What To Eat Pre and Post Workout for Strength Gain and Weight Loss

Are you making the simple mistakes of eating the wrong foods before and after your workout?

Or are you not eating anything at all?

If so then you could be breaking down muscle or stopping your muscles and body from repairing properly and efficiently meaning all your hard work is for nothing.

Don’t you want to know exactly what to eat before and after your workout to get better results quicker than ever? Good! Then reading this post can make sure you get the most from your exercise.

Lets Jump in right at the beginning to see how we should structure our nutrition before we workout.

How much protein should you eat? What happens if we don’t eat carbohydrates? How long before we train should we eat? When and why should we train fasted? All of these questions are answered right here:

So its no secret that the amount of protein we eat is related to our body’s ability to build muscle and how quickly we recover. But do we need to consume protein immediately before working out? This is answered simply by when our last meal was.

When we work out it is important for our plasma amino acid levels in the blood to be quite high. Amino acids are the building blocks for protein in the body and hence we want to keep them high.

With this in mind lets say we had eaten a meal 1-2 hours prior to working out that contained upwards of 20g of protein then this would more than likely be deemed a sufficient enough amount to help us build muscle and support us during our workout.

On the other hand if it had been several hours since you had consumed a meal containing protein of 20g and upwards then looking to get a protein fix in at least 30 minutes before training is going to be crucial if you want to reap the rewards.

Rule of thumb: Aim for at least 20-40g of protein 30 minutes – 1 hour before working out if you haven’t eaten for several hours.

But… What are the best sources to get your pre-workout protein from?

If you do find yourself in the situation where you need that protein hit 30 minutes before training then you need to aim for something that is digested as fast as possible for your muscles to utilize it.

Protein that is digested and absorbed fast will then raise your plasma amino acid levels to ensure your body is in an anabolic state, which means it is going to build muscle and not break it down.

For Short-Term muscle building effects then Whey Protein is the “Whey” (Way) to go. Sorry I had to put that in! Simply because your body will digest and absorb it quicker than any other option. If you don’t have this readily available or want another option then look to any of the following: -

1. Protein Bar

2. Grilled Chicken

3. Eggs

Moving on…. How important are carbohydrates?

Very!! One thing’s for sure about the relationship between carbohydrates and exercise. They will 100% improve your performance.

Unlike protein they are not directly linked to increased muscle growth consuming them prior to working out but a good source of carbohydrates will fuel your entire workout and help you reach optimal performance giving you the energy to get that extra repetition and train harder for longer.

Now we have established that pre workout carbohydrates are so important then which ones are best and when should you eat/consume them?

Depending on the type of exercise you are going to do will determine what source of carbohydrate you should choose.

If your training usually lasts for 2 or more hours then a lower Glycemic Index Carbohydrate (Slower Digesting/releasing) is going to be more beneficial as they provide you with a longer lasting supply of energy. These include foods such as:- Wholegrains, Foods high in Fibre, Sweet Potatoes, Quinoa, Beans.

At the other end of the spectrum if your training is a lot shorter and intense like a typical gym session then you will want to aim for carbohydrates that are high on the glycemic index to provide you with that short-term release and instant supply of energy. These would be foods like White Rice, White potatoes, Bananas.

The Big Question… When to take these pre-workout carbohydrates?

Around 90 minutes or more before the workout aim for at least 1 g of Carbs per Kg of body weight to fuel you for optimal performance.

Then about 30 minutes before aim for 25-50g of High Glycemic Index  (Fast Digesting) Carbohydrates.

Using the above principle as a guide will be sure to give you a massive performance edge.

But what about fats?

Fats are not going to do anything special for you before your workout simply because they slow down the digestion of protein, which is the last thing we want!

Finally on Pre-Workout nutrition, fasted training is becoming more and more popular. But does it work? Can you really lower your body fat percentage at a quicker rate if you train fasted?

You can but it comes at a cost.

When we train fasted, which means when our blood plasma insulin levels are considered to be low. This usually occurs once our body has finished absorbing all of the nutrients from our last food intake, typically after at least 6+ hours.

The reason this comes at a cost is because muscle breakdown is going to be accelerated as your protein levels are going to be extremely low and wont be consistent with the information and tips I spoke about above. So if you are looking for strength gain then this is definitely a technique to avoid.

Apart from this is weight loss / body fat reduction is your primary goal then fasted training could be particularly useful as research has shown that when we train in the fasted state fat loss is accelerated.

Therefor if you’re a guy looking to reveal those lower Abs or a Woman looking to tone up your hips, butt and thighs the fasted cardio will more than likely need to be in your routine.

So enough about pre-workout nutrition, Lets look at what we should be consuming after a workout.

What should be the first thing you eat after training? If you don’t get this right you wont make nearly half the results you could and should be getting from your training.

Starting with Protein. Why do you need it and how much do you need?

When we workout muscle protein is broken down and will do so even quicker after we finish our workout. The result of this is going to be muscle loss. Which is going to be detrimental to anyone no matter your goal.

We can of course of reduce this post workout muscle breakdown by getting that quick hit usually in the form of a Whey protein supplement as we already know from above it is absorbed quickest by our body.

Post Workout Protein therefore stimulates muscle growth.

How much do you need?

This could be dependent upon how much muscle you have as you will need more the keep protein synthesis levels high if you have higher muscle mass or are simply more active.

To be clear protein synthesis is where your body can utilize protein levels in the muscles to keep you in an anabolic state preventing muscle breakdown.

Rule of thumb for this is upwards of 20g Protein after your workout. However aiming for a much higher amount of up to 50g has proven to be much more effective in stimulating protein synthesis especially if you are very active or have a large amount of muscle mass as I said above.

Now on to Post Workout Carbohydrates.

What is the benefit of eating carbohydrates post workout?

When we exercise our muscle glycogen stores are completely depleted and if they remain depleted then research has once again shown that muscle breakdown is accelerated.

Thus the importance of including carbs post workout is to replenish these glycogen stores with a high glycemic index (fast digesting carbohydrate) mentioned earlier on such as white potatoes, white rice, bananas etc. Or a post workout supplement called dextrose.

Another reason is that a fast digesting carbohydrate like the ones above provide an insulin ‘spike’ raising our blood sugar levels.

This insulin ‘spike’ has a positive effect on muscle growth as it has been shown to reduce protein breakdown.

That being said we can still get this effect from our post workout whey protein shake but the insulin ‘spike’ we get from carbohydrates will elevate insulin levels at a considerably quicker rate and also sustain this level for much longer hence the importance of carbohydrates post workout.

How much Carbohydrate do we need to eat post workout for this to be effective though?

It has been suggested that around 0.25-0.4g of Carbohydrate post workout per pound (lbs) of body weight is sufficient enough to get the full effects of this insulin ‘spike’ and restock our muscle glycogen stores.

Finally is there a magic window or perfect timing for our post workout nutrition?

Research has shown that consuming your post workout nutrition immediately after exercise promotes better muscle growth and protei synthesis than consuming it at any other time.

However as long as you don’t exceed a 1-2 hour window you will still make sufficient benefits.

To conclude please be aware that these formulas can be applied to both weight loss and strength gain goals. As we know the most important part of either goal is energy balance and working out our daily calorie requirement.

Do you know how many calories you need and how you would fit your pre and post workout nutrition into this intake?

I offer exclusive nutrition plans via my personal website that helps you calculate this and I will coach you to structuring your nutritional intake if required.

If you need help with this and want to get the best results then you need to click HERE to find out more.

Until next time

E