post workout meal

Achieve success in any area of life by identifying the optimum strategies and repeating them until they become habits. Charles J. Givens

Before your work out, it depends on what kind of work out you're doing as to when you should eat. If you're working out in the morning, that's more of an issue then if you're working out after work. Just don't go into the gym with an appetite and do a strength workout. You'll see why in the next paragraph.

In the morning, you can get a great fat burning effect if you do an aerobic exercise before breakfast. However, don't strength train on an empty stomach! Not only will you be weak, but you'll be burning muscle to fuel your workouts instead of stored nutrients. You don't have hardly any stored nutrients in the morning, your body is nearly depleted on the fuels it needs, because you've been fasting for at least 8 hours (more likely 12 hours if you eat a few hours before bed).

After you work out, eat IMMEDIATELY! After a work out, your body is depleted, and is looking for building materials (anabolic state). If it cannot find the building materials through food, it will start breaking down muscle tissue (catabolic state). Eating after a work out helps you maintain all of your gains, as well as increase your metabolism.