If you work out in the morning and eat beforehand, what do you eat?

[Lottapianos]

I go to the gym 3 times a week at 7am. I've always trained fasted, only drinking water before and during. I lift weights for 30-35 mins, plus stretching. I lift heavy for me, so am working pretty hard

I have heard mixed info about the benefits / problems of training fasted. I don't think I could face eating much at that hour of the morning but was interested to find out what others eat before training. What are your thoughts?

I can't go early but even a milky coffee would give you some carbs to burn and break your fast if you don't feel like eating.

Dr Stacey Sims says fasted training isn’t good for women. She recommends having a protein coffee before a morning workout if you can’t face food. She puts a scoop of protein powder into cold milk then adds a couple of shots of espresso. She doesn’t heat the milk as it makes the protein powder go lumpy. There are YouTube videos with her explaining why this is enough if you can’t face food early in the morning.

I have a protein coffee. I use a tasteless protein. It mixes in ok. I have tried eating but I exercise at 5:30-6ish and it makes me feel absolutely gross.

I have overnight oats about an hour before I start training, with fruit, nuts, seeds, Greek yogurt & kefir. It takes a few minutes to prep the night before & in the morning I just slice a banana into it.

I normally have my main meal at lunch & don’t eat after 4ish, so I wake up hungry.

Usually just coffee with a bit of oat milk (don't like black coffee). Might try this protein coffee thing though.

I only run but I can't eat before as it makes me nauseous and if I drink I need a wee! I've always run on an empty stomach and I can't see how it can be that much of a problem. I also don't follow any influencers, just what my body tells me.

I have a protein shake with banana. My PT has told me to have breakfast an hour before training.

I have a banana and a small handful of almonds. I used to have nothing and often felt sick during the workout.

I am not a big fan of eating when I first get up but I have learned from experience that an early am lifting session goes much better if I have 2-300 cals of mostly carbs than if I have nothing/just a banana.

I like flapjack bars/rice cakes/malt loaf. Anything easy to nibble on while I am warming up/doing my mobility work - which I have to do extra of if I train first thing in the morning!

ETA I don't bother with protein until afterwards.

I can’t stomach breakfast so I have a coffee with milk, bone broth powder and MCT oil in it. I reckon that covers carbs, protein and fat well enough to get me to lunch, even if I exercise.

The earliest I tend to exercise is parkrun at 9am, so not as early as you and not a weights session. If I've had a decent meal the night before I just have a coffee in the morning. If I've had a very light evening meal I will have a banana about 1 hour before if I feel like I need it. Any more than this and i can start to feel a bit nauseous when running. Other foods have made me feel nauseous too so I just stick with bananas!

I have a clear whey protein drink with a scoop of creatine and a couple of rice cakes.

I'm not here to tell you what to do, if what you're doing is working for you that's great! But just to answer the question, I think the theory is that your body is more likely to burn your muscles for energy if it doesn't have some other fuel readily available. Apparently this is a bigger issue for women than men.

I do follow a few fitness and health channels on social media though I don't take it too seriously. Two I find the most articulate and convincing, Drs Stacey Sims and Mindy Pelz, disagree on this issue. I'm finding it so hard to build muscle at my age and stage that I don't want to risk losing a single gram of it, so I've gone with Dr Sims and train later in the day when I've had something to eat.

@Sugarnspicenallthingsnaice thank you for the answer but I find that unlikely to be true as marathon runners don't burn muscle! I'm sure I will be fine doing a 5km or an exercise video. What are those ladies PhDs in?

I usually have a banana with peanut butter, and a cup of tea. Sometimes I make a smoothie with yoghurt, berries, nuts/seeds etc, and have a couple of mouthfuls before my workout then the rest afterwards.

Good question! I should have looked into this earlier myself, so I just looked it up:
Stacey Sims: PhD in Environmental Exercise Physiology, MSC in Metabolism - Exercise Physiology
Mindy Pelz: bachelor in Exercise Physiology and Nutrition, doctorate in Chiropractic

Marathon runners have just about the least muscle mass of any sports. Look how slight they are!

I run, and I never run fasted. Usually have toast and tea, and a glass of milk afterwards. Gels or sweets while running if over 75mins.

I feel ill if I do totally fasted exercise so I have a big glass of water, maybe a tea, and a few nuts and berries. Then a proper breakfast like eggs and spinach afterwards.

'I usually have a banana with peanut butter'

Thanks all. I don't drink coffee and have no interest in protein powder, and I can't eat an hour before because I'm up at 6.30, but a small snack like this might work

I don't eat before I train if I go in the mornings although will have a coffee. I love running/spinning when fasted and have so much energy (which seems weird!) I will then always have a protein shake when I'm finished.

However if I was having a PT session and lifting heavy weights, I'd have to have a couple of weetabix first as I'd struggle to hit PB's otherwise.

If it works for you then stick to what you do now. I exercise fasted and my OH is always prattling in about research says this and that. My response is that it works for me, I’ve in my mid 40’s with no health issues. He takes all sorts of supplements, is very careful with protein powder and creatine and non processed foods etc and he has more health issues than me and doesn’t look as good as me (don’t care if that’s conceited it’s true and he’s almost a decade younger) if it works, stick with it.

I can't eat first thing but also struggle to exercise fasted (runner) so will force down a few dates stuffed with almond or peanut butter. That's usually enough to get me through a run and then I eat 1/2 hour or so after running as I also find it hard to eat straight after exercise.

I blend up oats, milk (cow or nut milk), a banana, almond/peanut butter and either a tbsp of unsweetened cacao (for chocolate milkshake) or a handful of blueberries (for what my SiL calls a "unicorn" milkshake, cause it's very purple).

It's got a 15 to 20g of protein depending on the quantities, as like you I don't want protein powder. And easier to stomach as it's just a drink - helps hydrate to as I seem to have a problem drinking water first thing.