Best time to eat pre workout?

[dgriff]

Hello, bit of a lurker on these forums but have a question which hopefully someone can help me with .

Been an active gym member for a couple of years now with my initial aim to reduce body fat (still is my aim tbh), for the first 12 months or so I spent solely doing cardio but at the start of last year starting introducing some weights.

Last few months been getting more and more into this and starting the stronglifts programs which I'm currently working on (this forum has been very useful for tips on squatting by the way).

One question I have though is when are the best times to eat?

Currently I'm still taking in about 2500 calories each day (certainly no less) and whilst I want to get stronger I also want to continue reducing my body fat so I'm not trying to bulk up at the moment.

I'm also trying to eat five times a day, and on workout days will have a meal at lunch time (chicken salad for example) and then a bit later in the day (about 4ish) have a sandwich and some fruit. Then after work go to the gym.

Since Xmas though gym has become packed so I head down a bit later around 7ish. However, some days I (in particular today, which prompted this thread) I'm feeling quite hungry at the time of going to the gym.

I always have my main daily meal on workout days straight after the gym, followed by a protein shake before bed. When is a good time to eat before working out though?

I used to eat very soon before going but have read that this isn't good as your body is digesting the food etc at this time so isn't as effective in regards to building muscle?

For the tl,dr;

How long before working out do you guys eat a meal?

Thanks.