Buzz
Starting your day with a workout offers a wealth of benefits: it wakes you up, gives you a sense of achievement early on, and guarantees you won’t skip exercise later. But this brings up the question of breakfast.
Is it necessary to eat breakfast before a workout?
Not necessarily, but it can be helpful. Some individuals find fasted workouts more challenging than those done after eating. However, this varies based on the person, the type of exercise, and whether you're accustomed to exercising without eating first.
For a simple workout, such as a light jog or a brief weightlifting session, you likely won't notice a significant difference between eating or skipping breakfast. In that case, feel free to do whatever works best for you. However, expect breakfast to be particularly beneficial for the following:
High-intensity cardio or conditioning exercises, such as sprinting or intense HIIT workouts.
Extended workouts, particularly those lasting more than 90 minutes.
Any workout that leaves you feeling unusually fatigued afterward, including heavy weightlifting sessions.
If you have some extra time in the morning, you can wake up, have a regular breakfast, and then start your workout about an hour later. This approach works well for many people, but others may prefer to get moving immediately after waking up. If you're in this camp, what you eat becomes even more important.
What is the best food to consume?
Carbohydrates offer a quick source of energy, especially when consumed in forms your body can quickly process. These include sugars and starches, which are digested most efficiently when they're not combined with large amounts of fat, protein, or fiber.
In other words, this isn’t quite like a typical healthy meal. After your workout, you'll have time for something that digests more slowly. But if you need to eat just before exercising, stick to something that’s primarily carbs. Some common options include:
Toast
A banana
Oatmeal or overnight oats
You don’t have to limit yourself to just carbs if you don’t want to. Feel free to spread some peanut butter on that toast or enjoy a yogurt, which offers both carbs and protein. Experiment to find the right balance between carb-heavy and delicious.
What if I prefer to avoid carbs?
That’s entirely up to you, but it’s important to consider how it might affect your workout. If you're following a keto or low-carb diet, it could be wise to consume the small amount of carbs you do eat right before exercising. And if intermittent fasting is part of your weight loss plan, you'll need to weigh the benefits and drawbacks of having breakfast before your workout. Again, a light snack could provide extra energy for your workout without completely disrupting your diet.
Some people intentionally train while fasting because they believe it “burns fat,” but that’s only true in a technical sense. If I want to save more money, I could pay cash for something instead of using a debit card. However, at the end of the day, the money is still mine, no matter how I make the payment. Choosing one method over another doesn’t make me wealthier.
Similarly, “burning fat” during a workout doesn’t impact how much fat remains in your body by the end of the day. You could burn 200 calories from carbs in your breakfast or 200 calories from fat and then eat an additional 200 calories afterward. What truly matters is your total calorie balance, not the specific type of fuel your mitochondria are using during exercise.
What if I can’t eat as soon as I wake up?
There are a few options for this. First, you might be fine without breakfast; some people prefer training in a fasted state because it feels easier, even if it means some slight fatigue. You could also consider waking up earlier to have time to eat or simply move your workout to a later time in the day.
But there’s typically something you can eat if you’re willing. Beverages tend to be easier to handle than solid foods, so you could try some skim milk or almond milk, and you might opt for the sweetened version (like chocolate milk) or add honey for a bit more carbs. I used to think a “shake” had to be a big smoothie packed with fruit, ice, protein powder, and peanut butter, but nowadays, my go-to before a workout is just a cup of chocolate almond milk, with or without whey protein, to kickstart the day’s protein intake.
If eating before a workout isn’t possible, can you eat during it? Extended workouts can benefit from nutrition taken during exercise. This typically applies to sessions lasting longer than 90 minutes, but there’s no rule against bringing your breakfast along for shorter sessions. If you run, consider carrying the gel packets that marathoners and endurance cyclists use during races. If you lift weights, prepare a shake to sip between sets.
In the end, the best breakfast is one you’ll only find through trial and error. Don’t hesitate to try new things: if you usually train without eating, just a few bites of toast before your workout might make a significant difference. Experiment to figure out what works best for you.
Updated 4/9/2021 to insert a missing word in the sentence “If you truly can’t eat before the workout, can you eat during it?”
