- What should you eat before a workout?
- How do I know if I am hydrated?
- What do I eat after a workout?
Nutrition Tips for New Athletes
People just starting to workout often struggle with under-fueling their body, especially when doing a new endurance event (a triathlon or a half marathon). A common error of beginner athletes is that they have to be “competitive” or “elite” to need to eat like experienced athletes. Also, beginners often start exercising because of weight loss goals. This means trying to reduce calories before, during or after workouts – which does not lead to weight loss. As a result of not getting enough of the right nutrients at the right time, beginners get tired early during exercise, both mentally and physically. At that point, exercise is not enjoyable, and that is when most people quit.
Here are some tips for beginner athletes who want to feel great during exercise to reach their performance and weight loss goals.
DON’T EXERCISE ON AN EMPTY STOMACH
Eat something small before starting your workout. Carbohydrate is the preferred fuel for exercise, so 30 to 60 minutes before exercise eat something that is easy to digest and high in carbohydrates. Some suggestions are:
- Low-fat fruit yogurt
- A banana
- A slice of 100 percent whole grain toast with fruit preserves
- A small bowl of oatmeal with sliced strawberries or apples
If you plan to workout for 90 minutes or more, a more substantial pre-workout meal is appropriate to help your stomach feel full throughout the exercise session. A balanced meal before a workout could be:
- Low-fat fruit yogurt with a sprinkle of granola and sliced pecans
- Sliced banana and natural peanut butter spread on 100 percent whole grain crackers
- Scrambled eggs with veggies and a slice of 100 percent whole grain toast with fruit preserves
- A bowl of oatmeal with sliced fruit and a side of cottage cheese or chicken sausage
Pay Attention When You ‘Go’
As the temperature gets warmer and you sweat more, your risk for dehydration will increase. Even slight dehydration makes exercise harder than it otherwise would be. The best way to tell if you are hydrated is your urine color. It should be a pale yellow color without a strong odor. You should shoot to start exercise with pale colored urine and to produce pale urine within an hour of finishing your workout.
If your urine is dark when you finish a workout, you need to drink more during your workout. The flip side is when you drink so much that you are running to the bathroom a lot during your workout. Then, you should drink less.
Don’t Run on Empty
You should expect to be tired when your workout ends. But you shouldn’t feel like your body has been completely depleted and you have no energy to do anything.
When you are exercising longer than 60 to 90 minutes, you will need to replenish carbohydrates that are being burned during exercise in order to keep your energy level up. There is a limited supply of carbohydrates stored in your body, and once they are gone, you are done. You will feel mentally and physically tapped out. It’s not an enjoyable experience, and it is does not motivate you to wake up the next day and hit the pavement again.
You will need about 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per hour of exercise. Experiment with different combinations of foods and sports products to reach this goal. During exercise mix-and-match these 30-gram carbohydrate options:
- 1 banana
- 6 pretzels
- 2 Fig Newton’s
- Peanut butter and jelly sandwich
- 1 package of Clif Shot Bloks or Gu Chomps
Salt Is Not An Enemy
If you finish your workout with white crust on your visor, your clothing or on your skin, you are likely a salty sweater. The longer you exercise, the more salt you will lose in your sweat, so you’ll need to consume extra sodium during exercise.
If you are exercising long enough to need to replenish carbohydrates, you will also need to replenish sodium. Pretzels and sports products provide sodium. Make you are getting adequate sodium during your workout, stay on the lookout for any of the following signs of low blood sodium during and after your long workouts.
- Headaches
- Nausea
- Muscle cramps
- Disorientation
If you experience these symptoms, you might try to increase your sodium intake during exercise by choosing higher sodium sports products or by adding an electrolyte replacement to your water or sports drink. The symptoms of low salt are very similar to symptoms of dehydration, so consider your symptoms in relation to your consumption of fluids and urine color. If your urine is clear and you have a headache, it’s likely that a salty snack will help and more water will make the headache worse.
Respect Your Body After Exercise
After a workout, your body needs to recover from the amazing things you just did! Allow your body to have a nourishing, balanced meal within an hour of finishing exercise and drink plenty of fluids.
After exercise and especially after a race, your body is working hard to rehydrate, to store carbohydrates for the next workout, to repair fatigued muscles and to reduce inflammation to promote the best recovery from exercise. Focus on unprocessed and colorful foods to make a balanced recovery meal:
- 100 percent whole grain toast spread with ricotta cheese, sprinkled with ground ginger and cinnamon and topped with sliced pear or berries
- 100 percent whole wheat pita stuffed with chicken or salmon salad (mix curry powder, grapes, raisins and pecans into salad)
- Spaghetti squash or 100 percent whole grain pasta with marinara sauce and low fat chicken sausage and spinach salad
- Smoothie with yogurt, tart cherry juice, banana, blueberries and almond butter
- Baked yam or sweet potato stuffed with sautéed spinach and chicken
- Scrambled eggs with a tortilla, black beans, salsa and fruit salad