What to Eat Before a Workout: Options for Every Timing, With Calories

Before a workout, aim for a source of carbohydrates, with a little protein and not much fat or fiber. With 30 to 60 minutes to go, have something light, like a banana. With 1 to 2 hours to go, you can have a small meal, like eggs on toast.

Carbohydrates give you energy for the workout. Protein helps your muscles. Too much fat and fiber take longer to digest and can sit heavy in your stomach while you exercise.

Below are options for each timing, with the calories of each from Brazil’s official food composition table, TACO, from the University of Campinas, what to avoid, and the most common questions: eggs, coffee, morning workouts and training fasted.

What to eat before a workout, in short

• 1 to 2 hours before: a small meal, with carbohydrates and a little protein. A bread roll with an egg, whole wheat bread with fresh cheese, sweet potato with chicken.
• 30 to 60 minutes before: a light snack, almost all carbohydrate. A banana, an apple, a banana with oats and honey.
• Avoid right before: fried food, fatty dishes, lots of fiber and big meals.
• Drink water before you start, especially for long workouts or in the heat.

Why eat before a workout

Eating before a workout helps you train hard and recover better afterwards. The International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) position stand on nutrient timing says that carbohydrates with protein, or protein alone, before and after exercise can help you gain strength and improve your body composition. And that the size and timing of the meal before exercise change how much you need to eat afterwards.

In practice, your pre-workout snack doesn’t need to be perfect. It needs to fit your schedule and not sit heavy in your stomach.

What to eat 1 to 2 hours before a workout

With an hour or two to go, you can have a small meal:

Option	Calories	Carbs	Protein
A bread roll (50 g) with 1 boiled egg	216 kcal	30 g	10 g
A bread roll (50 g) on its own	150 kcal	29 g	4 g
Boiled sweet potato (100 g)	77 kcal	18 g	1 g
A banana, 2 tablespoons of oats and 1 of honey	238 kcal	52 g	5 g

Calories and nutrients: TACO, 4th edition (University of Campinas, 2011). Unit and spoon weights: IBGE’s table of household measures.

If your workout is close to lunch, a normal plate, with rice and lean meat, works too, as long as you leave at least an hour or two to digest.

What to eat 30 to 60 minutes before a workout

Close to your workout, your snack should be light and quick to digest:

Option	Calories	Carbs
1 banana (75 g)	74 kcal	20 g
1 Fuji apple (150 g)	84 kcal	23 g
2 tablespoons of oats (30 g)	118 kcal	20 g
1 tablespoon of honey (15 g)	46 kcal	13 g

What should I eat 30 minutes before a workout?

A piece of fruit. A banana is the most practical choice: it has 20 g of carbohydrates, little fiber and almost no fat. An apple or a little honey work too.

Are eggs a good pre-workout food?

Yes, with enough time. A boiled egg has 6 g of protein and 66 calories, but it also has fat, which takes longer to digest. It works well 1 to 2 hours before, with a carbohydrate, as in eggs on toast. Right before a workout, have fruit instead.

Does coffee before a workout help?

It can. The ISSN position stand on caffeine says it improves performance in many studies, though not all, at doses of 3 to 6 mg per kg of body weight, and that it’s most often taken 60 minutes before exercise. The amount of caffeine in a cup of coffee varies a lot with how it’s made, so start small. If you train at night, remember that caffeine can disturb your sleep.

What not to eat before a workout

Nothing is forbidden, but some foods sit heavy when you’re about to exercise:

• Lots of fat: fried food, fatty meat and lots of cheese take a long time to digest.
• Lots of fiber: beans, lentils and large amounts of raw vegetables can cause gas and discomfort. Pinto beans have 8.5 g of fiber per 100 g, which is great at lunch but heavy right before a workout.
• Big meals: a full plate leaves your stomach heavy for hours.

Training in the morning or fasted

What should I eat before a 7 a.m. workout?

If you wake up and go straight to train, have something small and quick: a banana, or a banana with oats. If you can eat an hour before, eggs on toast will do.

Does training fasted burn more fat?

Not according to the research. In a study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 20 women did an hour of cardio three times a week for four weeks, on a weight-loss diet. Half trained fasted, half after eating. Both groups lost weight and fat, with no difference between them.

So training fasted is a question of comfort: if you feel fine, go ahead. If you feel weak or dizzy, eat something light first.

What to eat before a workout to lose weight

To lose weight, what counts is your whole day: burning more calories than you eat. Your pre-workout snack is part of that math. A banana, at 74 calories, is a good pre-workout snack when you want to lose weight, because it gives you energy without adding much to your total. My guide to how many calories are in everyday foods has the calories of other snacks.

Drink water before a workout

Starting a workout dehydrated hurts your performance. The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends avoiding losing more than 2% of your body weight in sweat during exercise, and suggests weighing yourself before and after a workout to see how much you lose. Drink water through the day, and a little before you start.

After your workout

After a workout, the focus changes: carbohydrates to restore your energy and protein to help your muscles recover. Read my guide on what to eat after a workout.

No time to work out? Start with your day

If the problem isn’t what to eat, but finding time to work out, you’re not alone: in Brazil’s 2019 National Health Survey, IBGE, the national statistics institute, classified 40.3% of adults as insufficiently active.

That’s why I built MovePoints. You choose the exercises and how many reps you can do, and the app sends short sets, under a minute each, throughout your day:

• If you work remotely, it connects to your calendar and only nudges you when you’re not in a meeting.
• If you don’t work remotely, just set your reminders for before or after work.

MovePoints doesn’t replace the gym: it adds to it. Movement spread across your day burns more calories than a whole day sitting down, and that helps you reach the body you want sooner. It’s in open testing on Android, so you can get MovePoints on Google Play. The iPhone version is coming soon.

The amounts in this guide are examples for healthy adults and don’t replace advice from a registered dietitian, especially if you have diabetes or another health condition.