What does your body need after working out?

Options
Laceyrae
Laceyrae Posts: 10 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I posted this once before and something wierd happened, I got some topic related to a frozen drink and no one posted, so i'll try again..

.I wanted to know what i should be taking in before and after a workout, and also does it change if your doing cardio vs strength training? I've heard everything from chocolate milk to cottage cheese , is there a simple, low calorie, way to repair my body? What is your take on working out first thing in the morning on empty stomach vs I get up have a few cups of coffee, breakfast, and then hydrate for a few hours, when the kids are down for the count i excercise..What do you think? I will be checking in through out the day for input. Thanks so much for your time.
«1

Replies

  • marissa4354
    marissa4354 Posts: 140
    Options
    Chocolate milk is the best recovery! :)
  • padigirl
    padigirl Posts: 32
    Options
    bump
  • CricketKate
    CricketKate Posts: 3,657 Member
    Options
    bump
  • karlenasmith
    karlenasmith Posts: 19
    Options
    This is a good question, I too would be interested in the answer. BTW, what does "bump" mean?
  • MrsFoster18
    MrsFoster18 Posts: 125 Member
    Options
    bump.

    bump is when you want to be able to find this thread again and read it. It shows up on your home page.
  • HotMomma86
    HotMomma86 Posts: 75
    Options
    I prefer to workout first thing in the morning. If I eat before I workout, I get nauseous, even if I wait 2 hours. I take a protein shake an hour before working out and then again half an hour after.

    I take water, add a scoop of whey protein, a tsp of glutamine, a tsp of creatine, and some flaxseed oil. UDO oil is very good also. It was recommended to me by a cousin who is quite knowledgeable about health and fitness. It doesn't taste the greatest, but it works great.
  • heatherhart
    heatherhart Posts: 113 Member
    Options
    You should drink or eat protein within 30 mins after working out. Yogurt is great or drink a protein shake if you trying to lose weight look for the highest amount of protein for the least amount of calories. Hope this helps
  • Pups22
    Pups22 Posts: 14
    Options
    bump
  • LilSweetie785
    LilSweetie785 Posts: 27
    Options
    It also keeps the post active so it stays toward the top of the message board.
  • exacerbe
    exacerbe Posts: 447 Member
    Options
    After a workout, I normally drink water and a protein shake. I eat a typical meal about an hour after the shake.
  • neebelung
    neebelung Posts: 115
    Options
    Chocolate milk is the best recovery! :)

    Bingo! And it FEELS like a guilty pleasure, which makes it that much better!
  • Fieldsy
    Fieldsy Posts: 1,105 Member
    Options
    A shower
  • bethvandenberg
    bethvandenberg Posts: 1,496 Member
    Options
    I drink 1-2 protein drinks a day. Usually one before I work out in the am and one in the afternoon after I workout on days I do double workouts. :)

    I use the Pure Protein with JM on the cover. It's not loaded with carbs and it's pretty decent. :)

    It's my understanding that you need protein to rebuild/repair the muscles you just worked.
  • ahbach2005
    ahbach2005 Posts: 119
    Options
    My wife and I work out early in the am. We eat within an hour after and if we are starving we do a whey based protien shake. On the weekend we eat a protein rich breakfast once the kids are up.

    I would agee with most of the posts that after moderate cardio or strenght protein is enough. If you are training hard for a triatholon or a marathon I would add something to the protein to get electrolytes back in my system.
  • Goal_Seeker_1988
    Goal_Seeker_1988 Posts: 1,619 Member
    Options
    check out this site.

    http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2010/02/16/what-you-eat-after-exercise-matters.aspx
  • 305muscle
    305muscle Posts: 97 Member
    Options
    I SAY whey protein
  • Ben2118
    Ben2118 Posts: 571 Member
    Options
    You can get recovery drinks, they contain everything your body needs after a workout, but a lot of them contain creatine so if you are just wanting a boost a decent protein shake would be great. Best way to judge protein shakes is the more grams of protein per scoop the better, eg, a protein shake with 50g scoop containing 25g protein is not as good as one with a 50g scoop containing 30g for instance.

    Ben.
  • Amy62575
    Amy62575 Posts: 422 Member
    Options
    Everyone believes something different. Here's a good website to get alot of good info.

    http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/women.htm

    Good luck!
  • brookeybaby_00
    brookeybaby_00 Posts: 142 Member
    Options
    Chocolate milk is the best recovery! :)

    That's what I use too!
  • TrainingWithTonya
    TrainingWithTonya Posts: 1,741 Member
    Options
    First of all, I don't recommend working out on an empty stomach. When you exercise, you have to breakdown glucose first in order to have pyruvate to be able to burn body fat. When you go overnight without food, your natural glycogen stores are used to fuel the brain because it only uses glycose/glycogen for fuel. After a while of fasting where you don't have intake of more carbs to replenish the glycogen stores, your natural body process is to produce cortisol to tell the body to breakdown protein to make glucose to fuel the brain. This is fine if you aren't trying to maintain muscle and burn body fat. For those of us trying to lose body fat, however, its not a good thing because it actually slows the metabolism from the muscle breakdown. If you exercise first thing in the morning, without replacing that glucose/glycogen, then the cortisol level stays elevated and you keep breaking down muscle to produce the glucose/glycogen needed to fuel the exercise. You will burn some fat, too, because the breakdown of the protein produced glucose provides the pyruvate just like breaking down carbs so you can go into fat burning. But the glycogen is provided by breaking down your hard earned muscle mass which slows the metabolism in the long run. Muscle burns calories just to maintain itself so you want to keep that muscle to be able to consume more food in the long run. Not to mention the benefits of having the added muscle in increasing bone density (decreasing osteoporosis risk), increasing strength, decreasing risk of injury, etc.

    Now, for fueling exercise and recovery, you need a mix of carbs and protein. Before exercise you need mostly carbohydrates. Like I said earlier, you breakdown carbs for fuel to provide the pyruvate for fat burning. If you are doing a short, high intensity workout, simple carbs are sufficient because they are available almost immediately. If you are doing a longer, lower intensity activity, complex carbs with a little simple carbs are the way to go because the simple carbs are available for the beginning of the workout and the complex carbs are available for the end of the workout. The protein that you consume before the workout isn't actually available until after the workout, but that is good because that is when they are needed to repair and rebuild the muscle from the microscopic damage that exercise causes. After the activity, you need a mix of carbs and protein with more focus on protein. The carbs are to help replace any glycogen stores the body used (in addition to the carbs you consumed beforehand) to fuel the activity and the protein is to help continue the repair and rebuild process throughout the next 24-48 hours because you actually gain strength in those muscles during the repair and rebuild process.

    Because you need carbs and protein, that is why chocolate milk is recommended because it has both. I prefer a sandwich, but that is just a personal preference. Anything that provides both protein and carbs is fine.

Categories