What to Eat Before and After a Workout
The Most Overthought Question in Fitness
Ask ten fitness influencers what to eat before a workout and you'll get ten different answers — each presented with complete certainty, several of which directly contradict each other.
Train fasted for fat loss. No, always eat carbs before training. Have protein within 30 minutes after. No, the anabolic window is a myth. Eat these specific foods. Take this supplement. Time your macros precisely.
The noise is extraordinary. And for most people in Albury-Wodonga trying to train consistently and feel good while doing it, it's completely counterproductive.
The truth is workout nutrition matters. But it doesn't need to be complicated, obsessive, or driven by rigid rules that make your life harder than it needs to be.
At Lonedog, we apply the same anti-diet, informed-flexibility approach to workout nutrition that we apply to nutrition generally. The goal is to fuel your training well and recover from it effectively — in a way that fits your real life.
Here's what actually matters.
Why Workout Nutrition Matters
(The Simple Version)
Before getting into specifics, it helps to understand why what you eat around training matters.
Training Depletes Resources
When you train, your body uses:
Glycogen (stored carbohydrate) as the primary fuel for moderate-to-high intensity work
Muscle protein that gets broken down during the training process
Fluid and electrolytes lost through sweat
Micronutrients involved in energy production and recovery
Recovery Requires Replenishment
After training, your body needs to:
Replenish glycogen stores
Repair and rebuild muscle protein
Rehydrate
Support the inflammatory and hormonal response to training load
What you eat — and roughly when — affects how well these processes happen. Better fuelling and recovery means better performance in your next session, less soreness, and faster progress.
But the Margins Are Smaller Than the Industry Suggests
Here's the important perspective check: for most recreational exercisers — which includes the vast majority of Lonedog members — the difference between good workout nutrition and optimal workout nutrition is much smaller than the fitness industry suggests.
The people for whom precise nutrient timing makes a meaningful difference are competitive athletes training at high volumes with specific performance targets. For a person training 3-4 times per week for general fitness, health, and body composition, the basics done consistently produce almost all the benefit.
Don't let the pursuit of optimal stop you from doing good.
Before Your Workout: What to Eat and When
The Goal of Pre-Workout Nutrition
Pre-workout nutrition has two jobs:
Provide energy for the session
Prevent hunger and discomfort during training
That's it. You're not trying to achieve a biochemical state. You're just making sure your body has what it needs to perform.
The General Rule
Eat a mixed meal 2-3 hours before training, or a smaller snack 30-60 minutes before.
The larger the meal, the more time you need before training. Heavy meals close to training sessions cause discomfort during exercise (the blood your body needs for working muscles is diverted to digestion). Small, easily digestible snacks can be eaten closer to training.
What to Include
Carbohydrates: Your Primary Training Fuel
Carbohydrates are the preferred fuel for moderate-to-high intensity training. They're converted to glycogen, which is what your muscles burn during effort. Including carbohydrates before training supports performance, especially if the session involves higher-intensity work.
Good options:
Oats or toast (2-3 hours before)
Banana or rice cakes (30-60 minutes before)
Rice, sweet potato, or pasta in a larger meal (2-3 hours before)
Protein: For Muscle Support
Including some protein before training provides amino acids that can help reduce muscle breakdown during the session and support recovery. It's less critical than carbohydrates for performance but beneficial overall.
Good options:
Eggs or Greek yoghurt in a pre-training meal
A small amount of protein as part of a snack
What to Avoid Before Training
Large amounts of fat or fibre close to training (they slow digestion and can cause discomfort)
Very large meals within 90 minutes of training
New foods you haven't tried before a session (not the time to experiment with your digestive system)
The Fasted Training Question
Many people train first thing in the morning without eating beforehand — either because they prefer it or because they're pursuing fat loss through fasted cardio.
Here's the honest answer: fasted training is fine for many people, but it's not necessary and it's not superior for fat loss.
The body burns fat during fasted training — but it also compensates over the rest of the day. Total fat oxidation over 24 hours is not meaningfully different between fasted and fed training when total calorie intake is the same.
What does change is performance. Higher-intensity training (like the sessions at Lonedog) typically suffers with fasted training — you'll have less available glycogen, which reduces your capacity to push hard.
For lower-intensity sessions — a gentle morning walk, light movement work — fasted training is perfectly fine. For sessions involving meaningful intensity, eating beforehand will produce better results.
