Pre And Post Workout Meals Explained (Examples, Timing And More)

00:00You have it like 90 minutes out and you go to work out 90 minutes later, you're still going to have a sustained energy level throughout your entire workout. Yo, yo, yo, what's up, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikkie Stott, co-founder. And you know what? I'm going to have to change this brand personality. I am that, but I do so many other things at WarriorBabe. But anyway, for the podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident.

00:35I am your host, Nikkie Stott, and welcome to today's episode, you guys, episode number 28, where we're going to deep dive into talking about pre- and post-workout meals, the importance of both of them. I'm going to share some examples with you guys, and I'm also going to speak to timing of when you should be having these specific meals. So I get asked this question all of the time, and it's even, I would say, like a listener Q&A, because when I dropped on my story a couple weeks ago to ask me some questions that were worthy of a long answer to bring to the podcast,

01:07this question got asked a number of times. And I was like, dude, this topic is just worthy of an entire podcast. So here we are. That's what we're going to talk about today, you guys. So let's dive right into it. Let's talk about pre-workout first. And please, please, please, if there's anything that you take away from this podcast today, I hope by the end of it, you recognize how important it is to be eating before you work out. And I don't want to hear that I don't have enough time. I've heard that over and over and over again.

01:40And I'll tell you this story. I used to work with a client who was like, I just don't have enough time before I can work out in the morning. And I was like, yes, you do. You have at least 30 minutes before you're going to, you know, from the time you get up to the time you're going to go work out. So when you get up, you and listen, you may not want to eat before you work before you or once you get up before you work out, because your body is so used to not eating. Right. But and the second you start fueling yourself for the first couple of days for the first week, right, that you're trying this new thing, that you're fueling yourself before you work out.

02:12So it may be hard. It may feel like you're going to throw up in the middle of the workout. But guess what? As you keep doing it and you do it for two weeks, three weeks, your body is going to adapt to you not having food before your workout. OK, so it's all about adaptation. You guys, your body is conditioned one way to not have anything before you work out. And so you can easily change it and make it adapted to the fact that you have a meal before you do go work out. And it is so important. And by the way, that client was like, oh, my God, I I don't understand how I have been working out without food because having the food inner system has absolutely changed her entire exercise experience, workout experience.

02:54So it is so important, you guys, to have something before you go work out. I don't care how early it is in the morning. I don't care how late you are at work. You must have something before you go work out because it's important to the building muscle process. Right. And I think everybody listens to this podcast. Everyone wants to build muscle. Everyone wants to change their body composition. So if you want to do that, please get in the habit of eating something before you work out, because giving your body some fuel before you go and work out, it gives you the energy to perform that workout well.

03:27It gives you the energy to lift heavier and challenging weight, which is what is going to stimulate your muscles to grow. Right. And so this can include things like carbohydrates, which give you energy, protein, which supports muscle building and the recovery process. And so having this beforehand increases your energy levels, improves your focus and your concentration during your working out session, and it reduces the risk of injury or experiencing any type of fatigue. So how it does that, how it increases, how it improves and how it reduces all of these things is that first,

04:02by consuming a snack or a meal that's containing of carbohydrates before exercise, this gives the body energy that it needs to perform well, because carbohydrates are the body's primary source of fuel during exercise. And so consuming them beforehand, before a workout can help the help you experience an increased energy levels, but also help you have a reduction in fatigue. Like I can't, I remember this one story when I lived in Bali for six months. I was getting breakfast in the morning and no joke, you guys, this girl passed out in front of me.

04:37And I, and you know, she came to really, really quick. And I was, I was right there helping her. And I was like, you know, what happened? What were you doing this morning? And she was like, I just got done working out. And I was like, oh, like, did you have anything before you worked out? And she was like, no, I didn't eat anything. And I was like, dude, dude, please eat before you work out. Right. Because that can happen. Or maybe you've experienced this inside of your workout. You feel like you're fatigued halfway through just getting started, you know, or you feel a little lightheaded.

