What/ When to eat before soccer

jtown

Playing soccer in the evenings, Tue and Wed - kick about with 7v7.
Finish work at 4.30.. should I have dinner if playing at 8pm/ 9pm..

eating around 6 should be okay but what type of food.. I usually have pasta that kind of stuff.. I never eat afterwards - should I?

Want to try and get fitter but the 2 days a week for the last month doesnt seems to be doing it for me. Wondering if Im eating wrong type of food before and after.

Thanks

runawaybishop

jtown wrote: »

Playing soccer in the evenings, Tue and Wed - kick about with 7v7.
Finish work at 4.30.. should I have dinner if playing at 8pm/ 9pm..

eating around 6 should be okay but what type of food.. I usually have pasta that kind of stuff.. I never eat afterwards - should I?

Want to try and get fitter but the 2 days a week for the last month doesnt seems to be doing it for me. Wondering if Im eating wrong type of food before and after.

Thanks

You need to provide more detail on what you eat for the day. Eat when you are hungry in general, but i wouldn't go eating a huge dinner 10 minutes before soccer.

jtown

runawaybishop wrote: »

You need to provide more detail on what you eat for the day. Eat when you are hungry in general, but i wouldn't go eating a huge dinner 10 minutes before soccer.

Breakfast
Porridge
Toast
Coffee

Lunch
Pasta
Sambo
Rice
Depends what I had for dinner

Dinner
Chicken - Rice
Beef - veg
Curry - Rice
Fish - chips/ Veg
Water/ Milk

Snacks
Tea - choc

I try to eat 2 hours before soccer

runawaybishop

Looks basically ok, do you do just the football for exercise?

jtown

runawaybishop wrote: »

Looks basically ok, do you do just the football for exercise?

Ya 2 nights a week...

Alf Veedersane

jtown wrote: »

Ya 2 nights a week...

I wouldn't be expecting to see a huge improvement in fitness after 4 weeks of playing football twice a week, tbh.

Were you particularly unfit before you started?

Inspector Coptoor

Eat half your dinner before at 6, play football at 8 and eat the other half after

jtown

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

Eat half your dinner before at 6, play football at 8 and eat the other half after

but is eating at 9:30 too late?

jtown

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

I wouldn't be expecting to see a huge improvement in fitness after 4 weeks of playing football twice a week, tbh.

Were you particularly unfit before you started?

Nope - just cant seem to get the weight down - haven't seen an improvement in fitness over the 4/5 weeks on the pitch

Inspector Coptoor

No.
Always eat after training

jtown

Inspector Coptoor wrote: »

No.
Always eat after training

Thats the mistake im making - would never eat after training - maybe some water, tea but that would be it.. hit the pillow around 11:45

Alf Veedersane

jtown wrote: »

Nope - just cant seem to get the weight down - haven't seen an improvement in fitness over the 4/5 weeks on the pitch

Are you talking about weight or fitness?

If you weren't unfit, then you definitely won't see a huge improvement after 4/5 weeks. It also depends on how much you do when you're playing. I see lads playing 7-a-side where 8 of the 14 lads on the pitch arel ittle more than spectators.

If it's weight loss you're after, football twice a week won't be doing much for you if you don't have your food intake in order.

Alf Veedersane

jtown wrote: »

Thats the mistake im making - would never eat after training - maybe some water, tea but that would be it.. hit the pillow around 11:45

You need to eat after for muscle recovery.

jtown

Alf Veedersane wrote: »

Are you talking about weight or fitness?

If you weren't unfit, then you definitely won't see a huge improvement after 4/5 weeks. It also depends on how much you do when you're playing. I see lads playing 7-a-side where 8 of the 14 lads on the pitch arel ittle more than spectators.

If it's weight loss you're after, football twice a week won't be doing much for you if you don't have your food intake in order.

Both to be honest, i wouldn't be unfit, just carrying a bit of weight. I would work hard for the hour so not a spectator.

Alf Veedersane

jtown wrote: »

Both to be honest, i wouldn't be unfit, just carrying a bit of weight. I would work hard for the hour so not a spectator.

The food you eat looks ok. If you use something like myfitnesspal and try to accurately and honestly log how much you eat of the things you eat, it'll give you an idea of how much you're taking in. That might give more of an insight into why you can't shake off the weight. 2 hours a week of football is probably only 1000 calories burned. You might be making up for that over the 7 days.

But you might well be eating fine, you just need to be more patient.

runawaybishop

jtown wrote: »

Ya 2 nights a week...

I'm a big fan of lifting weights for fitness and weight loss (with good diet ofc), would you be against it?

jtown

Would be on for that for sure

loveBBhate

jtown wrote: »

Thats the mistake im making - would never eat after training - maybe some water, tea but that would be it.. hit the pillow around 11:45

I wouldn't recommend physical activity as late as 11:45 OP. It might disrupt your sleep and at that time you should be resting anyway after your training session to allow for recovery.

How do you find the pillow out of curiosity? I use a punch bag myself, would never have thought of a pillow but it seems handy, convenient for away from home workouts and cheap.

Chancer3001

Do the half dinner b4, half after.

That always works well for me.

The last year or so I've just eaten dinner before training. Around 6. Training at 8. Nothing afterward. And I've been fine. I don't think it matters really.

Especially at the level you're talking about.

Also, whatever you do don't use "I'm playing soccer later" as an excuse to eat loads of crap!

jtown

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Do the half dinner b4, half after.

That always works well for me.

The last year or so I've just eaten dinner before training. Around 6. Training at 8. Nothing afterward. And I've been fine. I don't think it matters really.

Especially at the level you're talking about.

Also, whatever you do don't use "I'm playing soccer later" as an excuse to eat loads of crap!

Thats very true - try not to do that.