Lost about what to eat before and after workout

[lilagirl]

My diet is horrible and I mean extremely horrible. It is not balanced at all! I really want to get into shape and lose weight and tone up. I am so lost when it comes to nutrition because everyone tells you different things. For now I would really just like to know what I can consume before workout and after my workout. I will mostly be doing cardio and some strength training. Just starting if that makes a difference with protein or anything? I tend to always get really dizzy and sick after working out I assume because of my pour nutrition. Any direct answers from you strong men and toned ladies? Really in need of good advice.

[Anonymous]

Bodybuilding.com can help you a lot.

That said, there are a lot of things that play into this question.

I'll start with general advice. It goes without saying that I don't have military level discipline about this, most people don't. I skip meals, binge, forget, etc. It's the effort that counts, but just simply having the framework can help.

1. Start a food journal. I eat six meals every day 7a, 10a, 1p, 4p, 7p, 10p.

Each one of those meals is planned.

7a - Two Fried Eggs, Steel Cut Oats, Banana, Orange Juice, Coffee

10a - Almonds, Blueberries, Water

1p - Spinach Salad with at least one other vegetable, Turkey Sandwich, Water

4p - 2oz Dark Chocolate, Cherries, Water -Or Tea-

7p - Spinach Salad again, Home Cooking (baked fish or chicken, usually)

10p - Protein Shake and Vitamin

I write down what I eat at each of those times. (Of course I don't wake up by 7a every day) I just shift back. It has taken me a long time to get this diet to work for me. You will need to customize yours for yourself.

2. Keep an exercise journal as well. I try to exercise every day. I don't always. I get busy. But I always write down what I do each day. I find that going to the gym daily helps me concentrate and get into patterns. Much the same way that going to the library helps me concentrate on studying.

3. I still get dizzy in the gym. That is not something that will ever completely go away. I've vomited many, many times. It happens to everyone.

It can be caused by a lot of things. Make sure you drink enough water about an hour before going. Don't drink too much while you are there. Make sure your body has the carbs that it needs to perform (steel cut oats, oatmeal, toast, etc). Use a protein shake to make sure that your body can recover ( a little less necessary for cardio than strength training).

4. I've found that working out encourages my body to eat better. I want to eat better foods after working out. If you stick with the workouts then good things will happen.

5. If you want to lose weight then you need to know how many calories you burn in a day. And eat fewer calories than what you burn. Bodybuilding.com's nutrition forum can help you out. Just write a post that says that you're looking for help determining your "macros." They might be snobs about it but they will help you out.

6. Good for you!

[soaren]

I ditched processed foods entirely.

I use whey protein before an after a workout, because it takes the guesswork out of it. I am on the paleolithic diet, which doesn't allow wheat products, but if you are doing cardio mainly, wheat loading (consuming pasta etc with high carbs for energy) might be a good idea to prevent the feintness, which is generally caused by lack of energy or dehydration.

You also might be overtraining if you just started, you need to get your body into the vibe over a period of a month or two, you can't just go from "gamer to gainer" in a week. Your body needs to adjust.

Avoid sugar and acidic foods, and see how that works out for you.

[fefe884]

If you are trying to lose weight and stay lean long term, what you eat is obviously important but equally important are the times you eat. I think an effective eating habit (which seems to be working for me) is to not eat any time before 8am and after 5 or 6 pm. A lot of people try to stay clear of carbs, but carbs is not the enemy. You need carbs for energy, otherwise you'd get completely drained fast everyday. It's sugar that is to be avoided (so basically junk food like cake, ice cream, twinkies, fast-food, etc). People need to learn how to cook instead of constantly buying take-out and/or junk. That way, not only are they sure of the quality of their ingredients, but they can even add their own flavours to match what their tastebuds would want, especially with vegetables! Vegetables are truly delicious if you learn how to prepare them the delicious way lol.

The time interval of eating that I described earlier is pretty effective in making you lose weight, but also as important is the amount of calories that you take in. There are foods that have large calories but don't even fill you up, then there are foods that carry low calories but fill you up and satisfy your hunger. Those are the ones you want to focus on. So you want to eat foods like sweet potatoes, fish, chicken breast, vegetables, yams, brown rice, wild rice, beans, and I bet there are more but that's all I could think of for now. But not all these foods are affordable, so I'm not too picky on the kinds of foods I eat, as long as they are actual food and not junk, as long as I don't eat too much, and as long as I don't eat when its too early (before 8am) or too late (after 5pm). Plus of course working out is very important to maintain metabolism and fat loss :)

But like you said, different people say different things so I guess it all comes down to what works for you. But I hope what I've told you helps...maybe you can try it and see if you are getting results. If not, I guess it would mean to find something else that works.

[confused415]

I lost 40 lbs by just going vegetarian and running every day. I don't count calories or anything. It only took about 6 months and I have maintained my weight for two years.

[Jaden69]

Could've just ate lean meats and not gone completely vegetarian. But hey good job! on the weight loss

[confused415]

Thank you! I am too much of an animal lover, I couldn't stand eating meat.

[Jaden69]

Re-post of my other post ANYWAYS

Don't eat less, just eat clean. If you want to lose weight alone, do running/cardio. If you want to lose weight and tone your body then you have to do weight training and running/cardio.

Avoid:

Bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe. Try only eating these kinds of within 1.5 hours after working out.

Eat:

Proteins:

Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor

Chicken breast or thigh

Grass-fed organic beef

Pork

Legumes:

Lentils

Black beans

Pinto beans

Vegetables:

Spinach

Asparagus

Peas

Mixed vegetables

Stay healthy and good luck

[martyfellow]

You don't have to decide all this for yourself. There are organizations like Weight Watchers that have researched these questions, and they can guide you to losing weight in a sustainable and pretty much painless way.

They've figured out the calories and the types of nutrition you need and will lay out a diet for you that's not difficult to put up with, since it includes periods of 'break' from the diet, and healthy, low-calorie, but scrumptious desserts.

[lilagirl]

Is it cost free?

[martyfellow]

No, but its well worth the minor costs involved. A lot of the fee goes toward the foods they provide when you are a member, taht yu would't be able to find very easily on your own.

[minas]

eat lots of vegetables it will help ya, and eat at home ..:)

[Anonymous]

Eat carbs. Generally it's better to try working out on an empty stomach to avoid insulin from screwing your body up.

[Anabellexo]

banana before workout, protein after!