Good Post-Workout Snack: Lowfat Chocolate Milk?

grawrrrr

I've heard several things about lowfat chocolate milk being a good post-workout snack. This is one of the main articles I found:

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/recipes/healthy-eating/superfoods/chocolate-milk-after-workout/

Then again, I noticed that it's normally for bodybuilder-types or people who do very INTENSE exercise on a regular basis. I wouldn't choose chocolate milk NORMALLY, but I was out and about and having a serious sugar crash. I had burned off my calories for the morning PLUS some.

After I exercise, I will normally have a protein shake or bar. Today, I just decided to go with chocolate milk. One of the various trainers at my gym saw me with it and nearly had a heart attack. She pointed out how many sugars were in it and told me that milk was never good after a workout. She tried to push the gym-approved protein shake onto me.

My milk had 16g of protein per 2 cups, 300 calories, and I think like 20-25g of sugar.
The protein shake had like...40g of protein per 2 1/2 cups, 310 calories and 0g of sugar.

I stuck with my chocolate milk and felt satisfied.

What are your opinions on this matter?

grawrrrr

Bump.

sgv0918

agreed. My daughter is a dancer and alot of her friends high school athletes. Coaches and trainers agree. Good post workout treat. I had one cup the other day w/ a scoop of protein powder. Was a delish treat

craigineson

Depends if you want to lose weight or gain muscle - and even more so, it depends what kind of training you're doing. If you're weight training and wish to gain muscle, it's going to be great. However, I don't think low-fat chocolate milk post-workout is going to help with fat loss. It will build muscle (as it is highly insulin-producing), but if you want to lose fat then I'd stick to pure protein post-work out.

clarkeje1

Love to have chocolate milk with an apple and peanut butter after a workout!!!

lesliev523

My son has chocolate milk after all his workouts... he is a high school hockey player who does a lot of weight training in the off season.

BrentJulius

Chocolate milk is a great post workout in my opinion. After working your muscles, you want to get amino acids to them as quickly as possible. Insulin works as a shuttle. You have a 2 hour window where you want to take in a mixture of fast insulin spiking carbs and protein and really is the only time during your day you should take in non-complex carbs. Being a liquid protein source is even better because your body does not have to work as hard to break it down and being non-fat speeds up the absorbtion of nutrients as well. Milk protein consists of whey and casseine protein. Whey is fast absorbing while casseine tends to curdle in the stomach making it time released over several hours so you are getting a good constant "drip" of protein. I would add more whey protein to it though.

Keep in mind that even if you are not a "bodybuilder" when you are dieting, it is crucial to save/gain as much lean mass as you can while shedding body fat. If you are losing muscle while your dieting you are setting yourself up for trouble: lower and lower metabolism leading to a freeze in weight loss and when you go off the diet, you will gain all the weight back plus some because you won't have that muscle mass you had before= lower metabolism= even more weight gain. More muscle will make you leaner, burn more calories every day to support that muscle and the bodyfat is much harder to come back once it's gone when you've built a solid foundation. Just my two cents

kellyscomeback

Cardio Only (like Insanity, what I'm doing now) - Low Fat Chocolate Milk
Weights (like P90x, Chalean Extreme) - Whey protein

In order to help reduce the chances of losing lean muscle I'm also using casein protein at night as my dessert (see diary).

lisakyak

After an intense workout, a post recovery drink can help your muscles restore glycogen and rebuild micro tears in your muscles. You need to be working at about 85% of your Max heart rate for at least 30 minutes to require a post recovery drink.
They should be carb intense, and have a ration of 4/1 grams of carbs to protein. Chocolate milk doesn't have enough carbs, so you need to add sugar of some sort. Additionally, fat doesn't need to be in the equation at all, and can actually slow the absorption. You can go with 0% fat milk and a double dose of Ovaltine. Gatorade makes a recovery drink that is exactly the right balance of carbs to protein and is about 110 calories. You can also use the post-recovery drink on beachbody.com.

My original research came from: http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/articlePages/article/7
I have since learned from other runners about the level you need to exercise at to warrant the extra calories.

