When and What you have to eat ?
Eating after a workout aids in muscle repair and replenishes nutrients that have been lost,
making it an essential part of your workout. The easiest way to support your muscle after a workout is to fuel them with the right nutrition,
which enables you to recover stronger. During an exercise session, you tear your muscle tissues, sweat off necessary electrolytes, and decrease your glycogen storage.
It is essential to educate yourself on when to eat, the best foods to eat after a workout,
and how long to wait to eat depending on the kind of workout you did. Following these tips can help.
Why Post workout meal is essential ?
Workouts that require a lot of time or are difficult are known to starve your muscles of fuel.
But if you’re like most people, you might not be aware that skipping meals after a workout can cause your body to be out of balance.
In addition to making you feel sluggish and depleted, this practice can also create an internal environment that makes
it difficult to build muscle or repair tissue that has been damaged by exercise.
Eat enough macronutrients before, during, and especially after exercise as part of post-workout nutrition.
Consuming more than 1.2 grams of carbohydrates per kilogram of weight per hour is sufficient, according to research,
to replenish glycogen stores without the addition of protein.
However, if you consume less than 1.2 grams of carbohydrates per hour,
you should supplement with 0.2 to 0.5 grams of protein per kilogram of weight per hour.
To get the most out of muscle protein synthesis, you need this much protein or carbohydrates.
It should be noted that endurance exercise will acquire more protein than carbohydrates in a day,
on the other hand resistance exercise will require more protein.
To maximize muscle protein synthesis, it is recommended to consume 20 to 40 grams of protein
every three to four hours and 30 to 40 grams of casein in the evening.
What You Should Eat After Your Workout?
It doesn’t have to be difficult to prepare a meal for after a workout.
The most important part is planning your meals so that you know what you’ll eat and drink after your workout and have a plan in place.
Your post-workout meal should generally consist of water, carbohydrates, and lean proteins. What you should do after a workout is outlined in the following guidelines. However, you’ll want to try different things to see what works best for you.
Protein consumption
The National Academy of Sports Medicine recommends that exercisers consume 20 grams of protein
following a workout to increase glycogen resynthesis.
You could calculate this dose to be closer to your weight if you were interested in the finer points of protein consumption.
Add up your weight by multiplying it by between 0.25 and 0.3 grams per kilogram or 0.11 and 0.14 grams per pound.
For instance, your post-workout protein intake may range from 20 to 24 grams if you weigh 176 pounds.
What You Want to Realize About Protein Sources
When choosing a protein supplement, look for the words “NSF Certified for Sport” or another third-party testing certification on the label.
Whey proteins can enter the blood in about 15 to 20 minutes. This implies the enhancement has not been spiked with counterfeit fixings to meet how much protein listed.6
Vegans can consume various plant sources to accomplish the fundamental measure of protein post exercise (around 20 grams) and have the option to help their muscle fix. Wheat or rice and beans or peas could be a good combination.
6 Whole foods like egg whites, chicken, beef, pork, turkey, and tofu can help you recover from a workout.
Refill Fluids
For every pound of body weight lost through exercise, the University Health Services at the University of California, Berkeley recommends drinking 16 to 24 ounces of fluid. According to the American College of Sports Medicine, your body can lose more than a quart of water in an hour of exercise.8 Because everyone’s bodies and workouts are different, it is impossible to recommend a standard fluid replacement. Water is the most natural fluid for hydration.
However, if you exercise for more than two hours or engage in an intense workout, you should consume an electrolyte-rich beverage, preferably a mixture of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride. This replaces the minerals lost when you sweat.9 Here are some extra hydration tips.
If your beverage contains sodium, rehydration may occur more quickly. This doesn’t have to come from a games drink.8
Assuming games drinks are excessively weighty for you post exercise, coconut water is an ideal other option. In an examination study, coconut water was found to elevate rehydration with practically zero contrast when contrasted and sports drinks.10
Gauging yourself when you work out can assist you with realizing how much water you lost, permitting you to more readily follow your hydration. This is especially useful for intense workouts or when exercising in higher temperatures.8 You can check your level of hydration by monitoring your urine. Unless you’ve taken a supplement in the past few hours, it should be pale yellow.
Protein fats and carbs
Each macronutrient—protein, carbohydrates, and fat—is necessary for your body to recover after a workout. That’s why having the right mix is so important.
It’s also important when you eat that you eat them. For more than 40 years, researchers in sports nutrition have investigated the timing of nutrients. Experts today make recommendations based on a mix of older and newer studies.
Protein helps in muscle building
The breakdown of muscle protein is sparked by exercise. Even well-trained athletes experience muscle protein breakdown,
though the rate at which this occurs varies depending on the exercise and level of training.
Your body gets the amino acids it needs to repair and rebuild these proteins if you eat enough protein throughout the day.
Additionally, it provides you with the necessary building blocks to construct new muscle.
It is suggested that you spread out your protein intake over the course of the day at intervals of three hours.
Therefore, you should eat protein in small amounts spread out throughout the day. 20-40 grams of protein should be consumed every 3 to 4 hours, depending on your body weight.
According to studies, the body’s capacity to recover from exercise is enhanced when 20–40 grams of protein are consumed.
Additionally, consuming protein prior to exercise may reduce the amount of food required afterward without compromising recovery.
One investigation discovered that eating protein pre-exercise and post-exercise likewise affects muscle strength, hypertrophy, and body piece changes.
However, consuming high-quality protein within the first two hours after a workout may encourage your body to produce
the building blocks for new muscle tissue if your goal is specifically to build muscle.
Carbs helps in recovery
When you exercise, the glycogen stores in your body are used as fuel, and eating carbs afterward helps replenish them.
Depending on the activity, your glycogen stores are used up at a different rate. Your body, for instance, uses more glycogen during endurance sports than during resistance training. Therefore, if you engage in endurance sports like swimming, running, etc., You might need to eat more carbohydrates than someone who lifts weights.
You can increase the amount of glycogen stored in your body by following a high-carbohydrate diet with 3.6-5.5 grams of carbs per pound (8-12 grams per kilogram [kg] of body weight per day.
Additionally, when carbs and protein are consumed simultaneously, insulin secretion, which aids in glycogen synthesis, is enhanced.
Therefore, following exercise, carbs and protein can increase protein and glycogen synthesis to their full potential.
A three-to-one (carbs to protein) ratio of the two was found to be beneficial in early studies. For instance, that is 40 grams of protein and 120 grams of carbs.
According to current recommendations, a similar ratio should be used when quick recovery is needed (less than four hours). In particular, during each recovery hour, you can consume 0.4 grams of carbs per pound of body weight (0.8 grams of carbs per kg) and 0.1-0.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight (0.2-0.4 grams of protein per kg).
The requirements of endurance athletes are the focus of the carbohydrate intake recommendations. You may require less if you focus on resistance training.
Additionally, the majority of studies on this topic only focus on male athletes, making it unclear whether female athletes might have different dietary requirements.
Fats provides somes healthy benefits
There is insufficient evidence to recommend limiting fat consumption after exercise.
After working out, many people believe that eating fat slows digestion and prevents nutrients from being absorbed. Although fat may slow the digestion of your meal after a workout, it may not diminish its benefits. For instance, a study demonstrated that whole milk was more effective than skim milk at encouraging muscle growth after exercise.
Besides, another review showed that muscle glycogen union was not impacted in any event, while ingesting a high fat dinner (45% energy from fat) subsequent to working out.
Your recovery may not be harmed by including some fat in your post-workout meal. However, more examinations are required on this theme.
