The question of what to eat after a workout is a morass, with a tangle of opinions and conflicting research. But the subject of how you should eat after exercise is pertinent to maintaining your desired body composition and weight. There are a variety of opinions on this subject out – wait an hour, eat within 30-minutes, drink juice immediately, eat protein, eat carbs, etc. The list goes on. I tend to be of the “keep it simple” mindset. One should eat in a way that supports their goals, as they relate to health and fitness.
What To Eat After A Workout
Many of the health benefits of exercise are transient. That is – the greatest benefits are reaped in the first hours immediately after your workout. Those benefits begin to fade rather quickly. This is a truism for all workouts, and it doesn’t matter if you’re into aerobic exercise, strength training, or some combination of the two. The majority of the health benefits occur in the immediate hours following your workout session. Hence, the recommendation from experts that regular daily exercise provides the greatest benefits.
Of course, to reap the greatest benefits of those daily workout sessions, what you eat after a workout becomes just as, if not more, important than what happened in the gym.
Researchers have found that one of the greatest overall benefits of daily exercise is enhanced insulin sensitivity. This has implications for the management and avoidance of diabetes. Greater insulin resistance means the body can more efficiently manage blood sugar. To reap the maximum insulin sensitivity from your workout, the amount of food you eat after exercise appears to exert little influence, busting the myth of calorie restriction immediately after a workout. But – the composition of your post-workout meal can impact the result.
For instance, in the case of aerobic exercise, choosing to eat a low carb meal after your workout will yield maximum insulin resistance, as long as the calorie content does not exceed the calories expended during your workout session.
The recommendation for what to eat after strength training matches up well with those for aerobic exercise. Contrary to conventional wisdom, most research suggests an average-sized guy can efficiently utilize up to about 20-grams of protein in the hours following a workout to build muscle. The rest essentially goes to waste.
Experts seem to be divided on the role of carbohydrates in post-workout protein synthesis. However, the consumption of small amounts of high quality carbohydrates (vegetables and fruits) can certainly help replenish glycogen stores used during your workout.
So, the ideal post-workout meal, should include 20-grams of high quality protein. At 4-calories per gram, that makes up 80-calories. The remaining calories should be derived from a blend of fats and carbohydrates, to a level that is commensurate with your weight goals (i.e. weight loss, weight gain, or weight maintenance). Your meal should be weighted away from carbohydrates for ideal insulin resistance.
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Nice Post Greg. My trainer always tells me to eat as soon as I can after a workout with him. In fact, on days we workout together (5AM usually) he tells me to eat my morning snack before we workout and eat my breakfast afterward since there are more protein and calories in my breakfast than my snack. I used to do it the other way around because I didn’t want to lack energy during my workout. But I like his idea of replenishing after a workout much better.
I always fuel with carbs 30 minutes before a workout, and I’ve always stuck with the protein shake within 30 minutes after the workout. My particular brand of protein packs 23g of protein so it is perfect for me to guzzle that as I’m driving. I try to stay away from carbs for at least two hours!
I think that staying away from carbs for at least 2 hrs is detrimental to your goals(unless you goal is to loose Lean Body Mass). It is my understanding that after your workout, the glycogen in your muscles(and liver, depending on the duration of your exercise) are depleted and need to be replenished to aid in the recovery process. If you neglect to fuel your body with carbs and only give it protein, some if not most of your protein could be converted into glycogen to supply your muscles with energy, leaving little to no protein left to repair the damage to your muscle tissue. Unfortunately this is when catabolism can take place. Catabolism is the process of your body breaking down good protein sources(muscles you haven’t worked during the current session) to supply the muscle you have worked. Very counter productive/destructive.
A high simple carb source along with protein directly after a workout will yield the optimum uptake of the nutrients necessary to start your healing process. After the initial dose of simple carbs and protein, the next meal eaten should 1 to 2 hours later and be comprised of a good quality complex carb and protein once again. I like to add a bit of extra virgin olive oil to this shake/meal as the oil lowers the GI of the carbs creating a slower/steady release of energy into the blood stream thus enabeling the protein to do what is is meant to do….fix your muscles.
Carbs within 30 minutes of a run I’ve been told.
@Mac – Thanks! I used to do the same thing – meal before and snack after. Eventually figured out that wasn’t cutting it.
@Erin – I’ve used the protein shakes, but have to be careful in my selection. Some of them don’t agree with my tummy (if you know what I mean.)
@AndrewE – That seems to be isolated to distance runners. When I was running exclusively, that was my tack as well. The logic seems to be for replenishing spent glycogen stores – particularly after a long run. The argument for protein instead is for the preservation of muscle mass, (which carbs seem to provide little influence on), and better insulin resistance.