Mokey41

If you feel the need to have a snack after a workout then you probably aren't eating enough to start with. Unless you're a bodybuilder or professional athlete you shouldn't need to have a snack. Rehydrate with some water.

extraordinary_machine

I've been drinking low-fat milk, with chocolate added...and 2 scoops of whey protein. It's so good, relatively low cal, good protein, and it's nom.

quixoteQ

You want to drink something post-workout that has a carb to protein ratio between 2 to 1 and 4 to 1. Low fat chocolate milk has about a 4 to 1 ratio.

dorianaldyn

So I absolutely LOVE chocolate milk. I read a little two paragraph blurb in a fitness magazine once about how chocolate milk may be better than the gatorade type drinks and I basically looked no further. Somewhat legitimate excuse to drink chocolate milk?! I'm in! If only they'd offer chocolate milk at the aid stations during races, then I'd be in heaven!

dancerom

Chocolate milk is a great post workout in my opinion. After working your muscles, you want to get amino acids to them as quickly as possible. Insulin works as a shuttle. You have a 2 hour window where you want to take in a mixture of fast insulin spiking carbs and protein and really is the only time during your day you should take in non-complex carbs. Being a liquid protein source is even better because your body does not have to work as hard to break it down and being non-fat speeds up the absorbtion of nutrients as well. Milk protein consists of whey and casseine protein. Whey is fast absorbing while casseine tends to curdle in the stomach making it time released over several hours so you are getting a good constant "drip" of protein. I would add more whey protein to it though.

Keep in mind that even if you are not a "bodybuilder" when you are dieting, it is crucial to save/gain as much lean mass as you can while shedding body fat. If you are losing muscle while your dieting you are setting yourself up for trouble: lower and lower metabolism leading to a freeze in weight loss and when you go off the diet, you will gain all the weight back plus some because you won't have that muscle mass you had before= lower metabolism= even more weight gain. More muscle will make you leaner, burn more calories every day to support that muscle and the bodyfat is much harder to come back once it's gone when you've built a solid foundation. Just my two cents

Slightly off topic: Do you know how this 2-hrs-window and the insulin you need to gain muscles works with Insulin Resistance?

_AshLynn

Any after workout snack you want something that is going to restore and refuel your body. They say recently (you know they...lol...ACSM) that the best after workout snack is CHO+PRO, which is any complex carbohydrate and a protein. Carb to refuel you body for the rebuilding process that it is going to have to work on, and the protein for rebuilding torn muscles.

Chocolate milk has a lot of great reviews, and a good source of protein. The only thing is that it has to be a fortified chocolate milk, not something you could mix at home with a chocolate syrup.

Hope that helps a bit!

grawrrrr

All of this advice is very helpful so far. I would like to clarify what my "routine" is:

I do 30 minutes of cardio, C25K or a stationary bike, 5 days a week (Zumba for an hour only on Saturdays). Afterward, I do the Chalene Extreme lifting at the gym.

I eat between 300-400 calories for breakfast, packed with protein like eggs or pb in my oatmeal.

I eat within 30 minutes of going to the gym, then I eat within 1-2 hours after I come home. It's rare that I ever get the shaky sensation after a good burn.

I eat the reccomended 1650 or so a day. I sometimes go 100 over and don't beat myself up about it. So far I've done we'll at losing weight and the inches have been flying off as well.

Again, thank everyone for their input. I'm glad that chocolate milk isn't completely evil and detrimental to my weight loss as the trainer warned.

wellbert

full fat > skim/2%

grawrrrr

full fat > skim/2%

Duly noted.

