What should I be eating before and after exercising?

So I've been regularly going to the gym and doing various other forms of exercising over the past month, and now I've worked myself up to the point where I'm doing over an hour of fairly intense (relatively speaking) cardio 4 - 5 times a week in addition to other activities such as bike riding, push-ups, sit-ups etc.

So am I wondering what I should be eating both before and after these cardio workouts? I've done some reading on the internet, but I figured I'd ask you guys for your advice/opinions as well. Thanks for the help.

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Originally Posted by CFH

So I've been regularly going to the gym and doing various other forms of exercising over the past month, and now I've worked myself up to the point where I'm doing over an hour of fairly intense (relatively speaking) cardio 4 - 5 times a week in addition to other activities such as bike riding, push-ups, sit-ups etc.

So am I wondering what I should be eating both before and after these cardio workouts? I've done some reading on the internet, but I figured I'd ask you guys for your advice/opinions as well. Thanks for the help.

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I usually start the day off with two scoops of protein powder in my coffee, and a decently nutritious breakfast in the morning.. egg white omelets often.. i normally have lunch 3 or so hours before i lift/workout so that i can run without feeling bloated or sick at all.. The best time to have a protein shake is right after you lift as that is when your body needs the help the most. I usually have some sort of recovery drink while running/working out and sometimes before to get me a little bit more energy and get the most out of my workouts.. Then i try to have dinner as early as possible (5-7ish) and then not snack afterwards..

that is my general daily routine.. i'm no nutritionist or anything but it has been working fine for me.. I had a nutrition class during my last semester of college and learned quite a bit from it.. mostly how to have the most effective workout.. as far as target heart rate during cardio, and amount of reps during weight training..

you really don't need to go crazy with supplements if you're just trying to look good and stay in shape.. i use nos blast energy drink and i love it.. as far as protein, your body can only take in and use so much and the rest is flushed out of your system regardless of how much you take, so i wouldn't go crazy with that either.. One bit of advice would be that if you're disciplined enough to eat healthy vs snacking and having fast food often, then i would suggest you eat more rather than less.. I was trying to shred a few lbs by not eating as often/as much and i just felt a lot weaker and my muscles were not rebuilding as big as they should have been.. There is really no "easy" way out to lose weight i realized, only to put hard work in with cardio. I have a low body fat % so i'm speaking of losing those last 3-4 lbs around the waist area for your abs to look as good as possible not shredding weight from being overweight or anything..

i'm sure others will have a bit more "scientific" help, but coming from a layman, hope that helped!....

I should probably also say that I'm not concerned with gaining muscles or anything like that at the moment, I'm just concentrating on trying to lose weight. My workouts are basically all cardio at the moment (ie. stairmaster, stationary bike etc.).

Really there is tons of good information all around on the web(though probably more bad info), just make sure you have a basic understanding of what you wish to achieve through excercise. Remember it's a stressor, you are breaking down muscle tissue and deplenishing your glycogen stores every time you do any serious workout. Make sure you eat some complex starchy and fibrous carbs with lean protein and essential fats sometime not too long before you workout, Id say between an hour or two, and something much quicker to digest soon afterwards that doesnt contain fat. Since your not looking to gain muscle I won't advocate Dextrose/Maltodextrin or whey Isolate as you probably won't need it, although it's still optimal for recovery. Just make sure you eat something soon after. It's how you train that determines whether you gain muscle as much as what you eat, although obviously you will need to consume more calories to bulk up, the type of foods/supplements can remain the same regardless. Just be careful in thinking that long cardio sessions automatically equate to fat loss and weight training will only serve to bulk you up, it's really a backwards way of thinking. When you enter a catabolic state for a long duration you are burning muscle as well as fat, in turn drastically reducing your metabolism. Therefore even if you do lose weight you decrease the rate your body burns calories and are far more likely to put it back on. Look into interval training, much more effective and takes far less time to do, run sprints or jump rope with rest in between, hit up a rowing machine etc. MUCH, MUCH harder but like I say, you'll save tons of time and will burn fat and preserve muscle at the least.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP8Iw...e=channel_page

This is what I was talking about, all kinds of good information on this guy's channel.

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Originally Posted by p4pking

Really there is tons of good information all around on the web(though probably more bad info), just make sure you have a basic understanding of what you wish to achieve through excercise. Remember it's a stressor, you are breaking down muscle tissue and deplenishing your glycogen stores every time you do any serious workout. Make sure you eat some complex starchy and fibrous carbs with lean protein and essential fats sometime not too long before you workout, Id say between an hour or two, and something much quicker to digest soon afterwards that doesnt contain fat. Since your not looking to gain muscle I won't advocate Dextrose/Maltodextrin or whey Isolate as you probably won't need it, although it's still optimal for recovery. Just make sure you eat something soon after. It's how you train that determines whether you gain muscle as much as what you eat, although obviously you will need to consume more calories to bulk up, the type of foods/supplements can remain the same regardless. Just be careful in thinking that long cardio sessions automatically equate to fat loss and weight training will only serve to bulk you up, it's really a backwards way of thinking. When you enter a catabolic state for a long duration you are burning muscle as well as fat, in turn drastically reducing your metabolism. Therefore even if you do lose weight you decrease the rate your body burns calories and are far more likely to put it back on. Look into interval training, much more effective and takes far less time to do, run sprints or jump rope with rest in between, hit up a rowing machine etc. MUCH, MUCH harder but like I say, you'll save tons of time and will burn fat and preserve muscle at the least.

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I've been trying to do interval-type training, but I am limited to very low-impact forms of exercise at the moment. I'm being treated for chronic shin-problems brought about by overuse etc., and as such I can't do things such as sprinting and jumping rope. I figured going hard on the stairmasters for 20 minutes and on the bike/eliptical for 20-40 mins might be a good substitute. Even so, on those machines I never keep a constant rate, I'm always alternating between a high level and a low level in an attempt to pseudo-replicate intervals.

You could try using glutamine. It is excellent for recovery. This means that you will beable to to train harder and not pay the price the next day.

Before training nothing 2hours before, after you have to replenish theres a thing called Rego. Its used a lot by Triathletes and is recommended good stuff its a good mix of Carbs and Proteins get it in before the Magic Halfhour period.

After training make sure you replace the sugar levels lost.

Before training eat carbs and make sure you're fully hydrated.