If you train early and eating beforehand doesn't suit you, a small, easily digestible carbohydrate option (banana, toast, rice cake) before training is a good compromise.
After Your Workout: What to Eat and When
The Goal of Post-Workout Nutrition
Post-workout nutrition has two jobs:
Replenish glycogen stores
Provide protein for muscle repair and growth
Again — simple goals. No complexity required.
The Anabolic Window: Not as Narrow as You've Been Told
You may have heard about the “anabolic window” — the idea that you must consume protein within 30 minutes of training or miss the adaptation.
The research has significantly qualified this. The window is real but much wider than originally thought — somewhere in the range of 1-2 hours post-training, not 30 minutes.
More importantly, if you ate a protein-containing meal within a couple of hours before training, that protein is still available to support muscle protein synthesis after training. Pre-workout nutrition covers some of what post-workout nutrition is thought to be necessary for.
The practical implication: Eating a solid post-workout meal within 1-2 hours of training is ideal. Racing to consume a protein shake on the gym floor within 30 minutes is not necessary.
What to Include After Training
Protein: The Non-Negotiable
Muscle protein synthesis — the process of building and repairing muscle tissue — requires amino acids. Your post-workout meal should include a meaningful amount of protein.
How much? Research suggests around 20-40g of protein in the post-workout meal is effective for maximising muscle protein synthesis. This is roughly:
150-200g of chicken, fish, or lean beef
200-250g of Greek yoghurt
4-5 eggs
A combination of plant proteins achieving the same amount
Good options:
Chicken, rice, and vegetables
Eggs on toast
Greek yoghurt with fruit
A protein-rich smoothie
Tuna or salmon with salad and rice
Carbohydrates: Replenishing Your Fuel Stores
After higher-intensity training, carbohydrates replenish glycogen that was depleted during the session. This matters more if you're training again within 24 hours — less so if you have a full day or two before your next session.
For most recreational exercisers training 3-4 times per week, including carbohydrates in the post-workout meal is good practice but not urgent. Prioritise protein first; add carbohydrates as part of a balanced meal.
Fluids: Don't Forget Hydration
Sweat loss during training is significant, especially in Albury-Wodonga's warmer months when sessions can push you to lose a litre or more. Rehydration after training is as important as macronutrient replenishment.
Water is sufficient for most sessions. For longer or more intense sessions (over 90 minutes of hard effort), some electrolyte replacement alongside water may be beneficial.
If You Train at Night
A common concern: "If I eat after a night training session, will it go to fat?"
No. Nutrient timing relative to sleep has minimal impact on body composition when total daily intake is appropriate. Your body doesn't switch to fat storage mode at a particular time of night.
Eating a protein-focused post-workout meal after an evening session supports recovery while you sleep. It's the right thing to do — not something to avoid for fear of it affecting your weight.
The Real-Life Guide: Practical Examples for Albury-Wodonga Members
Let's translate this into actual scenarios.
Early Morning Trainer (5:30-6:30am)
Eating a full meal at 4am isn't realistic. Options:
Option A (prefers fasted): Light intensity sessions only. Accept slightly reduced performance. Fine for recovery sessions and lower-intensity work.
Option B (quick snack): Banana or toast with honey at 5am. Simple carbohydrate that digests quickly and provides some fuel.
Option C (liquid fuel): Protein shake with oats blended in can be consumed more comfortably than solid food at 5am for some people.
Post-training: breakfast as soon as practical — eggs on toast, oats with yoghurt, or a proper cooked breakfast.
Lunchtime Trainer (12-1pm)
Ideal situation for pre-workout nutrition. A morning meal at 8-9am provides energy for a noon session without discomfort.
Pre-training: normal breakfast (eggs, oats, toast with protein) 3-4 hours before. A piece of fruit an hour before if needed.
Post-training: lunch immediately after. Protein + carbohydrate meal. Back to normal afternoon eating.
After-Work Trainer (5:30-7pm)
A training window for Lonedog members. Fuel challenges: long gap since lunch, low energy by mid-afternoon.
Pre-training: afternoon snack 30-90 minutes before training. Banana + small amount of protein (Greek yoghurt, handful of nuts). This bridges the gap without a heavy pre-session meal.
Post-training: dinner within 1-2 hours. Normal balanced meal with protein focus. Don't skip it because it's late.