PennStateChick

I personally believe Chocolate Milk is a fantastic post-workout snack, after an intense workout. It's is a great balance of carbs and protein to aid muscle recovery. Chocolate Milk is the unofficial recovery drink of all cyclists I know and has a lot of the same benefits of the beachbody "recovery formula" that they suggest when you are doing Insanity, p90x, etc.

shrinkingislander

The last few races I have been to, there is always chocolate milk at the finish line...yummy. I want a shirt that says I run for the chocolate milk.

hannahcall2

I drink a protein drink that is chocolate milk flavored after a workout. Sometimes I'll add it to a banana milkshake ( 1 banana : 1/2 cup milk ) and drink it over a half hour period or so. The bag says you can add it to any liquid though.

sjohnny

Sure. Why not? If it fits in your calorie/macro goals and you enjoy it, knock yourself out.

cls_333

Milk really fills me up & satisfies me, and is a great after work-out drink. It's really cold here, so I have a hot chocolate after most runs with some peppermint marshmallows. Can't beat it! And then I'm much less hungry for dinner.

rsr3vo

Chocolate milk would be pretty good post workout, but i'd stick with the low fat version. I guess for a quick post workout drink, it's fine but I wouldn't make it a full "post workout meal" per say. I wrote an article on post workout nutrition here if you're interested: http://www.getmusclelosefat.com/supplements/best-post-workout-supplements/

Only reason is because post workout your body is looking to replace the glycogen you used up in your workout, and the sugar in the chocolate milk will replace that. Maybe as an emergency, and then go home and have a proper meal. I'd rather just have some whey + creatine + carbs from pasta/rice/etc instead though.

AnvilHead

Here's what nutrition/training guru Alan Aragon has to say about the subject (the article is a comparison of chocolate milk vs. Surge recovery drink, but he explains the benefits of chocolate milk pretty thoroughly):

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/an-objective-comparison-of-chocolate-milk-and-surge-recovery.html

75in2013

Chocolate milk is an awesome post-workout/recovery drink.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/an-objective-comparison-of-chocolate-milk-and-surge-recovery.html

Good article.

Quietprofessional83

The reason that its effective its because of how all the ingredients are combined. For example, it has a nearly perfect, protein to carb ratio. The reason your trainer almost had a heart attack, and I see this even more with people that do the whole 20 min cardio session followed by chest, or back, or whatever. But, lets say they had to wake up at 4 am, go on a 12 mile hike w/ a 55lb ruck at 4-4.5mph, come back, get in the pool and get completely thrashed for a couple of hours, and then run EVERYWHERE with combat boots, I guarantee you they would have a different opinion about drinking chocolate milk post workout. Like you mentioned, and I dont think its useful for a simple day-to-day supplement, its meant to be used with extremely intense routines that are meant to break your soul. Honestly, I have only seen people in my line of work take advantage of this. But your regular every day person should not be drinking chocolate milk. Good luck.

sjohnny

The reason that its effective its because of how all the ingredients are combined. For example, it has a nearly perfect, protein to carb ratio. The reason your trainer almost had a heart attack, and I see this even more with people that do the whole 20 min cardio session followed by chest, or back, or whatever. But, lets say they had to wake up at 4 am, go on a 12 mile hike w/ a 55lb ruck at 4-4.5mph, come back, get in the pool and get completely thrashed for a couple of hours, and then run EVERYWHERE with combat boots, I guarantee you they would have a different opinion about drinking chocolate milk post workout. Like you mentioned, and I dont think its useful for a simple day-to-day supplement, its meant to be used with extremely intense routines that are meant to break your soul. Honestly, I have only seen people in my line of work take advantage of this. But your regular every day person should not be drinking chocolate milk. Good luck.

So only Navy Seals are hard enough to handle the awesome power that is contained in a vessel of chocolate milk.........

Okay then.

Quietprofessional83

I am not saying that, I'm just going off what I've experienced, simply put, "I" would not chocolate milk on a regular basis. I was just giving a bit of background.

grawrrrr

I am not saying that, I'm just going off what I've experienced, simply put, "I" would not chocolate milk on a regular basis. I was just giving a bit of background.

I love that chocolate milk is a verb here! XD

I think I'm going to stick with it on occasion. As I've said before, I normally grab a protein shake or bar with a fruit if I need an extra boost. ^_^

sjohnny

I am not saying that, I'm just going off what I've experienced, simply put, "I" would not chocolate milk on a regular basis. I was just giving a bit of background.

That's what this

its meant to be used with extremely intense routines that are meant to break your soul. Honestly, I have only seen people in my line of work take advantage of this.

sounds like.
"I'm the only one around here who works out hard enough to drink chocolate milk."