Exercise - when to eat

[blueberrypie1999]

I'm trying to gradually improve my health and fitness. Have a few stone to lose.
Will be going to the gym 3 times a week at 2pm (work mornings) and initially am just going to walk for an hour on the treadmill.
Will add more things in later but just want to start with this as it fits in with my working hours and family.
At the moment I don't eat breakfast but take overnight oats with me and eat them between 11am/12. I enjoy these and like to be able to eat something during the afternoon and then dinner.
Do I need to eat something before exercising do you think?

I like to run long distances, and on weekend mornings have been out for hours fuelled by a bowl of porridge. I don't think you necessarily need something just before, you might find your starving afterwards though. It varies from person to person, so the best bet is to try different ways and see what you prefer.

You might find that what you prefer changes, as you get fitter you'll be going faster so might find you need more after a few months.

(Just a tip- pop the treadmill on a 1 or 2 % incline, it makes it more like being outside with uneven terrain)

@persisted thank you. Will see how I get on!

Honestly if you're just doing walking you don't need to eat anything extra, you'll be burning very few calories (it's still a good idea and better than no exercise but it'll easily be counted out by eating virtually anything)

For walking, you’ll be fine without eating anything else.

Even when I do a lot of running, I tend to either eat a meal a few hours before or just snack a couple of hours before.

Good luck with the health and fitness plan!

I would say you would likely be ok without anything else if you had eaten at 11 or 12. However unlike swimming, running or high impact activity you could potentially eat something 5 min before going for a walk and it not have any ill effects.

Without meaning to derail, is it worth paying a gym membership to walk for an hour? Could you walk part of your work commute for example?

Hi OP. It's entirely down to personal choice. I regularly ran 10miles on an empty stomach, I can't bear eating betore exercise.

If all you are doing is walking in the gym, you will be fine however you choose to do it.

Enjoy yourself.

Have had a rethink and decided that just walking isn't really going to be enough so will get a slightly more ambitious plan - I just need to start low key because I have a habit of making plans that are too big and then fail.
Thanks for the replies.