When is the Best Time to Eat? Before or After Your Workout?

You might have heard that there is a best time to eat.

So now you’re wondering what that time is.

Specifically, you may be wondering:

Should I eat before my workout or after my workout?

I hope this blog post gives you the shortest and clearest answer to this question.

Here it goes.

Is there REALLY a best time to eat?

If you’re working out regularly, yes there is.

Working out sends many different signals to your body.

You can arrange your meals around your workouts in order to get results faster.

So, Should You Eat Before or After Your Workout?

The answer to this question depends on the goal you are trying to achieve.

Specifically, are you trying to:

• Lose weight?
• Grow your butt?
• Slim your thighs?
• Get rid of lower belly fat?
• Get rid of back fat? etc.

Your approach should vary depending on your goal.

Thankfully, it’s really simple to figure out which approach is right for you since all of these goals can be grouped into two categories.

1. What to do if you want to grow
2. What to do if you want to lose fat

Let’s begin with #1.

What is the Best Time to Eat if You Want to Grow?

You should eat before and after your workout if your goal is to grow any part of your body.

For example, if you’re trying to:

• Grow your butt
• Grow your legs
• Grow your upper back etc.

In all these scenarios, you want to eat before and after your workout in order to achieve your goals.

You also want to ensure that you are eating slightly more calories than your body needs.

This is called a calorie surplus

Finally, you want to make sure that you are eating the right amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fat in order to meet your goals.

This is called optimizing your macros

Here’s a great calculator that you can use to calculate your calories needs and macros to meet your goals.
There are many ways to make this more complicated but this right here is pretty much everything you need to know to get started.

What is The Best Time to Eat if You want to Lose Weight?

Ok. So, what if you want to lose weight?

This scenario applies to you if you’re trying to

• Get slimmer
• Lose belly fat
• Lose arm fat
• Lose back fat
• Lose thigh fat, etc.

If any of these scenarios apply to you, then you have 100% freedom to eat whenever you like.

This can mean:

• Working out first thing in the morning before eating anything (my preference)
• Working out later in the day after 1 meal
• Working out later in the day after 2 meals
• Having a small snack before a workout
• Having a full meal after a workout

As you can see, there is a dizzying array of options for when to eat if you want to lose weight.

All you have to do is try different methods and pick whatever works best for your body.

If your goal is to lose weight, there is no reason to stress about when to eat.

The main thing you need to worry about is the total amount you eat over the course of the entire day.

How you organize your meals around your workouts doesn’t really matter.

Again, there are many ways to make this very complicated but this is pretty much 99.9% of what you need to know!

What if You Want to Lose Weight and Grow Your Butt (or other body part)?

I can see why you might want to do this.

I mean, who doesn’t want to look like a million bucks eh?! 🙂

However, I don’t recommend doing this.

Trying to lose weight and grow is like trying to sink and swim at the same time.

You can try but you’ll get much further if you focus on just one thing at a time.

If you try to lose weight and grow your butt (or other body part), you won’t see progress with either goal and you’ll become discouraged and give up.

Maybe you’ve even tried doing that many times in the past and it just hasn’t worked out for you.

My best advice to you is to pick one goal at a time.

• Do you want to lose weight?
• Or do you want to grow?

Decide which goal is most important to you right now.

Then scroll up and follow the advice provided for your specific goal.

This is the best way to get the body you dream of.

You can do it.