Should women eat after a workout?

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24

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  • sarabushby
    sarabushby Posts: 784 Member
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    Depending if your goals are weight loss driven or performance driven people may give different answers but for me, training for speed & endurance it's critical to time my nutrition right - before working out have some carbs to fuel the workout, during the workout I have more carbs to fuel my training abs prevent 'hitting the wall', then afterwards it's important to eat protein for muscle repair and carbs for ATP syntheses (to give your cells energy to go again tomorrow!).

    If I did not eat after a workout it would certainly impair my recovery and my ability to train hard again the next day.

    I watch my calories & macros overall throughout the day to ensure I am not overeating which would cause weight gain and to make sure I plan my meals to suit my training.
  • macchiatto
    macchiatto Posts: 2,890 Member
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    I usually work out shortly after breakfast so I don't often eat again right after a workout, but if I'm hungry I will. Like pp's said, meal timing doesn't matter.
  • gabriel270290
    gabriel270290 Posts: 1 Member
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    sarabushby wrote: »
    Depending if your goals are weight loss driven or performance driven people may give different answers but for me, training for speed & endurance it's critical to time my nutrition right - before working out have some carbs to fuel the workout, during the workout I have more carbs to fuel my training abs prevent 'hitting the wall', then afterwards it's important to eat protein for muscle repair and carbs for ATP syntheses (to give your cells energy to go again tomorrow!).

    If I did not eat after a workout it would certainly impair my recovery and my ability to train hard again the next day.

    I watch my calories & macros overall throughout the day to ensure I am not overeating which would cause weight gain and to make sure I plan my meals to suit my training.

    Sara explained it perfectly. As long as you are keeping your cals on point, timing your meals depends exclusively in your goals or the type of training you're doing. Don't loose focus on the main objective, if the goal is to loose weight it is well know that if you train parcially depleted of carbs (fasted) you will enhance fat loss, but that's a science apart and each one of us responds differently.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    gabriel270290 wrote: »
    sarabushby wrote: »
    Depending if your goals are weight loss driven or performance driven people may give different answers but for me, training for speed & endurance it's critical to time my nutrition right - before working out have some carbs to fuel the workout, during the workout I have more carbs to fuel my training abs prevent 'hitting the wall', then afterwards it's important to eat protein for muscle repair and carbs for ATP syntheses (to give your cells energy to go again tomorrow!).

    If I did not eat after a workout it would certainly impair my recovery and my ability to train hard again the next day.

    I watch my calories & macros overall throughout the day to ensure I am not overeating which would cause weight gain and to make sure I plan my meals to suit my training.

    Sara explained it perfectly. As long as you are keeping your cals on point, timing your meals depends exclusively in your goals or the type of training you're doing. Don't loose focus on the main objective, if the goal is to loose weight it is well know that if you train parcially depleted of carbs (fasted) you will enhance fat loss, but that's a science apart and each one of us responds differently.

    Training while or for glycogen depletion may increase acute fat oxidation during the training bout but that doesn't necessarily translate to greater total fat loss over time compared to training fed.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242477/
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
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    jla2425 wrote: »
    http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2016/01/22/eat-before-exercise.aspx
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    I don't understand how this is a gender thing. If someone could explain how digestion/consumption work post-exercise differently between men and women, that would be awesome thanks. I'm just trying to figure out where this "information" could have possibly found any roots.

    OP, eat if you're hungry and it doesn't make you ill. Meal timing is rarely relevant for the average person. IIRC, in the case of elite athletes, that could be different.

    This was the ppst i read

    Thanks. I'll look at it a bit closer, when I get a chance later. At first glance there are two things that make me question the validity of this particular opinion piece. First, the author doesn't have a particularly squeaky clean name to him:

    https://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html

    Second, the sales pitch to his book at the bottom of the page is another clue that he's just there to over-complicate things so that more people are convinced that they need his books to lose weight.
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
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    To the OP I have a few points to add:

    1) I'd consider never going to mercola.com again. He's a complete shill/huckster and he does more harm than good.