05:10And so the way you stop that from happening is making sure you eat something beforehand. So your body has some fuel to give you to perform the workout well. Okay. And it also on top of that, it improves your focus and your concentration by having a snack or having a type of meal beforehand. I'm going to get a couple of examples in just a second. But it improves your focus and your concentration because having those protein and those carbs, they're important for brain function. And so eating those before a workout can help to improve your focus, your cognitive performance, and all of those things while you're working out.

05:47And then lastly, to why it's just super important to have a pre-workout is because it reduces the risk of injury. So having a snack that contains carbohydrates and protein before exercise, it helps to give the body, like I said, energy, but it also helps to support with muscle strength and recovery. So the more that you give your body things to lean on while it works out, the less it's likely going to have an injury or a problem or you're going to pass out or you're going to feel lightheaded or you're going to all these things, the less likely that's going to happen.

06:22So please just make sure you're eating something before you work out. Again, I don't care if you're working out early in the morning, you can have something as easy as, and let me come into the examples now, as easy as something as like a banana with a protein shake. Literally, like a banana and a protein shake. That is bomb. That will give you fuel. That will increase what I said with energy levels and improve your focus and your concentration. And it will reduce the risk of injury that you could experience if you don't eat.

06:52So here's a couple more examples. So I just mentioned the banana and the protein shake. A banana and egg whites, you know, maybe even one whole egg. And like three to four egg whites are like what I specifically do is I have containers of egg whites. So I just measure out 150 grams of egg whites. And then I put it into oatmeal. That's another pre-workout that you can have. So oatmeal and egg whites. I put it, pour it into oatmeal.

07:23I stick it into the microwave for two minutes. And voila, somebody actually taught me that way to cook it on Instagram. So whoever gave me that, shout out to you because that is forever the way that I cook my oatmeal and egg whites now. It saves having to cook anything on the stove. Some other examples is Greek yogurt with fruit and granola. A protein shake with fruit. You know, again, I said a banana, but a protein shake with any type of fruit. It could be strawberries. It could be blueberries. The thing is, though, strawberries and blueberries are a little bit lower in the carbohydrate complex thing.

07:55So lower in the carbohydrates. So bananas are made up of more carbohydrates. One full banana is like 25 to 30 grams of carbs, whereas like a cup of strawberries is like 11 grams of carbs. So just keep that in mind. So you just want to add more strawberries or add more blueberries to that if you're going to choose that example. You can even mix in a little bit of peanut butter. But here, I have a little plug about fats and fiber here. So fats are digested more slowly than carbohydrates and protein, which means that they may not provide immediate energy during exercise.

08:32So I always tell the women that I coach or the coaches that coach the women inside of Wario Babe, it's like you can have a little bit of fat, like a whole egg, like I mentioned, or some peanut butter. But you just don't want to have like a heaping tablespoon of peanut butter. You don't want to have a heaping, you know, all of these whole eggs with all of the fat contents that are made up of them. So you don't because it's they take longer fats take longer to digest than the carbohydrates and the protein.

09:03So you're not going to get immediate energy story, like immediate energy for your workout coming from just fats. You can have a little bit, like I said, but you don't want to have too much of it because it can also just slow down you, like I said, you having energy, but also could just make you feel a little bit more sluggish too as well. So it's just a little bit more beneficial to focus on having carbohydrates and protein before exercise because those two nutrients are digested a little bit more quickly. And then when it comes to fiber, you guys, so it's kind of the same thing.

09:35It's like consuming large amounts of fiber, like if you have like shit ton of vegetables before or after your workout, it's not really optimal for your performance or for your digestion. Because fiber takes longer to digest too as well than other nutrients. And so this can cause just some kind of like digestive discomfort, and it can slow down the absorption of the nutrients like protein and carbohydrates, which you really want for your energy wise. So those two things I would just pay attention to before you're going to work out because you may experience these types of things.

10:05And I'm just noting here, your main thing that you want to have before you work out is a protein and a carbohydrate. Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it. And there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons. And also, it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Thanks so much, guys. Let's get back to the show. Some other examples, like I said, what I do is oatmeal, egg whites.

