Confused about post work out nutrition

chriscoates7025

I work out 3 times each week, all cardio, fully for the purpose of weight loss. I am not interested in muscle building. My workouts are at 5am and I do not eat beforehand. I will usually have a nutragrain bar and piece of fruit after working out.
I have been having good success and am 80% of the way to my goal.
I keep hearing about post workout nutrition needs.
Currently I drink only water during, before and after workout. I never drink anything with calories.
I had looked as some energy drinks but found that they had more calories than I wanted after putting all that work into a workout.
Am I missing something?
Thanks
Chris

hm_day

First of all, you need to do strength training in order to have a full, healthy workout. It doesn't need to be enough to build a lot of muscle, but strength training does burn calories and will keep your body just as healthy as cardio.

Second of all, the post-workout nutrition means that you need to "eat back your calories" that you burn while working out. You should have a net of 1200 calories every day in order to lose weight in a healthy manner. Otherwise, your body goes into starvation mode by trying to hold on to every calorie. You can drink water while working out, but make sure you eat protein and carbs before and after a workout.

BerryH

Nope, you're doing just fine! You only need sports drinks if you're working hard for over an hour and if you begin to feel weak by the end of your workout. If you sweat a lot (I do!), you might want to consider something that replaces electrolytes.

You're replenishing carbs after your workout, which will help your muscles have energy available. If the Nutragrain bar and the fruit is your only breakfast, however, you might want to consider something something that includes some protein, say a turkey sandwich or an omelette. You don't just need protein if you're building muscle, you need it for repair and maintenance of the body, and cardio is using your muscles too. It will also help you feel fuller and eat less later in the day.

Hope that helps!

joannab65

I agree with hm_day you should be trying to incorporate some strength training in to your workouts as well as this will help with toning and weight loss and keep you burning off those calories even after your workout; you dont have to bulk up when lifting weights. She is also right about the eating; you need to be eating the calories that you want to burn off - sounds a bit strange when you say it like that! But you should try and eat something before your workout for energy; it will make a difference. I never used to eat before a work out as it would give me a stitch but it affected my performance.Now I usually have something light, say 2 boiled eggs, as i dont like to train on a full stomach, and I do notice a difference.
It depends on what sports drinks/brands that you are looking at; some will be full of sugar, hence the calories. You could look in to protein shakes for post workout nutrition; I use PHD Diet Whey, which is low GI, and high in protein to help the muscles recover and have a shake directly after a work out (I dont use this as a meal replacement). Ensure you are eating plenty of protein and fresh fruit and veg if you are able, and try to limit starchy carbs such as white bread, white pasta, white rice...wholemeal is the way forward!
Good luck, keep up the good work :-)

scarletfever2005

This is my own opinion based on my research and conversations with a personal trainer. 1. You're best bet for weight loss is to do resistance training. In fact, it should be the bulk of your workouts. I only do about 30% of my workout time doing cardio. 2. As far as post workout nutrtion, forget taking in a lot of carbs. In fact, forget about carbs pretty much all the time!. Your body metabolizes carbs as sugar. Sugar spikes insulin. Insulin tells your muscles to burn all this sugar in the blood, but when there is too much the sugar (glucose) gets stored as triglycerides in your fat cells. Thus, at least for a little while you get fatter. Now, replace those carbs with protein, and your muscles are gonna burn through their own glycogen first then demand more energy (glucose) when there is not enough in the bloodstream via diet the fat cells breakdown the triglycerides they previously stored into amino acids which can then reenter the blood stream, are converted to glucose and then used by the muscles. Thus without carbs you get leaner. Of course this is a simplified explanation for space sake. But the point is, do resistance training, eat a lot of protein, and nix the carbs!