I also have a simple snack when I wake up before I exercise. After the workout, I have a fruit & protein smoothie for breakfast. I’m curious if there’s too many carbs in it, even though they’re high quality fruit carbs.
Plain nonfat yogurt
Tsp peanut butter
1 Scoop whey protein
1.5 tbsp milled flaxseed
Frozen fruit:
1 small banana
4-5 strawberries
Handful blueberries
5 dark sweet cherries
1-2 peach slices
1 small mango cube.
Any suggestions to mix it up or make it healthier? By the way, it’s DELICIOUS!
@Jeff B. — Looks very similar to my favorite smoothie, and I agree – very tasty. For a twist, try this — substitute kefir (I like strawberry flavored) for the yogurt. Kefir has a higher concentration of beneficial gut-building bacteria. To get in additional fiber, try substituting a frozen triple berry blend (blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries) for the mango, peach, cherries, and banana. Raspberries are loaded with fiber. I like the banana, but it tends to overpower all the other flavors.
BTW – the cherries are a nice touch. That’s one I’ve never tried. The flax is a nice touch as well. Do you keep the milled seed refrigerated?
@Greg — Where would I find kefir? None of the WalMart stores carry it in this area, and I’m not aware of any health food store in my city.
Also, I put banana in my smoothie, because I don’t care for the taste of the other fruit and berries. It also sweetens it enough to keep me from adding any sweeteners.
The other fruits (cherries, peaches, mangos) were only added to give variety of other “colored” fruits and because of their availability and inexpensiveness per oz in the frozen fruit section. I have no idea if they have any health benefit. I don’t think they add any taste to the smoothie either.
Do you keep the milled flax seed refrigerated? Yes, I do.
I also started adding a scoop of SAMBAZON Powerscoop Organic Acai Powder Drink Mix (Amazon ASIN: B0016BAB42) just for the heck of it.
One of my problems with exercising in the morning is that I don’t have the energy to run on the elliptical for more than 15 minutes. In the evening, I could go for 30-45 with no problems. From reading these posts, it looks like I’m not eating correctly before the workout. What are some good choices to eat before a 6:00 AM workout?
Thanks in advance!
@JeffB. I get my kefir from the health food refrigerated case at Kroger. I know you can find it at Whole Foods, too. Hope that helps.
To be honest, I’m not real peppy in the morning, either. When I plan for a morning run, its usually just a banana and a glass of water before I head out. More and struggle. I believe its more a matter of the time of day I generally train, which is after lunchtime.
I usually have a fruit smoothie of some sort. I use plain yogurt and hadn’t tried the Kefir. I also use Agave Nectar as a sweetener (plain yogurt is just terrible without some kind of sweetener – the banana helps though). I don’t use a lot of it but it is good as a sugar substitute.
By consuming simple carbohydrates along with your protein, you will cause an insulin spike that allows your muscles to make better use of that protein. I consume simple carbs immediately prior to a workout for energy, and with my protein immediately after my workout for the insulin spike. I try to avoid simple carbs at all other times.
I have read that ingesting simple carbs before a workout may not be beneficial. This is because (Greg please correct me if I am wrong) When Simple carbs are ingested there is an insulin spike to control the level of blood sugar/glucose. When the insulin spikes Glucagon gets suppressed. Glucagon is hormone that allows fat to be metabolized as energy. So when your insulin spikes, your ability to use fat for energy is halted until insulin levels stabilize. This stabilization does not occur at the instant that your simple carbs are used up. Since simple carbs are metabolized at a very fast rate, they are gone quickly but your insulin level stays elevated for some time after your carbs are gone. During this time, your fat metabolization has been suppressed and now your body is in an energy deficient state. People refer to this as the sugar crash.
In my experience, Generally speaking, A Complex carb source with a Low GI (Glycemic Index) 30min- 1hr before your workout will give you a constant release of energy throughout your workout(assuming your not working out for more then a few hours) Your blood glucose level will be maintained at a lower level then as with the simple carbs. Because of this, your insulin response will also be lower therefore not suppressing your Glucagon. This means that your will have a steady flow of energy for your workout from both carbs and fats.
Your comment about simple carbs after a workout are spot on.
@Darrell-I think we’re in agreement on this one. Most recommendations are for low carb (not zero carb) post workout meals, precisely for preserving muscle mass. Your body needs both carbs and protein to rebuild the freshly torn muscle fibers. Of course, as Andrew points out, your postworkout meal might need to vary based on the nature of your workout. After all, a long distance run will likely more severely deplete glycogen stores than a 30 minute strength training session.