Eating Pre/Post HIIT?

Diet and Nutrition
1

So I recently started doing HIIT and I do 10 secs of hard sprint, 30 of jog. I do this for 20-30 min and It is quite exausting but it doesn’t kill me (I am still a newbie)

Anyway, what should I eat before and after HIIT? And how long before/ after?

Is it true that I should wait 60 min before I eat anything after HIIT to enhance fat burning? Will taking some whey by itself neglect the catabolic effect of HIIT?

If i am doing HIIT first thing in the morning, what are the things that I should eat and how long before? Would not eat carbs and just taking a small protein shake cause muscle breakdown?

ahhhhh there is so much conflicting information out there that I don’t know where to start. Some say it is bad to take carbs after because it blunts fat burning and others say that it is a must to stop catabolism because HIIT is glycogen fueled.

My goal is to build muscle while keeping fat % low or maybe even lowering it.
Stats:
5"9 (176 cm)
152 pounds (69 kgs)
13-14 % BF (I think)
17 years Old
Meso / endo.

I eat an average of 2500 cals daily.

2

I am also looking for the answers to these questions

3

With regards to waiting to eat after HIIT. I think you misunderstand how fat loss works, while eating something directly afterwards might blunt fat burning a little bit it is still going to be your TOTAL calories consumed and burned that will matter. So say you burn 500 calories more than you eat, if you eat some food right after HIIT that might stop the fat burning process for a couple of hours or something to that effect. However, you’re still in a 500 calorie deficit which means you’ll lose weight.

Also, at 5’9 152 are you sure you want to be cutting?

4

Chimera’s got the right idea; big picture is most important for fat loss. However if you want to get into some detail with it, I’d say do the following:

  1. Try to do your HIIT 2-3 hours after eating, that way the meal is mostly digested and you have some energy to actually make it through your session.
  2. I dont like peri-workout carb products (SWF, finibars etc) right before HIIT as you want to be burning more fat with your session, not the carbs you ingested. Granted longer sessions may warrant some carbs or BCAAs to help prevent catabolism, but as a general rule, you shouldn’t be doing HIIT for more than 20-30 minutes at a time anyways. I can usually kick my ass in 15 minutes or less. Get in, get out, spare some muscle.
  3. Quickly digested protein shake immediately after to slow catabolism and give your muscles some aminos. MAG-10 would be awesome, although some whey isolate is probably fine.
  4. solid food meal ~30 mins after the protein shake. Get some real food into your body.

I’m no coach, and I’ve only been in the iron game for about 3 years, but thats what I’ve found works best for me. Experiment for yourself, and like Chimera said: it really doesn’t matter what you do here if your daily intake isnt in line.