PreWO Meal question

[Vibrantred94gt]

I will be lifting first thing in the morning followed by cardio. It is my only choice.

PreWO meal, My plan is 1/2 cup of oats or brown rice 45 min - 1 hour before the gym.

Should I add a 1/2 to 1 cup of a pure orange juice for some simple sugar energy, or will that be too much to deplete to have an effective cardio session? I am cutting.

[SuperLift]

I will be lifting first thing in the morning followed by cardio. It is my only choice.

PreWO meal, My plan is 1/2 cup of oats or brown rice 45 min - 1 hour before the gym.

Should I add a 1/2 to 1 cup of a pure orange juice for some simple sugar energy, or will that be too much to deplete to have an effective cardio session? I am cutting.

Personally I would not want to wake up and eat rice.. The 1/2 cup of oats would be great, but what is your protein source? Maybe cook up some egg whites or a protein shake atleast. Gotta have that PreWorkout prot! My first meal of the day usually consist of 5-6 egg whites with 1 whole egg, 1 scoop protein (24 grams), and 1 cup of oatmeal.

[Vibrantred94gt]

Personally I would not want to wake up and eat rice.. The 1/2 cup of oats would be great, but what is your protein source? Maybe cook up some egg whites or a protein shake atleast. Gotta have that PreWorkout prot! My first meal of the day usually consist of 5-6 egg whites with 1 whole egg, 1 scoop protein (24 grams), and 1 cup of oatmeal.

It's not JUST breakfast here. I have to make sure and not eat TOO much food. I will be doing cardio right after my weight lifting and only waiting 45 minutes to an hour after eating to lift weights. I am cutting not bulking.

[IBdmfkr]

Take in the majority of your carbs first thing in the AM and PWO.. so obviously the majority of your calories will be in those two meals.
You need Protein upon waking before your workout, eggwhites are a good choice.

You didn't mention any stats/goals or anthing besides you were cutting so it's hard to suggest much of anything.

[Vibrantred94gt]

Take in the majority of your carbs first thing in the AM and PWO.. so obviously the majority of your calories will be in those two meals.
You need Protein upon waking before your workout, eggwhites are a good choice.

You didn't mention any stats/goals or anthing besides you were cutting so it's hard to suggest much of anything.

Thanks BD. Weren't you around back in 03/04? God the only other person I've recognized is SC....

Anyways, I am 195 at 5'8" and BF, on the scale, says 25%-27%. Back in mid 04 I was 210 at around 12%.

Goal right now is to just get back to my 34" jeans fitting loose, not tight. Actually, I have some 33" pants that fit just right, so.... I just want to firm up, practice my diet skills, and if things go well in about a month I will re-assess. I have some prop sitting around I wouldn't mind using before summer, but I don't want to commit if I can't commit, know what I mean?

I am asking about pre-workout meal because I have never had to do cardio PWO. I have always done cardio am and weights pm. So normally, my pre-workout meal would be 1/2 cup of oats or brown rice 45 minuts to an hour before I workout, since I had been eating protien all day.

I worry that if I eat a full meal 1 hour before I lift weights, and then lift weights for 45 minutes, that I will not have fully depleted my glycogen stores for cardio. What do you think?

[IBdmfkr]

I prefer doing cardio either first thing in the AM or 3hrs after my last meal (no carb meal) in the PM followed by BCAA's. Never personally been a big fan of PWO cardio other than to burn more calories. You should be able to adjust your diet and lose fat, cardio isn't really a necessary thing it just helps speed the process.

Btw, I was around during 03-04 but I wasn't a member I was just reading and stuying and soaking up info.. LOTS of very knowledgable guys were around then that would make me look like a noob IMO. Too bad we lost all of them for various reasons.

[Vibrantred94gt]

That's my problem, you posted it in a nutshell. I too prefer to do cardio in the am, empty stomach, and weights in the pm. Second choice has ALWAYS been cardio at least 3 hours after a meal. That is rare, I am such a firm believer in am cardio. I have never stopped cardio, it makes me feel good mentally as well as physically. But now I have to lift weights, and can only do that in the morning. SO I have to do both at the same time.

Given that I have to do both, what should I eat before I go to the gym that will still render cardio effective?

I'm not trying to get huge like I was. Just maintain a good, healthy diet and firm up some. Main goal is to lose BF.

Funny thing, even after 2 years of not lifting (well I had about a 4 month period where I circuit trained with weights as part of my morning, empty stomach cardio plan) my musceles still have this definiton they never had before I ever lifted. And, even more definition comes back quickly when I drop some BF and even minimally lift weights.

