

I'm wondering what is best practice food wise regarding:

a) the night before a session
b)the morning of, but prior to the session
c) directly after and in the hours following a session

I don't want to fizzle away any good I'm doing by eating the wrong stuff.

All help welcome

Dave

Well the only advice so far has been terrible.

Mate, don't overcomplicate things here. Really! It's as simple as this - give your body what it needs. Before a workout you need fuel - this means eating something fairly light before your workout - whenever - just what you need to get you through. For example I'd have a small bowl of muesli about an hour before I hit the weights/cardio. Other options could be a banana, some cheese on wholegrain bread, etc.

After a workout just eat whatever you'll normally eat - most people on here follow the protein after you weight train anthem - personally I think it is overemphasised. But given that protein is good then no harm getting your chicken fillets/tuna/whatever kind of meat in after a workout, especially if fat loss might be your goal.

Keep it simple!

Killme00

connundrum wrote: »

I've gone back 6 or 7 pages and can't see anything relevant, and to search would be useless due to the key words I'd be searching. (apologies if this has been covered a million times )

I train in the mornings, Mon Wed Fri 6am - 7.30am (days may vary with schedule), and I sometimes can squeeze in a weekend session.

I'm only doing cardio at the moment including light free weights. I'll probably start into proper weight sessions come Feb 2009.

The night before a session I don't really watch what I'm eating i.e. could be a normal meat, two veg and spuds dinner, and I'd have a protein shake with Nutrition X Pro Matrix. I don't eat in the morning before training at all, and obviously find that I'm starving for the hours after a session.

Following a session its any combination of cereal, fruit, smoothies etc that keeps me going.

I'm wondering what is best practice food wise regarding:

a) the night before a session
b)the morning of, but prior to the session
c) directly after and in the hours following a session

I don't want to fizzle away any good I'm doing by eating the wrong stuff.

All help welcome

Dave

Dave, What are your goals from training? If you tell us that then some people with similar goals or just some knowledgeable feckers will eb able to help. I would recommend that you read the stickies at the top of the forum in relation to nutrition and a balanced diet. Depending on your goals, you can work out how many calories you should generally be consuming a day and what those calories should be made up of.

One thing i will say though is that i would never recommend training early in the morning on a empty stomach. Personally i would be very weak if i tried to train early in the morning on an empty stomach but if i have a good breakfeast, i then have the energy to put in a good hard workout.

AARRRGH

This is what I do and it works well -

Day off:

10:00: Large bowl of porridge, protein shake
12:30: Medium meal, e.g. chicken and broccoli crumble
16:00: Medium meal, e.g. beef lasagne
19:30: Large meal, e.g. two chicken breasts, brown rice, veg
22:00: Crackers with low fat cottage cheese

Day on:

10:00: Large bowl of porridge
12:30: Medium meal, e.g. chicken and broccoli crumble
16:00: Medium meal, e.g. beef lasagne
19:30: Protein shake, medium meal, e.g. one chicken breast, brown rice, veg
-- GYM --
22:00: Protein shake, large meal, e.g. two chicken breasts, brown rice, veg

Throughout both days I eat fruit and drink juice as a snack. I also drink a lot of water (roughly one cup every 30 minutes.)

I am sure I could make improvements, but the above is easy and works for me. Basically I try to eat regularly and with "clean" food whenever possible.