    2) Regarding your original question I'd primarily base this on personal preference and adherence and if there truly are ZERO differences to you as far as preferences go I would lean towards positioning some nutrients around training (before/after or both) within a couple of hours on each end of training.

  • cozytimes
    cozytimes Posts: 111 Member
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    if you're hungry or want to eat after a workout, then go ahead. it's your preference.
  • deputy_randolph
    deputy_randolph Posts: 940 Member
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    I eat before, during, after...all the bagels.
  • susanp57
    susanp57 Posts: 409 Member
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    What does gender have to do with this at all?
  • jenilla1
    jenilla1 Posts: 11,118 Member
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    deputy_randolph wrote: »
    I eat before, during, after...all the bagels.

    Oh, you must be from Planet Fitness. ;)
  • ValeriePlz
    ValeriePlz Posts: 517 Member
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    If you are endurance training (triathlon, long distance cycling, long distance running), then you should eat 30-60 minutes after a workout (mix of protein and carbs) for most effective glycogen replacement. I read this in The Women's Guide to Triathlon (authored by USA Triathlon) and a few web articles on endurance training.

    For calorie burn, though, I don't think it matters.
  • thickspo91
    thickspo91 Posts: 14 Member
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    I'm usually starving after a workout so I plan my workout to coincide with a meal.
  • dragon_girl26
    dragon_girl26 Posts: 2,187 Member
    edited April 2017
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    I eat before and after...doesn't matter a lick for weight loss.
  • jla2425
    jla2425 Posts: 67 Member
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    gabriel270290 wrote: »
    sarabushby wrote: »
    Depending if your goals are weight loss driven or performance driven people may give different answers but for me, training for speed & endurance it's critical to time my nutrition right - before working out have some carbs to fuel the workout, during the workout I have more carbs to fuel my training abs prevent 'hitting the wall', then afterwards it's important to eat protein for muscle repair and carbs for ATP syntheses (to give your cells energy to go again tomorrow!).

    If I did not eat after a workout it would certainly impair my recovery and my ability to train hard again the next day.

    I watch my calories & macros overall throughout the day to ensure I am not overeating which would cause weight gain and to make sure I plan my meals to suit my training.

    Sara explained it perfectly. As long as you are keeping your cals on point, timing your meals depends exclusively in your goals or the type of training you're doing. Don't loose focus on the main objective, if the goal is to loose weight it is well know that if you train parcially depleted of carbs (fasted) you will enhance fat loss, but that's a science apart and each one of us responds differently.

    When i tried to do fasted excersise i felt like i was going to be sick and very light headed
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
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    If a woman is hungry she should eat
  • extra_medium
    extra_medium Posts: 1,525 Member
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    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    jla2425 wrote: »
    http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2016/01/22/eat-before-exercise.aspx
    nutmegoreo wrote: »
    I don't understand how this is a gender thing. If someone could explain how digestion/consumption work post-exercise differently between men and women, that would be awesome thanks. I'm just trying to figure out where this "information" could have possibly found any roots.

    OP, eat if you're hungry and it doesn't make you ill. Meal timing is rarely relevant for the average person. IIRC, in the case of elite athletes, that could be different.

    This was the ppst i read

    Thanks. I'll look at it a bit closer, when I get a chance later. At first glance there are two things that make me question the validity of this particular opinion piece. First, the author doesn't have a particularly squeaky clean name to him:

    https://www.quackwatch.org/11Ind/mercola.html

    Second, the sales pitch to his book at the bottom of the page is another clue that he's just there to over-complicate things so that more people are convinced that they need his books to lose weight.

    You can pretty much ignore anything with his name associated with it
  • PaulaWallaDingDong
    PaulaWallaDingDong Posts: 4,641 Member
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    deputy_randolph wrote: »
    jenilla1 wrote: »
    deputy_randolph wrote: »
    I eat before, during, after...all the bagels.

    Oh, you must be from Planet Fitness. ;)

    No, no...I actually bring my own bagels.

    giphy.gif

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