You could be missing your post-workout nutrition. Proper recovery from workouts leads to a better workouts, feelings of accomplishment, and helps you stay motivated through the tough weeks. You don’t feel as washed out and mentally drained by all your new found habits.
Why should I eat after a workout? Doesn’t that just put the calories back in my body that I just burned?
It sure does and that is a good thing! When you exercise you strip your body of amino acids, glucose, and glycogen stored in the muscles. By flooding your muscles and body with nutrients, you prepare your body for the repair process that burns up calories AND the next exercise session.
If you wait until your next meal before reloading your body, you burn less total calories over the next 24 hours and compromise the repair process. The faster your body can recover from a workout, the better your next workout will be. The more you feed and fuel the body the less cravings you have. If you aren’t craving you probably aren’t bingeing either!
When should I have this post-workout nutrition?
Your body has a sensitive 60 minute window to receive the much needed nutrition in the bloodstream. Any longer and you significantly delay the repair process by up to 48 hours! I keep a protein shake in my car or in my locker at the gym. As soon as I finish my strength or cardio session I drink my protein shake. I don’t wait longer than five minutes. It takes your body 20 minutes to get the protein and carbs from liquid form to enter your bloodstream.
Within two hours of consuming your protein shake you then need to eat a meal of good, quality carbohydrates and protein. This will further maximize the repair process. The reason you want to consume a shake rather than food after a workout is that the digestion process takes awhile. The food may not be broken down into useable energy in time to meet the refueling window.
What do you recommend I eat or drink?
Post-workout I suggest a whey protein shake with around 15 - 25 g of protein and 25 - 50 grams of carbs for the average female. You can easily blend some fruit or just eat some fruit with a protein shake. Fruit digests very quick and the sugars hit your body fast.
A post-workout meal might look like:
B - 3 egg whites or one scrambled egg in EVOO, 1 pc of WW toast with SF Jelly, 1 piece of fruit
L - Tuna Wrap with lettuce and tomato, 1 slice of avocado, 1 serving of plain, fat free yogurt
D - 5 oz. Sirloin Steak with 1/2 sweet potato, steamed broccoli
Remember, reload that body with nutrients after a workout. You aren’t being a hero by skipping a meal because you just worked