smoothie after workout

cbroadberry
cbroadberry Posts: 130 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Hi all.

I have recently started having a smoothie for breakfast after working out. They are great and keep me filled up until lunch time BUT i have found that it is massivley increasing my carb intake.

Just wanted some advice really...Is it okay because i am eating fruits/curly kale etc. in my smoothies so although its carb-y, it is full of fruits. or should i not be having a smoothie every day? I havnt bought any protein powers, so my smoothies generally consist of frozen fruits, natural yoghurt, curly kale/spinich, shot of apple juice, 1% milk and water.

If i change to only a few times a week, what breakfasts do you find fill you up for longer?

thanks

Replies

  • annakow
    annakow Posts: 385 Member
    I have no idea what is smoothie? is it a shake?
  • cbroadberry
    cbroadberry Posts: 130 Member
    Yes, its just fruits, yoguhrt, milk, spinich etc blended together into a drink.
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
    A smoothie is a bunch of stuff blended together to make a drink.

    Is there a reason you are worried about carbs? Is the smoothie making you go over your calories? Sounds like your smoothie is just fine.
  • DianneP6772
    DianneP6772 Posts: 272 Member
    I have recently discovered smoothies. Wow - i waited my whole life to miss these great drinks?! I do put in a scoop of protein powder along with a banana, grapes, blueberries and ice. It is like a blueberry milkshake. So yummy! I have one everyday after i cycle. Can't imagine it could be bad for you.
  • cbroadberry
    cbroadberry Posts: 130 Member
    Hey Toddis,

    I am staying with in my calorie allowance, i was just concerned that over a long time lots of carbs may not be good. I only started the breakfast smootihes last week, so have not really given it time to see if there are any changes to my weight loss. I used to have eggs for breakfast. So the change means i find it hard to get more protien, and my carbs are high.

    Maybe im asking the question too early, without giving my body time to tell me if its bad or not,...
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852
    So many people worry about carbs and sugar but, what they don't realize is that there are good carbs and bad carbs (I used to be one of those people). You are taking in good carbs with your smoothies so I wouldn't worry. I have to watch my sugar intake so, I understand worrying about the amount of carbs/sugar. But, look at WHAT your carbs are...if they were white flour carbs and "bad" carbs/sugar then I would worry but, being fruits and all healthy carbs, don't worry. The problem would be what the rest of your day would be with carbs. Since you are working out, you need a certain amount of carbs for energy to get thru your workouts.

    So, in other words, you are doing fine and I would keep them smoothies going! :-)
  • toddis
    toddis Posts: 941 Member
    If you are concerned with your overall macros try using plain greek yogurt in your smoothies.
  • mgrjamaica
    mgrjamaica Posts: 1
    I am new to fitness pal but I have been having smoothies or green juice almost every morning for the last 6 months. On the mornings that I do not work out I drink a lower calorie green juice ex. Apple spinach or kale, celery and ginger. I sometimes add a little cayenne to bosst metabolism and always add cinnamon for increased carbohydrate metabolism. I have lost 32 pounds so far.
    Hopefully with the calorie counter and my added exercise program I will reach my goal of 48 lbs for 2013
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    There is nothing wrong with carbs, but (1) make sure that they are not crowding out your necessary intake of protein and fats, and (2) make sure that most of the carbs you do consume are nutritionally dense. From what you describe, the shake fits your calorie goals and is full of nutritionally dense carbs, so it should be fine so long as it is not crowding out protein and fats.
  • padams2359
    padams2359 Posts: 1,093 Member
    I usually have them for dinner. 1 Cup Frozen Blueberries, 1/2 or 1 Banana or 1/2 Frozen Vegetable Pear Pieces, 2 Tbls Non-Fat Plain Greek Yogurt & 1 Cup Skim Milk. Yum. I was given a bushel of pears so I had to do something with them, or lose them. After peeling an cutting, I ended up with 2 gal ziplock bags of pear pieces. The calories do look high, but not bad for a meal. Besides, the program does not show the difference between refined sugar, and sugar from fruits. I have not started using Protein Powder yet. A friend told me that if you are not exercising enough, you may end up gaining weight.
  • igotabulletproofheart
    igotabulletproofheart Posts: 104 Member
    Your body doesn't understand food, it understands macros and micros. If you're afraid of the specific foods, be more afraid of the macros. Count macros and get sufficient amounts of protein.
  • cbroadberry
    cbroadberry Posts: 130 Member
    Im going to keep going with the smoothies, but will look into what my macros currently look like, and amend my intake accordingly. I definitley need to find a way to increase my protein though. SInce i started on the smoothies, im loosing out on the eggs that i used to have for breakfast.

