How Many Hours Before and After Your Workout You can Eat

How many hours before and after your workout one can eat is a very important question, but the answer depends on your goal, the kind of sport and intensity of the training. And today we will talk about it in detail.

How many hours before a workout should you stop eating?

[adrotate group=”1″]As for eating before physical activity, we recommend to eat about 1,5-2 hours before workout. But, it should be biologically valuable, balanced food containing enough proteins, carbohydrates and moderate amount of fats.

Mostly, doctors recommend by no means training hungry. Since it can affect your health and efficiency of workout, as well as your muscles without sufficient nutrition won’t be able to be restored fully.

It should be noted that immediately before workout one can eat a small amount of carbohydrates. This advice is especially useful for those who note that during workout they are a bit dizzy, or for those who follow the rule to eat often, but small portions.

How many hours after meals one can train for different kinds of sports

Naturally, above-mentioned tips about how many hours after meals one can train are averaged and can be various for different kind of sports.

In addition, it depends on how much you have eaten, indeed, if after a stodgy dinner you feel abdomen heaviness in 3 hours, naturally, you shouldn’t start active workout during 3 hours. In addition, at the same time, you clean your body and activate action of the bowels or start eating normal food.

On the contrary, if you practice yoga or lose weight and support the principle of Yoga “Avoid junk foods and over-eating” then you can go in for sports in an hour.

[adrotate group=”2″]Although only the very few of sportsmen eat in this way, so the main thing is that the stronger load on your body is, the earlier before a workout one should eat. It can vary from 10 minutes if your sport is chess or 2-3 and more hours.

And also if you are punched in the stomach in the martial arts, or you practice yoga, breathing exercises and meditation, the time to eat before a workout should be increased.

It is considered, that the breathing exercises, various “zeros” and meditation are better not to do earlier than 3 hours after meals and at least 2 days after the last alcohol intake. The best time for these trainings is the morning after awakening before eating because there is the longest period between eating occasions.

How many hours after a workout you can eat

The question “How many hours after a workout you can eat” is ambiguous. Since if you, for example, go in for power lifting or bodybuilding, or just strive for a strong and sculptured body, you should take protein after the workout.

It’s up to you how to take it but the easiest and quite tasty way is to drink protein shakes. In this case all the protein will be spent on muscle rehabilitation and increasing of muscle mass. There is a set of articles about what one may and should eat after a workout as well as about carbohydrate and protein on our Portal of Self-Development.

How many hours after a workout can you eat if you grow thin?

[adrotate group=”3″]If the goal of your workout is to lose weight and you are engaged in fitness, jogging, dancing or just in gym, make it a rule do not eat after your workout during 1-1,5 hours. Since after a good workout, fat burning occurs even at rest, so if you throw more “fuel” to your body, the organism will burn it but not fat.

However, if you follow the rules of sport healthy nutrition, inter alia, you eat frequently, but in small portions, you can afford a little bit of protein.

If there is no goal to lose weight, you are engaged in active sports, such as football, basketball, volleyball, hockey, rugby, tennis, one can afford nourishing food to regain strength after a heavy workout in thirty minutes — an hour.

It is important not to eat immediately after exercises (except protein) in order the body could slightly recover and it is important not to overeat, we all know it has an adverse effect on the body.

Doctors’ opinion on how many hours before and after workout one may eat

Dietarians have confirmed that nutrition plays a huge role in the training process. They advise to take foods rich in complex carbohydrates, because it will affect your health positively, increase endurance and slow down the process of fatigue. That means that muscles will work much more active during the workout.

But at the same time, experts recommend not to eat at least one hour before physical activities.

The experts advise to take protein and carbohydrate food such as light fruits during twenty minutes after a workout.

General tips about food before and after your workout

First, you have to determine for yourselves what kind of result you want to achieve;

Second, watch your general state. If you understand that there is not enough energy for a workout, it is better to have a snack before physical exercises, of course it shouldn’t be stodge, for example, it can be a bar of chocolate or a fruit;

Third, in any case, do not do physical exercises on a full stomach;

Fourth, do not be afraid to drink protein, even if you want to lose weight, and even after your workout. Protein is just pure albumen, which is responsible for building muscle.

[adrotate group=”5″]Fifth, if you want to lose weight, remember: You must spend calories during your workout more than you take. Stodge after your workout is wasted time. Do not compensate energy spent honestly.

Sixth, during a workout to regain strength you can take special drinks – isotonics or prepare natural energy drink on your own. We have already given some excellent recipes of home energy drinks in a separate article. But here is a recipe of a nutritious drink for a workout just from me.

In order to get that done, brew two spoons of black tea with hot water, let the tea draw and then pour it in a half-liter bottle, add cold boiled water and add twenty pills of ascorbic acid, shake well, close the bottle and place it to a refrigerator. One should sip this drink during a workout.

Tea contains caffeine and other tonic and stimulating components. Water promotes restoration and replenishment of liquid in the organism, and ascorbic acid suppresses secretion of a catabolic hormone responsible for destruction of proteins and accumulation of fats.

That is all for today. Read our Portal Learning and Self-Development more often. And also, if you wish to lose weight, read my recommendations how to lose weight for women and men effectively and quickly, as well as read my answers to the issues “May one drink water during a workout?” and “What is the best food after it?”