What to Eat Before Your Workout

Ever find yourself wondering what you should eat before your workout — or whether it’s necessary to eat anything at all? These are important questions to ask, given that proper fuel can make a huge difference in your postworkout energy level, mood, recovery, and results. In turn, those factors may influence how likely you are to work out again.

Here, experts break down why it’s important to fuel yourself before you exercise, plus, what to eat based on the time of day and length of workout.

While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer for what to eat before a workout, you can gauge the best plan for you based on several personal factors. In particular, the specific recommendations for what, when, and how much to eat will vary significantly depending on the time of day, type, and length of workout, along with your personal goals, according to Jennifer McDaniel, RDN, who is board-certified in sports dietetics and owns the private nutrition practice McDaniel Nutrition Therapy, based in Clayton, Missouri.

What you should eat before a 30-minute power walk is going to look different from what you eat before a 20-mile training run. Here’s what you need to know.

What to Eat Before a Morning Workout Shorter Than an Hour

If you’re exercising for less than an hour first thing in the morning, McDaniel and Patton agree that you don’t necessarily have to eat anything.

“If you have an early workout that’s easy or light and you’re trying to lose weight, it might be best to have a glass of water but skip the food,” says McDaniel. But if your early workout is moderate or vigorous in intensity, a small snack may be helpful.

It’s also important to acknowledge your personal hunger cues. If you’re ravenous when you wake up, you may benefit from having food in your stomach before an activity. Signs that you’re too hungry to run on empty include intolerable hunger pains, headache, lightheadedness or dizziness, irritability, or inability to concentrate, says Patton.

In these cases, even if you have just 10 to 15 minutes before your workout, eat a small amount of quickly digestible carbohydrates. Ideas include:

• 4 ounces of fruit juice
• A small banana
• A handful of grapes
• A handful of dry cereal

Doing so helps to ensure you have the physical and mental energy necessary to get moving. With a small, carb-rich snack before your workout, you may actually be surprised by how much more energy you have.

What to Eat Before a Morning Workout Longer Than an Hour

If you’re exercising for more than an hour first thing in the morning, you should always eat at least a small amount of easy-to-digest carbs — like the options mentioned above — so you have the necessary energy to sustain your workout, Patton says.

However, waking up with enough time to eat a small breakfast before intense workouts may be ideal, McDaniel adds. This might mean 30 minutes before your workout, which grants you enough time to digest something more substantial, of around 200 calories.

Food ideas in this category include:

• Half an English muffin with a tablespoon of peanut butter and a few banana slices
• An apple with a tablespoon of almond butter
• Half a cup of plain yogurt with a small handful of granola

If you feel like you can’t eat before a workout, consider starting with an easy-to-digest option, like a sports drink or a smoothie or applesauce, and work your way up to more sustenance.

The extra calories in your system from a larger snack help to prevent fatigue, allowing you to have enough energy to complete your workout at a time of day when you might otherwise feel depleted.

What to Eat Before Exercise Later in the Day

If you’re working out later than the morning, and you’ve eaten a meal within the last two to three hours, you should be fine to do your workout without any additional source of preworkout fuel, says McDaniel. But if you haven’t eaten recently, you should have a 100- to 200-calorie snack within 30 minutes to an hour before your workout so you’re mentally and physically prepared.

How long should you wait to exercise after eating? If you’ve just eaten a meal, you should wait two to three hours before you work out; and if you’ve just eaten a snack, wait about a half hour, McDaniel says.

If you’re doing a cardio workout, this snack should be higher in carbohydrates, moderate in protein, and low-fat (but you don’t need to go fat-free). Snack ideas include:

• A whole-wheat tortilla with a smear of peanut butter and a banana
• Half a turkey sandwich
• Oatmeal with fruit and nuts

• Eggs and a slice of whole wheat toast
• Cottage cheese with fruit
• Greek yogurt with fruit and nuts

Do you really need to fuel up midworkout with one of those sports gels or gummies? The answer for the vast majority of people is no. For shorter workouts of 60 minutes or less, McDaniel says eating before and after is sufficient.

“Sports performance drinks, gels, and chews work great and are made from the type of carbs that won’t cause gastrointestinal distress,” says Patton. “But some people prefer things like bananas, pretzels, or crackers.” To better understand what works for you (and what your system can handle), start small and test different options during training.

And while you might work up an appetite from a workout, if your session was of moderate intensity and an hour or less, you probably don’t need a specific recovery food. McDaniel suggests eating a snack or meal that includes a mixture of carbs and protein within a few hours of workout. But there are some people who should be paying closer attention to what they eat after exercise.

“Recovery nutrition” tends to be most important after intense endurance or strength-training workouts (say, a 90-minute bike ride or weight-lifting session), or when an athlete trains multiple times in a single day.

In cases of intense endurance or strength-training that’s long — or for anyone feeling very hungry or fatigued after a workout — eating protein and carbohydrates within an hour or so after finishing exercising is ideal.

Most recovery snacks can be within the 100- to 300-calorie range. Some postworkout snack ideas include:

• Raisin bread with cottage cheese and sliced bananas
• A whole-wheat tortilla with hummus
• Plain Greek yogurt with walnuts and honey
• Flavored kefir
• Whole-wheat crackers with cheese and dried figs
• Two eggs with toast and fruit

Want specific suggestions tailored to your needs? Working with a registered dietitian to help you pinpoint a personalized nutrition plan that fits your lifestyle and goals is always a good idea.

• Appropriately fueling yourself for a workout can help you protect your energy levels and mood in addition to influencing your recovery and results. Knowing what to eat, when, and whether or not you could benefit from preworkout nutrition at all depends on the workout in question, its intensity, duration, and the time of day you do it.
• For light early-morning exercise, you may not need to eat first unless you are hungry, in which case you should have a small snack of quickly digestible carbohydrates. For more vigorous exercise in the morning or later in the day, focus on substantial snacks or light meals that incorporate carbs and protein.
• Good options for preworkout nutrition include an apple with almond butter, yogurt and nuts or fruit, and eggs with whole wheat toast.