10:37You can do oatmeal and peanut butter or oatmeal and protein powder. So you can literally cook up the oatmeal, then scoop the protein powder on top of it while it's still warm and mix it all in. So that's actually like a bomb. If you have like chocolate or something like that or some cool like flavor, dude, it's so freaking good. It's unreal. You can have whole grain toast with like a small amount of avocado. So that's why I said with fat, like small amount of it with some egg whites. So like there's a plethora of ideas. I just gave you a ton of ideas, you guys, from the point of, you know, something that,

11:11which I'm going to get into timing in a second, but something you could eat an hour before a workout to something you can eat 30 minutes before a workout. And so actually let's, let's dive into that now. So anything that consists of like a complex carbohydrate that you eat, which is like wheat based products, like oatmeal, brown rice, those things, whole wheat bread, like that I'd mentioned, whole wheat toast. These things should be consumed anywhere between like 60 and 90 minutes before you work out.

11:44Or 60, yeah, 60 to 90 minutes before you work out. The reason is because they take longer to, like complex carbohydrates take longer to digest than simple carbohydrates. And they also produce longer sustained energy levels than simple carbs do. So you have it like 90 minutes out and you go to work out 90 minutes later, you're still going to have a sustained energy level throughout your entire workout. Whereas if you have a simple carbohydrate like fruits, white rice, rice cakes, English muffins,

12:19that's another really good example for you morning people that are early risers and go work out. But you'll want to work out when you have these types of carbohydrates. And with protein, it doesn't matter. But these types of carbohydrates, it does. So the simple carbohydrates are anywhere from like 30 minutes to like 60 minutes. So you can push it to 60 minutes, but then you're like dabbling with your body possibly burning through that source a little bit quicker and feeling a little bit more fatigued throughout your workout. And the reason why it's like 30 to 60 minutes is because these digest faster.

12:51And you also, like I just said, will burn through them a little bit faster during your workout. I personally like to go with the complex carbs for the reasons that I already stated. You know, I don't work. I personally don't work out until the afternoon. There's no rhyme or reason. It's whatever works best for your schedule, you guys. But I personally work out in the afternoon after I've had a couple more meals in my system. And I'll eat it around 60 to 90 minutes before going to work out. And I will feel solid throughout my entire workout. There have been times where I've had just like a blueberry and a protein shake.

13:22I'm sorry, a banana and a protein shake. And I kind of felt my energy levels dip pretty early on in my workout. So it doesn't, it is whatever works best for you. Just recognize those timeframes because that's going to be prime for you to use these fuel sources more effectively. Okay, so that's a little bit about pre-workout. Let's talk about post-workout now. So post-workout and both of these, you guys, they're super important.

13:52So the pre-workout, the post-workout, these are super important if your ultimate goals to build muscle to change your body composition. And the post-workout is important because it starts to give the body the resources to recover and to repair your muscle after exercise. So you guys have always heard me say, and will always hear me continue to say, or maybe you're not and you're new to the podcast, welcome. But I always say that during exercise, your body is breaking down muscle. And after your workout and the post 24, 48, 72 hours that you just did that workout,

14:27your body is building and repairing and recovering that muscle. So you're breaking down the muscle while you're in the gym. You're building the muscle while you're outside of the gym. And so you want to make sure that post-workout and even the nutrition, the next 24, 48, 72 hours that you're having a sufficient amount of protein and carbohydrates after exercise to support the process of building up the muscle, right? Your body needs those nutrients to repair the muscle tissue

14:58and to replenish those glycogen stores, especially following your workout. So as I just alluded to a couple of things that happen after you work out and why it's so important to have a post-workout meal is that your body starts to recover the muscle, starts to repair the muscle. But also by having you have a meal reduces muscle soreness and it improves your next time that you're going to go and work out. It improves your performance doing that. And so having a combination of protein and carbohydrates after you exercise, it promotes the muscle recovery and repair because like I've mentioned already,

15:33protein is so important for rebuilding muscle tissue that is damaged during your workout. And then carbohydrates help to replenish the glycogen stores like I just spoke to that were completely depleted during exercise. So if you guys ever get to the end of your workout and you feel that little lightheaded or you feel like, damn, like my muscles are shaky or you're driving home like the, I know I've experienced this, your foot on the gas pedal is shaking after a leg day, right? Your glycogen stores here are completely depleted.

