I'm a super early riser. I don't work in the daytime but I am usually up by 6 o'clock every morning. Around 7am I start exercising for about an hour or more. I've been eating a banana or half a peanut bar before I go out for exercise eventhough I'm not hungry. I have also tried not eating anything before I exercise which is fine but by the time I get home and shower it's 8:30-9:00 and I'm feeling a little weak. That's nearly 3 hours of not eating.
I've also found that the earlier I eat the harder it is to stay on point during the day. I don't know if that's a good thing (gets the metabolism furnace burning right away) or a bad thing (gets me hungrier all day).
Hey! IMO you're doing the right thing by eating before your workout. I would definitely eat the peanut bar instead of only a banana so you get some protein.
That's also not enough to call it breakfast, so I'd also consider having another small snack after your workout.
Perhaps you're used to not eating during the day and ignoring your normal hunger signals--if so, you need some practice at eating earlier and pacing yourself throughout the day. This is a good thing.
You don't necessarily have to eat IMMEDIATELY upon getting up, or even necessarily before your workout (I like working out in the morning on an empty stomach), but if you do that, you probably want to eat fairly immediately after you finish. You could eat your banana or bar then, too...portable enough that you can eat it on your way home, before you shower. That way, you'd be a little earlier, but not necessarily as early as before starting. You might also, if you have the schedule flexibility, move your workout to a half hour after you get up, rather than an hour...that way, the "wake up" to "eating" window would be a reasonable (IMO) hour and a half, rather than a too-long 3 hours.
As for why you're hungry, it may be related, or it may not. Give us a sample day of what you eat and your exercise and we might be able to give you more advice.
I get up at 7, don't eat first, and get to the gym by 7:30. I come home a little after 9:00, shower, and then sit down and have my usual bowl of Kashi Go Lean and cup of tea.
I get up around 6:30, go for a 40 minute jog, let the dog play a little, take a shower around 8, go to work by 9ish, and finally eat breakfast at work by 10.
It seems extreme, looking at it now, but I'm just never starving in the morning, and I'm doing so much moving that I don't have time to relax until after the first few crises of the day (at work). It hasn't seemed to affect my weight loss and it works for me.
This thread is good for me. Inspite of all that I've learned in the last few years, I'm still horrible about breakfast. This week I'm trying something new.
I made oatmeal on my day off and put it in 1/2 cup containers. I've been up for about 20 minutes (have to be at work at 0645). I mixed egg white into a container of oatmeal and nuked it. I'm eating it now.
Yesterday, I didn't use the eggwhite and I was famished later. We'll see how it goes with some protein in it.
I go to bed thinking about breakfast. It's not that I go to bed hungry, it's just that breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. I have the same thing every morning: one serving of Egg Beaters, scrambled; one orange; 8 oz. skim milk; 40-calorie piece of toast with 1 tsp light butter; coffee.
I prepare my breakfast as soon as I get downstairs in the morning, unless the baby wakes up before me. Her breakfast takes precedence over mine.
I keep my calories zig zagged between 1200 - 2000. The lower end of the spectrum is getting easier over time. I eat small meals every 2-3 hours. Not because I planned it that way but because that's what my body wants right now.
Breakfast is always ellusive to me because I'm not necessarily "hungry" before 10am. But if I exercise and wait that long then I feel weak and may end up eating something I shouldn't. Protein is extremely important so I'll have eggs or yogurt or a peanut bar. You will not see me eating oatmeal, cereal, bagels, or anything that's just carbs. That's a surefire way for me to get famished within 2 hours and feel horrible, I don't know why.
I also workout first thing in the morning when I get up and I've gotten used to breaking my "breakfast" into 2 halves that I eat before and after my workout. My standard snack before I work out is a wholegrain frozen waffle that I pop in the toaster and then usually spread with a wedge of laughing cow light cheese and a fried egg or maybe some deli meat, I eat this about 20-30 minutes before I get to the gym. Then when I get home I have another "snack" (usually around 200 or 250 calories) within 30-40 minutes of getting home from the gym. Sometimes it's oatmeal with a spoonful of peanut butter or sometimes it's a wrap, it could be anything really!
I work second shift so I get up quite late (8:30 or 9) and I eat within 20 minutes of getting up usually, then my second half of breakfast comes when I get home from the gym around 11 or so and my lunch comes around 1:00 or 2:00.
I think the whole slogan that "YOU MUST LEARN TO EAT BREAKFAST!" is for people who don't eat until noon or 1 (if they get up around 7), and generally eat one gigantic meal, as opposed to 3 squares or 5-6 smaller meals. Sometimes people feel that they must force themselves to down oatmeal 5 minutes after they get up in order to "eat breakfast" but I think 1 hour after a workout is still reasonable, providing you eat least down a yogurt or something before you start. Personally, I am up at 5:45am and do not eat breakfast until 7-7:30am (and never until AFTER the 1st coffee). It works fine for me.
I already have to get up around 5am to be able to workout, eat without rushing, get ready without rushing, and have a little time to check email or whatever. So I don't have time to eat and then wait even 30 minutes to workout.
Sometimes I've tried having something very light (juice, 1/2 a banana, a small orange) before working out, because it seems like I shouldn't go 2 hours without eating, but honestly it doesn't seem to make any difference.
In my dream life I think I'd have 5 hours to get ready for work
i truly MISS my before workout breakfast, but the meal plan im on right now doesnt allow for it...SO.. im up at 3:40 to be running by 4:30, home between 5:30 and 5 :45, out the door by 6 30 so i can make it to work around 7 30..and only THEN do i get my breafast!! Thats a long time to go without food, IMO, but im not allowed to break breakfast up into 2 smaller meals, and theres NO WAY i could eat breakfst at 4 AM and then have to wait 7 or 8 hours till lunch!!!
What time is breakfast?
IMO you're doing the right thing by eating before your workout. I would definitely eat the peanut bar instead of only a banana so you get some protein.
