Recovery

1a1a

Does the body have to receive it's recovery food post exercise in order to benefit?

I.E., today, I am over by 600 calories, it's after dinner, I'm going to do some serious cardio before bed, that should get my cal intake down to maintenance for the day but only if I don't eat anything else.....can my body make use of all the food it got pre exercise to stave off any negative effects?

PBJunky

Does the body have to receive it's recovery food post exercise in order to benefit?

I.E., today, I am over by 600 calories, it's after dinner, I'm going to do some serious cardio before bed, that should get my cal intake down to maintenance for the day but only if I don't eat anything else.....can my body make use of all the food it got pre exercise to stave off any negative effects?

Yip as you will still be digesting your food

Huffdogg

Absolutely. The food simply needs to get into your system within a range of time relatively near your workout. As PBJ said, that food is still quite freshly introduced into your body and has a lot of processing to go before the nutrients are flushed or "go to waste." And honestly, if your primary goal is weight loss, then the concept of recovery food isn't quite as pressing as it might be if you were doing strength training and trying to actually build up muscle. Do you want to have a good balance of nutrients? Of course. But for purely weight loss purposes, a reasonable balance and a deficit are much more pressing than the "when" of your intake.

1a1a

Rad, cheers fellas :-)