And whatever did happen to all the originals around here? I visited a few month ago and in a quest to get some info on some stuff was told some things about a few of the people that was hard to believe. They were all great, I was raised here. Everything I know, or knew... I forget a lot....was learned from people here at the site.

[IBdmfkr]

Well considering your don't lift everyday you could go with an EOD routine like myself which leaves every alternate day open to do cardio. I don't like lifting and doing cardio on the same day anyhow, just adjust your caloric intake as needed and train intensly enough to keep your heartrate at around 130bpm and you'll drop weight fast.

[Vibrantred94gt]

I will lift 5 days a week, and cardio 4 days / week. I think you are missing my question bro. I understand what you are saying, but it is not the routien I am looking for.

I need an answer to a simple question. What should I eat before my workout, workout includes lifting weights and then doing cardio, to make cardio effective.

[IBdmfkr]

Umm.. I understand the question.. My answer is you need to work on your diet rather than rely on cardio to lose weight..
Cardio doesn't make you lose weight it simply helps you speed the process if your diet is already on point.. (post your diet?)

I'd eat a lean protein source and Med GI carb source.
Ex: Chicken + potato, Fish + w/w Pasta, Eggwhites + oats
If your workout is at the right intensity you should have no problem depleting your glycogen but at the same time it's not really ideal to completely deplete your glycogen levels during lifting, this is a subject that you'll get a ton of different opinions on.. so I won't go into it any further, it really needs it's own thread (I believe there are plenty of threads on this subject already, run a search and you'll see what I mean).

Gotta go with trial and error and see what works for You.

[Vibrantred94gt]

Umm.. I understand the question.. My answer is you need to work on your diet rather than rely on cardio to lose weight..
Cardio doesn't make you lose weight it simply helps you speed the process if your diet is already on point.. (post your diet?)

I'd eat a lean protein source and Med GI carb source.
Ex: Chicken + potato, Fish + w/w Pasta, Eggwhites + oats
If your workout is at the right intensity you should have no problem depleting your glycogen but at the same time it's not really ideal to completely deplete your glycogen levels during lifting, this is a subject that you'll get a ton of different opinions on.. so I won't go into it any further, it really needs it's own thread (I believe there are plenty of threads on this subject already, run a search and you'll see what I mean).

Gotta go with trial and error and see what works for You.

Thanks bro, I have done a lot of trial and error, but never had to deal with doing cardio pwo. I know how to diet, when to eat what, and how to put it together..... it's just that I have never fine tuned a meal around having to have a cardio session right after a workout. that's all. You answer above is what I was looking for.... protien or no protien. You see, in the past, all I would eat pre weight workout was 1/2 cup of brown rice or oats. This was also later in the day and my body at this point had already had plenty of protien for the day.


I wasn't sure if becasue it was first meeal of the day and only 45 min - an hour before workout time if adding protien (or more food in general) would hurt the benefits I get from cardio. My body is very sensitive to cardio. I've never seen real results without doing cardio first thing in the am on an empty or tad bit of protien stomach. I"ve never stuck with it long enough to be fair about it either. This time I don't have a choice.

I'll be working on putting together my diet this week and will run it by you when it's done if you would like. I know I'm aiming for 2000-2200 cals, with 100 or so good clean carbs which will be pre-work and post work. The rest I am just dialing in.......

One more questoins for now RE: the preworkout carbs. What woudl the resultbe if I have half complex and half simple carbs, like 1/2 cup oats 8 oz OJ?

THanks for your help bro....I assure you I am not a noob, just a little dusty trying to deal with unchartered territorry. By no means a pro either but can hold my own in the diet world mostly.

[IBdmfkr]

I prefer complex at every meal except for PWO you can get away with higher GI carbs..
I prefer not spiking my bloodsugar preworkout which can result in a crash.

Try it both ways and see what you like.

If you're cutting juices should have no place in your diet anyway, only Low GI carbs.

[Vibrantred94gt]

I agree and have never incoporated them into my diet, esp. while cutting. My thought was that instead of loading up all complex, if i did like a half and half the OJ would help the complex burn off a little faster, getting me ready for cardio. And since Oj was strictly for a workout, it would be used, not stored in any way. I'll just eat a cup of oatmeal for b-fast and hit some protien powder or egg whites for b fast.

[Vibrantred94gt]

ALright, day 1 is almost at end and here are my macros for the day

pro-205 carb-90 fat-58 total cals-2328

Foods used
Flax oil
5 blend protien
chick. breast
salad mix
oatmeal
salad dressing (need to get a better source, but used what I had)
brown rice
PWO shake
OJ