    Started eating lots of extra low fat cottage cheese and tinned tuna, but besides that im pretty much protein-less!!

    Thanks for the advice guys.
  • BeachIron
    BeachIron Posts: 6,490 Member
    Im going to keep going with the smoothies, but will look into what my macros currently look like, and amend my intake accordingly. I definitley need to find a way to increase my protein though. SInce i started on the smoothies, im loosing out on the eggs that i used to have for breakfast.

    Started eating lots of extra low fat cottage cheese and tinned tuna, but besides that im pretty much protein-less!!

    Thanks for the advice guys.

    Then ditch the smoothies and eat protein.
  • MommaKit79
    MommaKit79 Posts: 852
    Im going to keep going with the smoothies, but will look into what my macros currently look like, and amend my intake accordingly. I definitley need to find a way to increase my protein though. SInce i started on the smoothies, im loosing out on the eggs that i used to have for breakfast.

    Started eating lots of extra low fat cottage cheese and tinned tuna, but besides that im pretty much protein-less!!

    Thanks for the advice guys.

    Then I would Definitely look at getting some kind of Protein Powder or something to add to your smoothies...that is what I had to do. :-) And, maybe look at changing some of your other things for some more protein..eggs elsewhere n your day maybe.
  • JoRocka
    JoRocka Posts: 17,525 Member
    There is nothing wrong with carbs, but (1) make sure that they are not crowding out your necessary intake of protein and fats, and (2) make sure that most of the carbs you do consume are nutritionally dense. From what you describe, the shake fits your calorie goals and is full of nutritionally dense carbs, so it should be fine so long as it is not crowding out protein and fats.

    This.


    Be careful- banana's are delicious- but they are very carby too- I love them but they send me over my goals usually. :(
  • lynn1982
    lynn1982 Posts: 1,439 Member
    Im going to keep going with the smoothies, but will look into what my macros currently look like, and amend my intake accordingly. I definitley need to find a way to increase my protein though. SInce i started on the smoothies, im loosing out on the eggs that i used to have for breakfast.

    Started eating lots of extra low fat cottage cheese and tinned tuna, but besides that im pretty much protein-less!!

    Thanks for the advice guys.

    If you're using milk and yogurt in your smoothies, then there's your protein right there. I add protein powder to my smoothies because I don't eat dairy and the protein keeps me full until lunch. I also use water instead of a milk alternative just to cut down on the calories. As others have mentioned, complex carbs (such as those in fruit) are healthy. Unless there's a specific reason why you're cutting carbs, I don't think there's a problem.
  • kelbelll83
    kelbelll83 Posts: 66
    Hi all.

    I have recently started having a smoothie for breakfast after working out. They are great and keep me filled up until lunch time BUT i have found that it is massivley increasing my carb intake.

    Just wanted some advice really...Is it okay because i am eating fruits/curly kale etc. in my smoothies so although its carb-y, it is full of fruits. or should i not be having a smoothie every day? I havnt bought any protein powers, so my smoothies generally consist of frozen fruits, natural yoghurt, curly kale/spinich, shot of apple juice, 1% milk and water.

    If i change to only a few times a week, what breakfasts do you find fill you up for longer?

    thanks

    I also love smoothies, I just recently started incorporating veggies into them so I can try and get more vegetables in. I was worried about the same thing too. They do add a lot of carbs but there the "good" kind of carbs that were supposed to eat and after doing some research about it I'm not worried anymore. I never eat any bad carbs like white bread, refined sugar, etc. If you google "low-cab smoothies there are a lot of good recipes.

    Here's the link to a table with the amount of carbs in each fruit, I found it on Pinterest and use it when making smoothies. Hope it helps :)

    http://pinterest.com/pin/508977195358003717/
  • cbroadberry
    cbroadberry Posts: 130 Member
    That link is great, thanks!

    I only put in about half a bannana, and only becuase they are strong in flavour and cover up the not very nice taste of the curle kale! Ill have a try with other less carby fruits to see if any of those will work!

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