Pre-Workout Food Recommendations

[smc124 118]

I recently started supplementing my daily cardio with weight training - I am seeing a personal trainer now two mornings a week, I noticed in the personal trainer sessions I’m getting lightheaded.

I don’t experience the same lightheadedness during intensive (Zone 4-5) swim or other cardio workouts. Im pretty confident this lightheadedness is an issue of properly fueling myself for a weight training workout.


THE ASK:
I’m looking for suggestions of what I can eat in the morning ahead of training to better fuel myself to prevent lightheadedness . Secondarily I’m also generally interested in what you all eat prior to workouts.
- My current routine includes a Premier Protein and a protein2O energy at 75 mins and 30 mins before a workout as well as at least 8oz Water.

-  I’m 2 months post-sleeve and my nutrition plan at this stage allows only the following in addition to our protein: 1 serving of fruit and 2 servings of non-root vegetables. 

Additional background:
Before you suggest the below I’m already aware of, actively monitoring, and confident these things are not to blame:
- Im well rested -it’s rare I don’t hit 8.5hrs/night.
- I’m getting easily over 72oz of hydration daily
- I’m averaging between 80-100 protein/day.
- I was active before my surgery and have worked with trainers and weight training extensively in the past - the work I’m doing is not new to me. For example in the year before surgery I’ve deadlifted over 250lbs.

**** I’ve also reached out to my nutrition team with this query but was interested especially in hearing from anyone else who has experienced and overcame this.****

[RickM 1,747]

When I was running into similar problems - not specifically light headedness, but an energy wall - after about an hour in the pool, my RD at the time suggested that a common recommendation for pre workout is something that his relatively high in complex carbohydrate, moderate in Protein, and low to moderate in fats. Extra protein ahead of time did not do much by my experimenting, but that bit of extra complex carb did - it allowed me to break through that wall. It seems that with the complex carb, you will get that extra bit of insulin lift an hour or two after consumption, so that helps to fill in the energy gap you get at that time; at least it worked for me. I also didn't find that I needed it on days that I was only doing weight work, even when that lasted 90 min or so, only on swimming days. YMMV.

For convenience, I ultimately settled on a small meat and cheese sandwich, with a good quality multigrain bread (or toasted.) That may or may not fit with your needs at two months out (I was about four months out when I was playing with this.) IIRC, my now RD nephew used to use some of the original CLIF bars that had a similar profile for this, so that may be something to look into. But that rough macro profile seemed to be the main trick - more fat or protein didn't do much for me, but the complex carb did (and I was never agonizingly low carb to begin with.) Calorically, it was mostly just a reshuffling of what I was already consuming, just rescheduled.

Your plan at this time is somewhat limiting, but maybe some high Fiber fruit - berries or the like - as the complex carb may do it, Talk to your RD, as you may get some adjustments to your allowance to accommodate your needs - this would not be unusual for those who are more active than average, as the plans are written with the averages in mind.

Good luck, and have fun, but also don't overdo it - it's easy to do, particularly with trainers!

[smc124 118]

On 02/06/2023 at 13:40, RickM said:

When I was running into similar problems - not specifically light headedness, but an energy wall - after about an hour in the pool, my RD at the time suggested that a common recommendation for pre workout is something that his relatively high in complex carbohydrate, moderate in Protein, and low to moderate in fats. Extra Protein ahead of time did not do much by my experimenting, but that bit of extra complex carb did - it allowed me to break through that wall. It seems that with the complex carb, you will get that extra bit of insulin lift an hour or two after consumption, so that helps to fill in the energy gap you get at that time; at least it worked for me. I also didn't find that I needed it on days that I was only doing weight work, even when that lasted 90 min or so, only on swimming days. YMMV.

For convenience, I ultimately settled on a small meat and cheese sandwich, with a good quality multigrain bread (or toasted.) That may or may not fit with your needs at two months out (I was about four months out when I was playing with this.) IIRC, my now RD nephew used to use some of the original CLIF bars that had a similar profile for this, so that may be something to look into. But that rough macro profile seemed to be the main trick - more fat or protein didn't do much for me, but the complex carb did (and I was never agonizingly low carb to begin with.) Calorically, it was mostly just a reshuffling of what I was already consuming, just rescheduled.

Your plan at this time is somewhat limiting, but maybe some high Fiber fruit - berries or the like - as the complex carb may do it, Talk to your RD, as you may get some adjustments to your allowance to accommodate your needs - this would not be unusual for those who are more active than average, as the plans are written with the averages in mind.

Good luck, and have fun, but also don't overdo it - it's easy to do, particularly with trainers!

Thank you so much for this thoughtful answer. I just picked up some strawberries to try to incorporate Thursday.

I’ll see what the RD says when they get back to me. I can see how a sandwich might be a good solution maybe they would allow 647 bread (but to be fair sandwiches I feel like have been the one main food I’ve missed since surgery so I may be biased lol)

[summerseeker 2,120]

If you struggle with the bread try something like porridge with your berries. I second the Clif bars, I always carry one in case of a energy drop or missed meal

[smc124 118]

02/06/2023 08:15 PM, summerseeker said:

If you struggle with the bread try something like porridge with your berries. I second the Clif bars, I always carry one in case of a energy drop or missed meal

At this stage my nutrition team has advised no grains aside from our Proteins we’ve been allotted one fruit serving and two non-root vegetables. We’ll see if they allow my to add a complex carb first when they reply, if sp I’ll keep this in mind. Thank you!! 

[RickM 1,747]

3 hours ago, smc124 said:

At this stage my nutrition team has advised no grains aside from our Proteins we’ve been allotted one fruit serving and two non-root vegetables. We’ll see if they allow my to add a complex carb first when they reply, if sp I’ll keep this in mind. Thank you!!

Hopefully, they are flexible, I know of one program that is seriously into the low carb thing, as published in their guidebooks, and preached in their seminars, etc., but individually are more flexible with their more athletically inclined patients, as that is more appropriate for them.

[smc124 118]

So great news. I had an hour personal training this morning and despite literally dragging I was so tired last night, I woke up and rather than my standard Protein Shake I made 2/3c Fage 2% Greek yogurt with 2/3c chopped strawberries, 1 Tb PB2, 0.5 T chia seeds and had in a protein2O. on my way to the gym and killed the workout only feeling lightheaded in the last 5 minutes of the hour!