I don't mean comfort level, that's easy, but in reading that all the blood rushes to your stomach to digest food and that you shouldn't call on your muscles too strenuously during that time because they won't get the full blood supply they need - or will be sharing it with your stomach. If we are eating every 3 hours, what are we to do? Is waiting an hour after b'fast and lunch enough? Should it be 2? And I would assume this is more important for lifting than cardio, right? Cardio seems like as soon as you won't make yourself sick, you can do it.

I time my workouts based on my next meal, not my last one (I'm goofy ). Since I'm always starving when I finish at the gym, I make sure that it will be time to eat when I'm done. That means I do cardio first thing in the morning on an empty stomach (then eat breakfast) and lift weights about two hours after a meal (then rush home and refuel).

I don't like to work out until at least an hour after I've eaten, so if I'm exercising first thing in the morning, I do it on an empty stomach because I don't want to have to get up an hour earlier just to eat then wait around an hour to work out.

But when I work out any other time of the day (and I generally prefer to work out mid to late afternoon), I don't like to be hungry. If I wait too long after eating, I'll feel hungry and I'll have less energy (I don't know why this isn't a problem for my early morning workouts--despite not having eaten for several hours, I never feel hungry then, although I definitely have a lot less energy in the morning). So when I'm exercising on my normal schedule, I try to make sure I do it one to two hours after I've eaten. If I'm working out with my trainer, which is a pretty tough workout, I eat at least one and a half hours before our session starts and preferably more like two hours before. If I'm just doing cardio, I'll sometimes start just an hour after I've eaten (but not if I'm running outside--then I definitely need at least an hour and a half after eating before I start). Since I eat pretty much every three hours and my workouts never take less than an hour, this means it's almost always snack or meal time when I finish my workout. If it's not quite snack/meal time (and I'm not ravenous), sometimes I'll shower first, than have my snack/meal.

Every day I strategize when I'm going to eat and how I'm going to fit my workout into the schedule. I'm with my trainer Mon, Wed, and Fri, so those days are pretty routine, but the rest of the days are all over the place. It's ridiculous how much thought I put into this. Given all the factors that impact the timing of my workout--what meetings/deadlines/chores do I have scheduled that I have to work around, when will the gym/pool be least crowded, when am I going to be able to eat--I can't even begin to worry about what's best in terms of digestion, metabolism, and blood flow. My main concern is making sure I won't feel bloated, won't cramp, and will have enough energy to get through the workout.

I just eat on schedule and workout when I can. Sometimes I've just eaten or eat right afterwards. The only workout that I time my food for is legs. I do a lot of plyometrics as well as lifting heavy, and I'd rather not have to mop the floor! And I'm ravenous when I finish.

Mel