Its more important than you think to have a snack before exercise.
We are all a bit different and react that bit different to all sorts of foods, so working out what best food choice for you and agrees with you is always important.
Whole grains, lower far dairy or fruits will always work well for you as a stop gap for your workouts and give you some energy for your tougher workouts through the summer.
Try eating these snacks if you can at least 30 minutes before exercise to make sure your food goes down properly, and your food is ready to release energy into your system.
The 30 minute rule applies to smaller snacks, if you were to eat a big meal before training, you may need 90 mins to 2 hours before your workout.
I find some people have better digestive systems than others. I find i can eat and literally then go for a run. I could probably do a big meal and exercise 30-60 minutes later, but that took a lot of getting used to because i tend to eat on the run throughout the day, and took me years to get used to that because of my lifestyle.
If you stick to the guidelines i first mentioned, you shouldn’t really go wrong.
I used to try the no food strategy before a workout because i thought i may feel sick. This was a stupid strategy because i would always then fail towards the second half of the workout, due to lack of carbohydrates left in my system. I avoided the sickness for sure, but it wasn’t worth losing all that energy.
You will find also that if you don’t have food before workouts and you have no carbs in your system, then your body will use precious lean muscle tissue already on your body. This can be a disaster because you have worked so hard to get in the first place, as well as muscle being so important for your metabolic rate (the rate your body burns calories). The last thing you want is to slow down your metabolism, so lets keep getting your snacks in every 3-4 hours and really make this thing happen for you!
Not eating before exercise is bad news full stop, just like the idea of not eating breakfast, any time your body goes long periods without food, its goes into starvation mode and stops burning fat so easily.
Keeping your weekly eating well-structured and full of nutrients is the only way to go if you want the best out of yourself.
