How soon before your workout are you planning on eating? They say you're not supposed to eat right before a workout. However, I always break that rule. I won't eat a real meal, light or heavy, but rather have a juice (not juice drink, but juicer juice), water-based smoothie or just fruit. Sometimes I do this 40 minutes before the workout, sometimes 30 minutes.

If I get out of the gym late, say 8:45-9 pm-ish, I'll get home in 20 minutes and have a small to regular meal, depending on how hungry I am and how early I have to be up the next day (determines what's the latest that I should be in bed by). I don't restrict myself of what I'm gonna eat after the workout--don't really see the point--with the exception of junk food and fast food. Always home-cooked meals. And if time is an obstacle, I have just made myself an entire bag of frozen veggies. I'll add a little oil and vinegar and some herbs after I take it out the microwave and voila--instant and delicious dinner.

I usually work out before work (and breakfast) so hopefully my experience is somewhat similar? I usually go for a half a banana or half of a Luna/Lara/Cliff/etc bar. A whole bar is too much-- makes me feel really full once I drink a big glass of water but a half-bar is easy to scarf in the car, gives my body a little something to burn (I'm no nutritionist either, but I feel like maybe that's true) and still makes me ready for breakfast post-work out.

any fruit is great, particularly bananas (for the potassium). The sugars in the fruit gives you lots of energy so you can best take advantage of your work out. eg toast w peanut butter and banana

protein is good to have right after even if it's just a quick shake.

a little bit of protein and good fat is good before you go to bed too.

The American Council on Exercise just blogged about this in a post in their Ask the Expert blog.

According to them:

Pre-Workout: Banana with 1 tablespoon peanut butter
Post-Workout: Mini-meal smoothie (plain nonfat yogurt + mango + pineapple + cinnamon + a touch of toasted wheat germ)

http://www.acefitness.org/blog/2514/what-should-i-eat-before-and-after-my-morning

You don't want to have your dinner, even a small one, before you exercise. It's because eating a meal before exercise means that the calories that you burn will go towards the digestion of that meal rather than towards burning up stored fat. My former trainer suggests carbs for some extra energy to workout. I'm with everyone else who suggests a piece of fruit or a low-protein smoothie. After the workout, you should have some protein. Protein helps with recovery by repairing cells and creating new ones.

So you could most likely have a piece of fruit or some veggies as a preworkout snack. Then have a small protein-heavy meal or protein shake after the workout.

I'm no expert, though I have read a lot about nutrition and exercise, and I completely agree with ACE.
The banana and peanut butter give a good mix of macronutrients before the workout, and shouldn't sit too heavy. Making the post-workout snack into a smoothie will help get it to your muscles quickly (drink it as soon as you can after working out, ideally within 45 mins). Also note that the recommended foods are very minimally processed -- the sugar is coming from fruit, not from some chocolate coated "protein bar" made with tons of ingredients.
One last thing -- make the connection between what/when you eat and how well your workouts go. If you really knock out a workout, try to eat the same thing at the same time for your next workout. Good luck!

Be careful to not eat anything too heavy of course but ALSO beware of too much sugar on an empty stomach. Even with smoothies. I eat just a tiny amount of protein first then part of a fruit smoothie. And plenty of water + electrolytes.

not an nutrition/fitness expert either, but i AM a regular post-work exerciser.

i usually bring a banana or a couple of dates with me as a quick, easy-to-digest pre-workout carb-boost. i just eat them on my 10 min walk from the office to the gym, so i guess about 15 min before i actually am working out. i've found that if i skip a pre-workout jolt of carbohydrates, i'm usually a lot more sluggish at the gym, and often can't bring myself to put in a full workout.

when i get home (usually no later than 8, which is our normal dinnertime), i'll whip up some scrambled eggs and a big salad. if not eggs, a can of beans is great-- or pretty much anything lean and protein-y, but not too rich. the protein definitely helps keep my muscles from being sore the next day. definitely remember to keep yourself hydrated!

I heard that you shouldn't eat carbs before exercising, because though they give you a boost, they are the first thing burnt during sports, instead of burning your body fat. What is a good idea, though, is to eat protein, such as some yoghurt, or cheese or a can of tuna, because the protein is needed to build your muscles.

@JESTERESSE, actually having protein PRIOR to exercise inhibits the development of new muscles. Protein POST-exercise facilitates muscle development.

Pre-exercise should be simple carbohydrates (non-complex) and electrolytes - the reason everyone suggest bananas is because they are a great source of potassium and choline, both of which are necessary for cognitive and physical function in the gym. Something salty will help provide the sodium, a little bit of calcium is good to have in you system during exercise as well. Small quantities of protein (4-8g) can be helpful, but more will be deleterious. A good quantity of fiber will help slow the absorption of any sugar in the pre-workout or intra-workout beverages (if you drink gatorade, or any of the other million beverages that pair with workout) as well as keep you feeling satiated during the workout.

Best recipe for a pre-workout food? Alan Lim's Rice Cakes: http://lavamagazine.com/training/recipe-allen-lims-rice-cakes/#axzz1sIxClGRn

I think it depends on the individual and what time of day you are working out. For me, if I am working out first thing in the morning, a cup of coffee is all I need. If I am working out at the end of a workday, I have a banana an hour before hitting the gym. In both instances, I make sure to eat a good breakfast or dinner afterwards.

You need to fuel your body before exerting yourself and fuel it afterward in order to recover. Before workouts fruit is best because it offers instant energy. After workouts my body responds best to veggies + protein.

Depending on your job, you don't need to eat anything. There's an overwhelming chance that your job has you do so little physical activity all day that the glycogen stores in your muscles are near enough to full as makes no difference. A relatively sedentary person who "needs" to eat before a workout is experiencing a psyhological, rather than physiological need.

For a ton of information/evidence (in the form of controlled, reviewed, and critiqued scientific studies) take a look at www.leangains.com.

There are plenty of people out there, myself included, that work out with mutiples of their bodyweight in the morning, without having eaten anything. Those people see no detriment to their workouts/muscle gain/fat loss. Some even experience benefits.

I eat a granola bar, a banana, or a PB&J sandwich 1-2 hours before a jog or lifting weights. Then I eat a normal meal afterward. If I've been lifting then I have a protein shake too.

I've jogged on an empty stomach and I just feel better if I've had a little something before hand.

@JESTERESSE

This isn't an exercise physiology class so I won't get into all the gritty details but your body will use a combination of creatine phosphate, glucose, and fatty acids from adipose tissue to make ATP (energy). You use them when you're running, when you're sitting, and even when you're sleeping. There will always be a combination going on regardless of what you ate before.

However, the recommendation is to eat simple carbs before exercise because they are easier to digest and absorb than proteins or fats and glucose is easier to make ATP from (fewer steps involved than using fats). You will get your energy bang for your carb buck. Even if you didn't eat, your liver will still make glucose for use. As much as we'd love to burn 100% fat, it's not going to happen.

I go to the gym between work and dinner, and I usually snack on either cheese and crackers or yogurt and honey.

Sounds like people are getting really detailed about what to eat and when, but I think if you're hungry, have a light snack. And then eat dinner after you get home.

I like what NINEONE is saying. Sometimes you don't need to eat before a work out. If you're not hungry, then why eat? Like others, when I work out first thing in the morning, I don't eat anything. I'm read to go after a cup of hot water. I'll only eat before a workout if I am hungry to begin with.

When I hit the gym before work, I make a green smoothie -- spinach, unsweetened non-dairy milk, banana, maybe a few berries, ground flax seed, ice cubes, and chia seed. Afterwards I'll have some cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, oatmeal, or hardboiled eggs. If I'm going after work I typically have a snack around 3pm (raw vegetables and hummus) and eat a small dinner around 7pm. I have the snack at 3pm because otherwise I'm ravenous when I leave the gym and more apt to overeat when I get home.

I say see how it goes and determine what's right for you.