Are you supposed to eat before your workout?

Today I was mapping out my schedule of working out and my meal plan for next week and realized that I never really pay attention to where my meals are aligned in regards to when I workout.

Sometimes I workout in the evening, sometimes in the afternoon, and sometimes in the morning. I've never really put  much thought into how much I eat in the hours before my workout to really fuel me to get going.

I found this guide in the Team Beachbody website (you can create a free account here) and thought that you may want to know the info too!

How much you should eat before your workout depends on the type of workout that you plan on doing: high, moderate, or low intensity. If you're going to do a low-intensity workout, don't eat before your workout because it will just make you feel sluggish. On the other hand, for moderate to high-intensity workouts, you'll want to have some reserve carbs in your system to perform the best.

Here are some caloric guidelines:

• If it's 3 or 4 hours before your exercise, eating a large meal is OK (600 calories or more).
• If it's 2 or 3 hours beforehand, a smaller meal is better (400 to 500 calories).
• If it's 1 or 2 hours before, a liquid meal is a good choice (300 to 400 calories).
• If it's an hour beforehand, a small snack will do (200 to 300 calories).
  
  ***Try not to eat during the last hour before you begin a workout because it floods your system with too much blood sugar during those initial stages of your workout.

However, as someone who practices clean eating, I eat roughly every 2-3 hours. Therefore Usually it will be my small meal or my Shakeology that I will eat. I also usually do some moderate intensity workouts, so I definitely want to have that carb back up.

Want some personal one-on-one assistance to get you to your goals? Email me at kjeskacoach@gmail.com and I can help find you the right program to get you to where you want to go.