Your pre-exercise meal should include foods rich in carbohydrate as well as some protein (especially your essential amino acids) and healthy fats, which combined, will help provide your body with energy. Fuelling your body with energy before a workout can contribute to helping you train harder and keeping you going for longer, and ultimately could help you perform to your full potential. Figuring out what to eat before a workout can be difficult, but there are many easy meal and snack ideas available that can give you the energy you need, as well as some healthy goodness to your body before a workout.
As a nutritionist, I do recommend fuelling your body with proper foods and nutrition, rather than pre-workout supplements. But truth be told, I do have my own supply of workout supplements in the cupboard as a ‘just in case I don’t have enough time’ option. Workout supplements do come in handy, but they are not cheap, and they are not as good for your body compared to eating real food.
The current evidence shows that consuming foods, in particular protein and carbohydrates, before a strength/resistance workout can show better results in increased muscle protein compared to consuming after the workout [1]. Although, some evidence suggests that pre- and post-workout consumption of protein has very similar effects on muscular adaptations [2].
Although I do believe consuming foods before a workout session is beneficial, and not doing so could make you feel dizzy, lightheaded and lead to higher risk of injury, I know that sometimes it is not realistic to have the time to grab something to eat before hand. It is recommended that you eat the last meal/snack before a workout around 1-4 hours beforehand. This will allow your body enough time to digest the food, and not experience any stomach discomfort. Ideally, the closer the pre-workout meal is to your workout, the smaller it should be, so that your body can digest most/all of the food before you start the workout.
Also, I would just like to make it clear that it is not essential for you to eat something before a workout. Some people prefer to do a workout in the fasted state (i.e. on an empty stomach), while others cannot do a workout on an empty stomach. It is about preference to what you prefer, but also about the workout you are about to do. If the workout is under 60 minutes, then you might feel like you don't need to eat. But then if the workout you are about to do is more intense, or more than 60 minutes long, then you might feel like you need an energy boost before starting. For me, I am able to do a 30-45 minute HIIT workout in the morning without having breakfast. But, when it comes to workouts using weights and resistance, then I need to make sure I eat something beforehand, or I just feel sluggish and I definitely find the workout much harder. Click to find out more about the current evidence behind eating prior to working out and working out in the fasted state.
Here are a few quick and easy pre-workout snacks I recommend to eat around 1-2 hours before your workout:
1. Low-fat plain Greek yogurt with banana and granola (around 400-500kcal).
Low-fat plain Greek yoghurt: 125g
Banana: 1 medium
Low sugar granola (or homemade granola): around 30-50g
Squeeze of honey (1 teaspoon)
2. Apple and almond butter snack (around 160kcal)
Apple: 1, cored and cut into slices.
Almond butter: 1 tablespoon. Spread on each slice of apple.
Sprinkle with some cinnamon
3. Wholegrain toast, with boiled egg (around 320kcal)
Wholegrain bread: 2 slices, toasted
Egg: 1, boiled
Butter: 1 teaspoon to spread on toast
4. Low-fat plain Greek yoghurt with strawberries and almond flakes (around 400kcal)
Low-fat plain Greek yoghurt: 125g
Strawberries: 80g
Flaked almonds: 30g
Squeeze of honey (1 teaspoon)
5. Porridge and fruit (around 300kcal for dairy milk, little less if you use milk substitute).
Rolled oats: 50g
Milk (semi-skimmed or non-dairy alternative): 100ml
Blueberries: 80g
Cinnamon: 1 teaspoon
6. Banana and trail mix (around 360kcal)
Banana: 1 medium
Sultanans: 30g
Almonds (with skin, unsalted): 30g
7. Pre-workout berries & chia smoothie (around 440kcal)
Low-fat plain Greek yoghurt: 300g
Strawberries: 80g
Blueberries: 80g
Banana: 1 medium
Chia seeds: 2 tablespoon
Honey: 1 teaspoon
There are also some great energy balls recipe online, and I would recommend to have 2-3 pre-workout if you were going to make these before hand. This is a great snack to make in a batch and keep in the fridge and usually only takes 10 minutes to make! Here is a recipe you can follow:
Ingredients:
1 & 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon chia seeds
1/2 cup nut butter of your choice
2 tablespoon honey
4 tablespoon almond milk
2 tablespoon sultanas
Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl (i.e. everything apart from honey, almond milk and nut butter)
Combine both the honey and nut butter in a saucepan on a low heat until they are combined. Once combined, mix into the dry ingredients bowl.
Slowly add and mix in the milk into the bowl, 1 tablespoon. You might not need all the milk, or you might need to add an extra tablespoon or two depending on the consistency to make the sticky balls
Once mixture is all combines, roll into balls and let the balls set in the fridge for around 30 minutes.
Take home message:
Getting a good combination of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats before a workout is a great way of providing your body with energy to get the best out of the workout. It is best to eat proper foods, instead of pre-workout supplements, and there are lots of easy snacks that can be made with little time, to fuel your body. But remember, it is not essential to eat before your workout. Some people have different preferences as to whether they eat before a workout or not. Also it does depend on your overall goal for working out i.e. are you working out to build on your strength, or is it for weight loss?
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