Blog Layout

What to Eat Before and After a Workout For Energy, Muscle Building & Weight Loss

Joanne Fazel • Apr 20, 2022

What to Eat Before & After A Workout 


Exercise and movement are extremely important throughout life, but it is especially helpful during the menopause transition to help us balance our blood sugar better, boost metabolism & help with weight management, stop the decline of muscle mass, improve sleep, increase energy and reduce our stress levels.

But once you’ve got yourself into the habit of exercising, how do you make sure that you are eating in a way that actually helps fuel your workouts with enough energy to give it your best and to build that lean muscle mass that helps with managing your weight?

Glucose - Your body’s fuel

Our bodies use glucose as the main fuel to keep our muscles working and we get that glucose from carbohydrates.
Once our cells have enough glucose to produce the energy we need, the excess is stored as glycogen in the liver and the muscles.

When we exercise, especially if we are doing short or intense workouts, our bodies use up the glycogen stores first. As we use up our glycogen stores during exercise, our intensity and ability to keep going at the same pace or output reduces.
So, it’s important to eat carbohydrate foods in order to replenish those glycogen stores.

Protein

Protein is important for our muscles’ performance. When we exercise, we break down muscle fibres and we need protein to help build them back up stronger.

Having protein before and after exercise helps repair muscles, encourages growth and increases strength, lean muscle mass and performance. The more lean muscle mass we have, the better we burn calories.

Fat

Whilst glycogen is the main fuel source when we are doing short, intensive workouts, fat is the fuel source for more endurance-based workouts that last for longer and are of a low to moderate intensity. So having some healthy fats in your meals is helpful if you are going to be exercising for long periods.


The timing of your meals before and after a workout is important to maximise your performance and recovery.

Before a workout:

Ideally, you would eat a meal with a balance of carbohydrates, protein and healthy fat 2-3 hours before your workout. However, it’s not always possible to eat so far in advance of exercise, especially if you like to workout first thing in the morning (like me!).

If you have less time then stick to a simpler meal consisting of mainly carbohydrate with some protein. You want it to be fairly light so that it doesn’t make you feel ill or uncomfortable whilst you workout and be easily digested.

After a workout:

After your workout, your body wants to replenish its glycogen stores and get to work repairing your muscles so it’s important to eat a combination of carbohydrates and protein. How much protein you have post-workout is somewhat dependent on whether you had a pre-workout meal and if so, how long ago that was. If you had a substantial amount of protein before exercise you may not need much afterwards.

The amount of carbs you consume after a workout depends on the type of workout you did. Endurance exercise such as running or swimming will deplete the glycogen stores more than resistance training with weights. Similarly, if you are doing more than one workout a day or you train every day you will need more carbs to replenish glycogen stores than if you only workout every other day.

Some people think that having fat in the meal after a workout slows down the digestion and slows the absorption of nutrients, however it doesn’t seem to interfere with the benefits the carbohydrate and protein provide and doesn’t seem to affect recovery.

In terms of the timing of the post-workout meal, ideally you want to eat as soon as possible after exercising, and ideally within 45 minutes. However, again it may depend on whether you had a pre-workout meal and how soon before the workout it was eaten. For example, if you had a carbohydrate and protein rich meal one hour before the workout it’s likely that you won’t need any more straight after the workout and you can extend the timing afterwards up to a couple of hours.  

If you are exercising regularly, it’s a good idea to just get into the habit of eating something small and well-balanced every 3-4 hours in any case as this will help with blood sugar balancing which is especially importance during the menopause transition to help ease many of the unpleasant symptoms.


What if I exercise first thing in the morning and can’t eat beforehand?

Exercising on an empty stomach is known as ‘fasted cardio’. There are conflicting results from studies about whether or not exercising on an empty stomach helps with weight loss which is usually what it is recommended for. 

Certainly, if you don’t eat beforehand your body will need to use up its glycogen stores and may even start breaking down protein in muscle for fuel so it will be very important to make sure that you have a post-workout meal relatively soon afterwards.  

You may also find that exercising on an empty stomach affects your stamina or strength during the workout and some people may find that they get shaky or faint if they don’t eat beforehand because they are very sensitive to blood sugar changes. Others may dislike the feeling of food in their stomach whilst they workout and it may make them feel sick or uncomfortable. So, it’s a very personal thing.

Obviously if you have a medical condition such as diabetes, blood pressure issues or thyroid condition you should take your doctors advice about how to eat around exercise.

Whether you eat prior or not, everyone should make sure that they stay well hydrated.

Meal ideas before a workout

2-3 hours before exercise:   
Choose something more substantial like a sandwich on wholegrain bread with protein filling and salad; eggs on wholegrain toast with avocado and fruit; wholegrain pasta or rice with lean protein and plenty of veg.

1-2 hours before exercise:
Something a little lighter like a protein powder smoothie with fresh fruit; wholegrain cereal such as Weetabix with milk or milk alternative; porridge with fresh fruit such as banana and some chopped nuts; piece of wholegrain toast and peanut butter

Up to 1 hour before exercise:
Keep it very light and easily digestible such as a piece of fresh fruit such as a banana (with some Greek yoghurt if you like); an energy ball or energy bar made with decent ingredients


Ingredient Ideas for After a Workout


Carbs:

Chocolate milk
Complex carbs such as quinoa, wholegrain rice, pasta & bread, sweet potatoes and oats
Fruit

Protein:

Quality lean animal protein such as salmon, chicken, turkey or tuna
Eggs
Greek Yoghurt
Tofu
Protein powder (made into a smoothie)

Fat:

Avocado
Nuts & nut butters
Seeds

Meal Ideas:

Scrambled eggs on wholegrain toast with mushrooms, spinach and avocado
Wholegrain pitta bread with hummus
Chicken salad with cashew nuts and a piece of fruit
Greek yoghurt, flax seed, granola and mixed berries
Salmon fillet with sweet potato and roasted veg
Porridge with nuts, seeds & berries
Protein shake with Greek yoghurt, flaxseed, banana and peanut butter


See what combinations you can come up with!


If you are in the menopause transition – whether you think you might be starting perimenopause or you’ve reached post-menopause – and you’d like more support and advice around how to optimise your health and happiness, soothe your symptoms and feel more like yourself again, I’d love you to join me in my free, private Facebook group, Feel Good For Life.  


Share by: