Do I take my PWO shake if I'm delaying breakfast?

We often get the question on whether or not to take your post-workout shake in the morning after you complete your routine but aren't scheduled to eat until later. It's a great question but first we should examine why you're delaying breakfast. Our At-Home meal plan recommends not eating until roughly 10:30am as your last meal came the night before, roughly finishing around 6:30pm. That puts you at 16-hours without consuming calories, long enough to capitalize on the popular 16:8 version of intermittent fasting. By performing this variety, you can achieve many great health outcomes. When performing IF, you can help repair your cells, improve brain health, and most notably burn stored body-fat. When you aren't eating, your insulin levels stay suppressed and your body releases greater growth hormone levels, which helps burn fat. Additionally, you may eat less as you're eating window has shrunk to only 8-hours.    

The ideal situation is to work out right before you break your fast at 10 or 1030. Then you can burn the most amount of fat possible AND absorb your meal the most efficiently AND only have 1 meal. However, for those who exercise earlier and can't/don't eat for a few hours until their designated meal time, here are the options:

  • Continue to fast until your breakfast time. 
    • Pros: Burn even more along the way due to recent workout.
    • Cons: Will probably be super hungry and will burn through precious lean tissue.
  • Have your first meal of the day after your workout. 
    • Pros: You will preserve your lean tissue and ward off hunger. You can continue the rest of the day with your meals spaced out appropriately. 
    • Cons: You end your fast and blunt your fat burning.
  • Have a protein shake after the workout (protein, water, and creatine if using), holding off your Breakfast Shake/meal until your designated time. This is probably the most ideal situation for most people. 
    • Pros: You preserve your lean tissue once again. 
    • Cons: You technically end the fast but at least protein doesn’t cause as big of an insulin spike (which we are trying to suppress in the mornings with fasting) as consuming carbs.

 So at the end of the day, it's a personal preference with whatever works for you, your schedule, and your goals.