The Tradie or Physical Worker
A significant portion of Albury-Wodonga's population does physical work. You're already burning significant energy throughout the day before you even get to the gym.
This matters because: your glycogen stores may be more depleted than a desk worker's by the time you train. Prioritising carbohydrates — both throughout the day and around training — is more important for you than for someone in a sedentary job.
Underfuelling physical work and training is a recipe for chronic fatigue, poor performance, and slow recovery. Eat more than you think you need to.
Simple, underrated, and highly effective. Regular walking improves blood flow to spinal discs (which are largely avascular and depend on movement for nutrition), maintains mobility, and breaks the inactivity cycle.
What About Supplements?
The supplement industry is enormous, aggressive, and largely unnecessary for the goals of most Lonedog members.
Here's an honest summary:
Protein powder: Useful if you're struggling to hit protein targets from food alone. Not magic — it's just a convenient protein source. Whole food is preferable when practical.
Creatine: The most evidence-based performance supplement available. Cheap, safe, and genuinely effective for strength and power development. Worth considering for members focused on strength performance.
Pre-workout supplements: Mostly caffeine with marketing. If caffeine helps your performance (it does for many people), coffee achieves the same effect without the extra ingredients and expense.
BCAAs and EAAs: Unnecessary if you're consuming adequate total protein. If your protein intake is sufficient, BCAA supplements provide no additional benefit.
Fat burners and "metabolism boosters": Don't waste your money. The research is weak, the effect sizes are minimal, and some ingredients carry health risks.
Our general recommendation: get your nutrition from food first, supplement only to address specific gaps, and be very sceptical of anything with dramatic claims on the label.
The Anti-Diet Approach to Workout Nutrition
At Lonedog, our approach to nutrition — including workout nutrition — is built on informed flexibility, not rigid rules.
Some days you'll have the perfect pre-workout meal timed perfectly. Some days you'll train on a banana and a coffee. Some days you'll miss the post-workout meal and eat dinner two hours later than ideal.
None of this will ruin your results. Consistency over time matters far more than perfection in any single session.
The goal is to understand what your body needs, make good choices most of the time, and not let the pursuit of perfect nutrition become a source of stress, guilt, or obsession.
Fuelling your training should make exercise better and easier. If it's becoming complicated, stressful, or rule-bound, something has gone wrong.
The Simple Summary
For those who want the no-fuss version:
Before training:
2-3 hours before: normal meal with protein and carbohydrates
30-60 minutes before: small snack if needed (banana, toast, rice cakes w/ nut butter)
Avoid heavy or high-fat meals close to training
After training:
Eat within 1-2 hours of finishing
Include protein (20-40g) and carbohydrates
Rehydrate with water
Don't skip post-workout eating because it's late
In general:
Don't overthink it
Prioritise consistency over precision
Adjust based on how you feel and perform
Common Questions About Workout Nutrition
Post-training appetite suppression is common, especially after high-intensity sessions. A protein-based shake or smoothie can be easier to consume than solid food if appetite is low.
Slightly, yes. Rest days typically require less carbohydrate (less glycogen being depleted) but still benefit from adequate protein to support ongoing recovery and muscle protein synthesis.
You don't need to dramatically reduce food on rest days — some under-eating on rest days is fine, but chronic under-eating affects recovery and the next session.
No. Skipping post-workout nutrition to create a calorie deficit reduces recovery, increases muscle loss alongside fat loss, and often backfires by increasing hunger later. Manage calorie intake across the full day — not by removing the most important eating window.
Not particularly from a physiological standpoint. The amino acids are the same. Real food typically comes with additional micronutrients, fibre, and satiety benefits. Use whichever is practical in the moment.
Train Well, Eat Well, Feel the Difference
Workout nutrition doesn't need a protocol. It doesn't need a tracking app. It doesn't need to be the same every day or optimised beyond what your real life allows.
It needs to provide energy for training, protein for recovery, fluids for hydration, and enough flexibility to fit into a normal Albury-Wodonga life.
Do that consistently, and you'll perform better, recover faster, and make better progress toward your goals.
If you'd like to understand how nutrition fits into your specific training at Lonedog — and how our approach accounts for your real life, not an idealised version of it — come and talk to us.
Book an intro session at Lonedog. We'll look at where you are across training and nutrition, and show you how everything works together.
Get started today.
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