Protein after workout

taekwonkenpo

in very simple and easy to understand terms.
When you do strength training exercises you are causing a micro tare in your muscles. It is the filling in of these tears that causes your muscles to get bigger over time. Protein is the nutrient that allows your muscle tares to fill in.

geebusuk

To continue the quote...

The first law of nutrient timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.
The second law of nutrient timing is: hitting your daily macronutrient targets is FAR more important than nutrient timing.

Alan Aragon

NOTE: Please do not misinterpret the above to mean that timing is irrelevant. On the contrary, it's very relevant. Timing just happens to have MUCH LESS impact on results than hitting your macro totals for the day. This doesn't diminish the fact that people need to individualize their meal timing so that it maximizes their training performance (& does not hinder it).

bdunt2646:
That's more a figure people fairly low body fat people who are trying to gain muscle would use; still that not silly if you're doing a fair bit of exercise. I can hit that and more on some higher exercise days without trying too much.

JeninBelgium

Some of you may be interested in this book " The FIRST 20 Minutes" it is an interesting book written by a sports and fitness writer for the New York Times (?) but it is not her opinion on things rather she talks about the latest scientific research and interviews a lot of renowned sports physiologists, nutrition and fitness experts, etc- it thoroughly discusses what we know, what we think we know, what we thought we knew but now aren't so sure, etc... and one thing that I thought was great is that the author is not trying to sell us anything, unlike so many links to articles that I see on this site or unlike a book I read from known marathoner Jeff Galloway which was clearly trying to sell me his preferred brand of shakes

also one of the things mentioned in the First 20 minutes, like one of the other respondents says - low fat chocolate milk does seem to have the perfect protein to carb ratio for many and, that unless you are hardcore working out, chances are you don't need a recovery drink/meal per se

tpop917

I have found that I need protein before a long run. I will have a steak dinner the night before a marathon. Carb loading does nothing for me.

Before any run of more than 5 miles, I have 1.5 TBS of peanut butter and some greek yogurt. The yogurt is higher in protein that I ever expected.

Protein also helps you feel full longer.

Best thing I've ever had post MAJOR work out is chocolate milk. I don't know what it is about it, but it is fantastic for me for muscle recovery.

saminilla

Since i have added more protein to my diet ( i eat 135g of protein ) I have dropped 4 pounds- however i will say that i go to the gym 5x a week for at least 2 hours a day... so just use trial-and -error and adjust as you see fit... obviously if someone weighs 400 pounds they are not going to eat 400g of protein- but they could more then likely get away with 200g if they worked out for at least an hour a day 3-4 times a week...

cebreisch

My husband's been doing the P90X and Insanity workouts, and they tell him to have a protein shake within 30 minutes of working out.

I asked a trainer about it, and it's supposed to help reduce soreness, and has the amino acids in it to help build muscle.

He typically uses the AMP protein powder from GNC. A friend of mine uses that and another from Chocolite (Healthsmart foods).

AngelaF2004

I have only been working out for about 8 1/2 weeks and am doing a nutritional shake/protein shake meal replacement for 2 meals a day and have lost almos 20 pounds and 34 inches. But I have only been using myfitnesspal for the last week. In doing some research I have found that if you are VERY overweight, like myself, it says you should use your TARGET weight as the number to go by to determine your necessary proteins, not your current weight. If you follow this article http://www.acaloriecounter.com/diet/how-much-protein-per-day/ and then work it back to the beginning and then to the end, you might find the most useful information on calores, fat, protein, carbs and such.