How to Time Meals, Workouts for Lasting Energy Efficiency

When Janet Mamon exercises early in the morning, she often plunges into the pool without eating.

If she plans a noon workout on her exercise bike, though, she’ll be sure to eat a bowl of cereal with fruit and nonfat milk three hours or so before.

And if she delays her workout until even later in the day, she might drink a glass of juice an hour or so before to stay energized.

If you are what you eat, then what you eat when you exercise is even more critical to performance, experts say.

What you eat and drink before a workout can mean the difference between sailing through exercise or collapsing, between enjoying your workout or loathing it, says Mamon, nutritional consultant for the Centinela Hospital Fitness Institute.

For example, if you exercise very early in the morning, you might not need to eat to keep up your strength because your body’s energy stores may be adequate.

If you exercise later, though, it’s important to time your meals.

“Allow at least two to four hours between a meal and exercise,” says Mamon, who draws up nutritional guidelines for professional sports teams.

If your meal is not high-fat or high-protein, you might get away with a shorter interval between meals and exercise, adds Sherri Fraikor, a registered dietitian at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center and a marathon runner. “The more highly trained you are, the more likely you can probably tolerate eating before workouts,” Fraikor says.

Whatever your fitness level, concentrate on eating foods high in carbohydrates--such as a baked potato, bread or pasta--to ensure adequate energy.

If you want a snack before exercise, eat about an hour before your workout, Fraikor advises. A banana is a good choice because it’s not perishable and can be eaten on the run. Or try a piece of bread (preferably not high-fiber) or low-fat crackers. (How to determine fat content without stopping to decipher a label? “If a cracker feels greasy or leaves an imprint,” Fraikor says, “it’s probably high in fat.”)

Skip the temptation to grab a candy bar before a workout, Mamon and Fraikor agree, because it stays in your system too long and is usually high in fat.

Energy or sports bars have improved in recent years and are not as high in fat. Check labels. Mamon offers a quick rule of thumb for choosing sports bars: “Try to keep fat content to 2 grams or less per 100 calories--that would keep your total fat content to 18% or less,” she says.

Also, carefully read the labels of granola bars; some are very high in fat.

Even if you find an ultra-low-fat bar, don’t go overboard, cautions Matthew Vukovich, a researcher at the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind. “I wouldn’t eat them like candy bars.”

Drinking fluids before, during and after exercise is also vital.

“People don’t drink enough water. They wait until they are thirsty,” Mamon says. But you shouldn’t. Drink two cups of water two hours or so before working out if you can, Mamon suggests, especially if you are competing. Drink another two cups 15 minutes or so before your workout. During workouts, try to drink half a cup to a cup every 15 or 20 minutes. After a workout, drink at least two more cups.

If your workout will last more than 90 minutes, you might want to consider a sports drink.

“If a sports drink upsets your stomach, dilute it with water,” advises Vukovich. And, he cautions, don’t do regular workouts drinking plain water and suddenly switch to sports drinks during a bike race or road run. See how your system adapts during workouts first. If your workout is less than 90 minutes, though, water might be just as good--plus you will save calories.

Go easy on coffee before a workout too. Fraikor sometimes drinks half a cup an hour before she runs. But remember, she cautions, that it’s a diuretic and so will increase urine production.

After a workout, some exercisers swear by eating a food high in carbohydrates as soon as possible, reasoning that it will speed recovery from the exercise.

But Vukovich says the advice doesn’t apply across the board. “If you are exercising to lose weight, it is best not to eat right afterward,” Vukovich contends. “Wait an hour or two. If you eat right after your workout, you will probably burn less fat.”