One of the big changes in nutrition my clients make is surrounding peri-workout nutrition, or what you’re consuming before, during, and after your workout, and how to manipulate this to best support your results.

Google “pre-workout nutrition,” and, like everything else in the fitness and nutrition industry, you’ll get 20 different answers, leading to information overload.

Carbs are great for workout performance, energy, and recovery….but do we need to eat them before a workout?

Short answer: no, you don’t need carbs post-workout. Most people do absolutely fine without them, and many times they can hinder your goals.

However, in certain situations, they can help you get larger gains if you utilize them properly.

Here are a few instances when eating carbohydrates in your pre-workout meal might make sense:

• When you’re training for *performance* and your workout will last longer than an hour
• If you have a lean body composition, and you’re looking to gain muscle, and will be performing a very high output training session lasting an hour or longer
• If you’re training for a marathon or an endurance event

In these cases, carbs before training could lengthen your endurance and performance, as well as keep glycogen stores full for the energy required to complete these tasks.

However, when it comes to fat loss, I typically advise my clients not to include carbohydrates in their post-workout meal.

Carbs before training generally *don’t* support your goals if you’re training for fat loss.

This is because eating carbs increases blood glucose and insulin, and  increasing blood glucose and insulin before a workout will decrease the amount of fat burned.

If you do opt to have carbs before your workout, aim for low glycemic carbs so you have a slow insulin release about an hour or so before your workout. If you find your performance suffers or you feel tired and lethargic after doing this, eating carbs pre-workout might not be the best idea for you right now.

Best wishes!
Paige