Post Exercise Nutrition?

kirkyme

Hi All

I go to the gym most mornings (75 minute workout, heavy on cardio) on a banana and cup of coffee then when I get home I have scrambled eggs on 1 slice of wholemeal toast.

My question is, am I really maximising my weightloss with these meals when I'm burning calories at a higher rate post exercise?

Any advice gratefully received.

Mel

steve8113

from my understanding u want to eliminate carbs after a workout unless you want get fitness gains. this is because u will continue to burn fat if u dont eat the arbs due to an insulin response as insulin has a negative fat for the release of fat tissue for energy.

a420dreams

Hi All

I go to the gym most mornings (75 minute workout, heavy on cardio) on a banana and cup of coffee then when I get home I have scrambled eggs on 1 slice of wholemeal toast.

My question is, am I really maximising my weightloss with these meals when I'm burning calories at a higher rate post exercise?

Any advice gratefully received.

Mel

I wear a Heart Rate Monitor with caloric burn feature. I have also noticed, I burn more calories post work-out than any other time of day. I too wonder the same thing you do. Should I eat more calories during this time when I'm burning the most calories. Especially for me since I'm trying to gain weight.

SHBoss1673

If you're doing cardio, really it's not going to make a huge difference if you have carbs after a workout or not (within reason). The reason being is that cardio doesn't do a lot of post exercise increased calorie burn. Put it this way, if you've depleted glycogen stores, one way or another the body's going to make more, whether it does it the easy way (by converting carbs) or the harder way (through converting protein and/or fats) matters little. It'll find the energy to replenish the muscles either way. What you don't want to do is allow your blood sugar to drop, that can cause problems like dizziness, severe fatigue, headaches, nausea...etc. In other words, eat something after, don't go crazy, but definitely eat something, especially if you feel any of the above symptoms.

Now resistance type training is very different. There are specific food types that can help with the repair of muscle tissue, and generally you aren't depleting your blood sugar levels with resistance routines.

alantin

I'm losing weight but I still eat good before exercise, drink recovery drink right after, and eat another meal when I get home. I do taekwondo in the evenings 3-4 times a week and it's pretty intense so I can't even contemplate training without eating. Getting nutrients right after is especially important when weight training, in order to maximize results, because you need to turn the catabolism into anabolism and fast.
Well.. I guess, even when dropping weight it should be beneficial because eating right after also helps keep the muscles for the same reason.

kwardklinck

I usually have a snack before working out and a meal afterward. It's worked for me.