Eating Before & After A Workout

I wanted to share what I've learned about my body since I started going to the gym back in February. When I started going, I wasn't sure what to eat or when to eat it. It's still a huge process for me, and a ton I still don't understand about how food works with our bodies, but here's what's worked for me.

I realized that I needed to eat at least two hours before any workout I do, which is pretty much always Zumba. What I also figured out is, I can't eat just anything 2 hours before. The best thing I've figured out to eat is a small bowl of zucchini pasta with spaghetti sauce. I was eating regular spaghetti, but I've really been digging zoodles these days.

There were days that I grabbed a banana and ate it shortly before class. Bad choice. Even though I was eating something healthy, it made me feel sick to my stomach. If I was hungry before class, but hadn't eaten anything it wasn't going to be good. After class I typically didn't feel well either. In fact, for the rest of the evening I'd feel sick to my stomach. I'm sure a fitness guru would be able to explain why.

The other piece is that I couldn't drink a lot of water while working out. I found that I needed to hydrate mostly before I started my workout and just have sips during it. Again, I'd start to feel sick to my stomach if I drank too much during the class. It's just the craziest thing. I mean, who'd expect that when you want to be hydrated, right?

If I eat something small before class, by the time I get home I'm pretty hungry, and typically have a peanut butter & jelly sandwich with a glass of milk or zoodles! I'm pretty consistent with what I eat. Of course, I have no idea if those are the things I "should" be eating, but it gets me through the time before and after, so I'm good with it.

So, for me, it's about understanding my body. Not that I really understand it all too well. At some point my goal is to learn how to utilize food as fuel before and after my workouts, but for now, just not feeling sick during and after is my goal!