What Is Better, Training Before Or After Eating?

Although each person knows if it is better to eat before or after training, it is always essential to maintain a balance and not overdo it, neither by excess nor by default

Some people say that to train they have to eat some food first. On the contrary, others indicate that they cannot exercise on a full stomach.

There are also people who say that they should allow at least 2 hours from ingestion before going to the gym or doing another sport. Thus, each person chooses what works best for him. This is normal since each body is different.

Some athletes eat during exercise. You may have seen, for example, tennis players consuming a fruit between each set . Other athletes drink energy drinks and others decide to have a snack.

In any case, the general recommendation is usually not to cut out carbohydrates altogether, since they are an efficient source of energy for aerobic exercise.

In this article we will try to answer the following question: what is better, training before or after eating?

Training on an empty stomach: yes or no?

In reality,  eating before, during or after exercising is a personal decision based on several parameters:

• What and how much do we eat.
• What is the type of training we do.
• What other activities do we do.
• What objective are we aiming for.

For example, for a person with normal muscle mass and adipose tissue percentages who wants to stay in shape, the ideal would be to eat earlier to perform well.

If you are overweight, then you will need to eat light to burn more calories than ingested during exercise.

We must bear in mind that although  training on an empty stomach burns more fat, it is not beneficial in the long term since the body always acts as a “saver” of its reserves.

If we expend energy without having provided it with the necessary fuel, then it will accumulate fat when we eat during the day. The balance will be unfavorable because what you spend will always be less than what you save.

In matters of the organism, not everything is as perfect as in theory. Because it is also important to make sure how we feel, what time we train, how much we perspire, if we have high or low blood pressure, etc.

Exercise is synonymous with stress for the body. Therefore, it must adapt physiologically and achieve optimal performance as well as recover after exertion. The important thing is to have enough energy for the activity we want to carry out.

When to eat according to the training schedule?

Another aspect that we must take into account is the training schedule. For example, if the practice takes place in the morning, it is better to have breakfast 2 or 3 hours before the sport. It is not necessary that the intake be copious or caloric. For its part, the ideal is to avoid sugary and processed foods (they stimulate the action of insulin and increase the risk of early depletion of reserves) and choose skimmed dairy and whole grains.

When you finish training, it is advisable to consume carbohydrates with a high glycemic index (easy to absorb and that provide quick energy), such as fruit juices and cereals.

Food 3 hours after exercise needs to be abundant to also provide carbohydrates and avoid muscle loss.

Other tips

If dinner has been light without carbohydrates, it is advisable to have a good breakfast before exercising to be able to perform accordingly. If, on the other hand, it has been copious with carbohydrates, fats or sugars, you can train on an empty stomach or with a light intake such as fruit or juice. Other tips are as follows:

• If you train at night or at dusk, it is advisable to have a snack between 2 and 3 hours before exercise to maintain energy levels and perform at 100%.
• At the end of the practice, we must try to consume dishes that are rich in carbohydrates and proteins to counteract what was lost in the exercise.

Under the excuse of “I have already met my daily dose of exercise now I can eat whatever I want” many times  we give the body additional calories that it does not need. Therefore, even training, we must follow a balanced diet since, despite exercising, we can also gain weight.

Keep in mind that spending too much energy in the gym and not eating enough calories is not good because it weakens us. However, neither is eating in quantity after having gone to training.

Lastly,  pay attention to the signals your body gives you. If you feel too tired to do the exercises, it could be because you don’t have enough energy or your stomach is too full.