16:04So you need to have some type of carbohydrate to help replenish those glycogen stores. And then also having these two types of fuel sources, protein and carbohydrates after your workout, these contain like anti-inflammatory foods. Like if you have the fruit or if you have any type that I already just somewhat mentioned, afterwards as an anti-inflammatory, it's going to help to reduce muscle soreness and inflammation. So you're going to feel your recovery process speeding up a little bit more

16:34when you're giving your body the nutrients that it wants and it needs after you're done working out. And then again, like I've already kind of spoken to too as well as like the protein, the carbohydrates, they help for future workouts and for future performance by promoting all of these things like the recovery and the repair and improving strength and your endurance and overall everything that comes into you doing a strength training workout. So it's just so important, like I've already alluded to, to have a pre-workout, to have a post-workout meal and to implement them into your routine if your ultimate goal is to build muscle.

17:09So as I gave you guys some examples of a pre-workout, here are some examples of a post-workout meal. And these could include things like grilled chicken breast and sweet potatoes. That's fire. So if you like work out in the afternoon, you're going to have some food afterwards. That's a perfect go-to, chicken and sweet potatoes. What I personally do is I have just, and I make this before I even get to the gym. Like it's already made and it's in my gym bag. So therefore, when I'm walking out of the gym, there's no excuses. Like I'm ready to eat.

17:40I'm ready to drink my protein shake. But I have a protein shake that's made with whey protein powder. And I put some fruit inside of it, some frozen fruit and some unsweetened almond milk. It's, and I just, I have a Nutribullet. So I just make it in a Nutribullet. It's just, it's so good. It's so refreshing too as well. It's cold and it just, it goes down so smoothly. But that's, that's, and I recommend that for everybody because it's just so easy to throw in. Even if you don't, don't, if you're preparing all your meals at the beginning of the day and you're not working out until the afternoon after work,

18:10it's like you just have to put the protein powder inside of the blender bottle that you have. And then you can fill it up with water afterwards and you just bring a banana with you. It's as simple as that, you guys. It's just making it, it's just doing it. Okay. And then there's things like cottage cheese and fruit or whole grain pasta with chicken, marinara sauce. Like these are anything that is just a clean protein source and a clean carbohydrate source. You're golden. There's even carbohydrate powders. I've used those too as well. Ignition by first form is really good.

18:42The protein powders in first form are really good too as well. So those are some things that I would recommend. And actually I can put the links below the podcast for you guys for those links to go out to the first form protein and first form ignition. I think they have like bundles, which are really cool too as well. But those are just easy go-to things that you can just throw into your gym bag and boom, dog diggity. You've got your post-workout meal. And timing wise, I would just say you have like a 30 minute window post-workout that is just

19:14prime for you. There's so many conflicting things about this. People say you can go hours without eating after workout, but I truly believe from my experience and my understanding and the way I've coached clients and our coaches coach clients inside of Warrior Babe is a 30 minute window. So that's why I just say throw in a protein shake into your gym bag and drink it on your way out and your drive home. It's just so simple. That's what I do. And it's just so simple to make sure you get in your post-workout meal. All right, you guys. So that kind of alludes to, that does allude to speaking to pre-workout, post-workout,

19:50some examples of each, the timing of when you guys should have these specific things. But all in all, to this whole podcast, please, please, please, I think, I hope that you guys gather takeaways of why it's so important to have these two things while you're in the process of building muscle to your body because they, the carbohydrates and the protein play a very, very critical role in the recovery process, the building process, the fuel process, the performance process of all of the things that you want to accomplish with building muscle

20:23and changing your body composition. All right, you guys. Hope you enjoyed it and I'll see you in the next podcast. Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review, it will take you 10 seconds and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you're going to be able to do that, you're

20:57going to be able to do that, you're going to be able to do that, you're going to be able to do that.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.