Postworkout meal

lostinwebspace

Hey everybody,

For my post-workout meal, I read in a book, Michael Matthews' Bigger, Leaner, Stronger, that I should eat, post workout, 30-40 grams of protein and 1 gram of carbs for every kilogram of body weight I have, which is 66. So I consume 30-40 grams of protein and 66 grams of carbs. The book recommends doing this within the hour after your workout, and I usually eat after I shower and pack up my things. So I eat about 20 minutes post workout.

My post-workout meal is a chicken salad, but the book recommends whey as the quickest-digested source of protein. Problem is, I haven't found a good whey shake that isn't loaded in sugars to boot. So I eat chicken breast, which I cut and prepare myself (no deli crap).

What I do is get in my 66 grams of carbs first via vegetables like tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower--whatever goes in a salad--determine how many grams of protein are in those vegetables (which usually amounts to a piddly 9 grams or so) and add chicken breast to top that number off to 30-40. I aim for 35 at the least.

Is this a good method? Should I ignore the protein I get from vegetables when counting my grams of protein? And is chicken breast good or should I find a whey shake? I prefer to eat my post-workout meal though. It's around dinner time, so I eat that as dinner.

If there's a solid consensus in switching to whey powder, any recommendations that don't include unneeded crap?

jacklifts

I doubt it matters unless you're an elite athlete or are doing 2-a-days. Eat whatever you feel like. Layne Norton has said there may be a slight benefit to liquid calories post-workout compared to solid calories, but I doubt you'd see the difference unless you were already running on the wire, very lean, near maximum muscle mass, etc.

lostinwebspace

I'm pretty lean--8 to 9%--but I would say that's nowhere near the wire, i.e. magazine covers or competition guys who have somewhere around 6%. I heard liquids are better than solids because of ease/speed of digestion.

I should have mentioned my goal is to gain some muscle--you can barely see my abs, for instance--and then drop the fat that comes along with those gains, so that my end result is around 7-8% but with more muscle.

Thanks @jacklifts. Putting my mind at ease. Anyone else want to weigh in on this? No pun intended. Or maybe it was. I don't know what goes on in my head half the time.

AliceDark

I don't think that switching to whey powder is necessary; however, if you're looking for recommendations, TrueNutrition sells custom protein powder blends. You can buy unflavored whey/egg/soy/pea/whatever powder and add your own flavoring if you like. I personally like their unflavored whey with milk and chocolate syrup.

kwtilbury

I usually consume 30g whey and a banana post workout. You sound like you're in the UK...MyProtein has a line of whey protein with very little fat or carbs.

lostinwebspace

Nah, @kwtilbury, I'm in Canada.