Your post-workout recovery snack can be much more than a reward for a hard effort; choose the right foods for that highly anticipated treat to aid recovery and build strength and fitness.
Why Recovery Food Matters When Eating For Post-Workout Recovery
We know we need to push ourselves to reach our fitness goals, and those tough sessions can leave us tired, mentally and physically. This is because we burn a lot of nutrients during exercise—nutrients that we need to replenish in order to continue to build strength and fitness. Post workout food replaces the carbohydrates that our muscles use during exercise and provides protein we need to repair muscle damage and help build muscle. In other words, if you’re training hard and want to get stronger, recovery eating is an essential part of your routine—helping your body adapt to conditioning demands and getting you ready for the next round.
Post-Workout Nutrition Goals
Eating and drinking the appropriate nutrition after an intense workout is key to recovery.
Post workout nutrition goals include:
- Replenishing glycogen stores: During long or intense workouts, the body burns carbohydrates that are stored in the muscle (glycogen). Eating carbohydrates shortly after you exercise helps the body rebuild glycogen stores. Athletes should consume ½ gram of carbohydrates per pound of body weight, which is 75 grams for a 150 pound athlete.
- Repairing damaged muscle: During exercise, muscle is broken down, and the foods consumed afterward can aid in tissue repair, as well as rebuilding and strengthening muscle.Eating 20-40 grams of high-quality, lean protein after a workout will maximize protein synthesis to repair muscles and enhance muscle growth. When participating in tournament play or multiple workouts in a day which leave less than 2 hours to recover, athletes may want to forego eating protein until after completing the events (or eat a smaller amount). Knowing how your body reacts in these circumstances will help you choose what works best for you.
- Rehydrating: Athletes can lose a large amount of electrolytes and fluid through sweating. For each pound of lost water, an athlete should consume 20-24 ounces of liquid. Water is often sufficient, but sports drinks containing electrolytes and carbohydrates can help replenish what the body has used up during the workout, especially those lasting over 60 minutes. Staying well-hydrated in conjunction with exercise involves drinking fluids before, during, and after working out. To avoid dehydration, the American College of Sports Medicine recommends 16-24 ounces of water 2-3 hours prior to working out, 4-8 ounces every 15-20 minutes during workout, and 16-24 ounces for every pound of lost fluid after workout.
The duration and intensity of your workout will determine your post-workout nutritional needs. You won’t need to think about recovery eating for all workouts—a light to moderate session of less than an hour, for example, may not require refueling; but if you’re doing high-intensity intervals, planning more than one training session per day, or anything rigorous, you’ll benefit from a recovery meal or snack.
When to Eat for Recovery
Because your muscles are thought to be most receptive to nutrients like carbohydrates and protein for about 30 minutes after a hard effort, you want to aim to begin recovery eating within this period. Depending on your training schedule, you may plan another snack or meal a couple hours after activity, but try to have an initial snack within 30 minutes.
Try not to skip your post-workout meal/snack, as doing so habitually can end up sabotaging fitness goals that you’ve worked so hard to attain. In addition, disregarding your workout recovery can lead to overuse sports injuries which can occur when microtears caused by exercise are not given ample time or nutrition to repair and build muscle. These unrepaired microtears can put your body at risk for further damage during your next workout.
While skipping an occasional post-workout meal won’t harm you, developing healthy post-workout habits will help prevent sports injuries and keep you on track toward your health and fitness goals.
Additional benefits of proper post-workout nutrition include:
- Less muscle soreness
- Increased ability to build muscle
- Improved immunity
- Better bone mass
- Improved utilization of body fat
Try These Recovery Food Ideas
We all have our own preferred recovery meals or snacks, depending on what’s appealing after a workout, what doesn’t upset our stomachs, and our nutritional needs (how many carbohydrates and how much protein we’re looking to replenish).
One serving size nutritional protein options include:
- ½ cup beans
- lean beef
- Low-fat string cheese
- 1 oz. skinless, white chicken meat
- ¼ cup cottage cheese
- 1 egg or 2 egg whites
- 1 oz. fish (grilled, baked, or broiled) or canned tuna
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 oz. pork loin or chop
- 1 oz. ground turkey or lean, white meat
- 1/3 cup yogurt (non-fat, low-fat, or Greek)
One serving size healthy carbohydrate options include:
- 1 cup or small piece of fruit
- ½ cup applesauce
- ¼ whole grain bagel or English muffin
- ½ cup beans
- ½ cup whole grain cereal
- 4-6 crackers
- 1 cup skim milk
- ½ cup oatmeal (cooked)
- 1/3 cup whole grain pasta or rice
- ½ cup sweet potato
- 1/3 cup quinoa
- One 6-inch whole grain tortilla
- 1/3 cup yogurt (non-fat, low-fat, or Greek)
The number of servings you need to consume to adequately recover will depend on workout intensity and body weight. Typically, athletes under 175 pounds need 3 servings of protein and 2-6 servings of carbohydrates after strenuous exercise. Athletes over 175 pounds may need up to 5 protein servings and 3-8 servings of carbs to replenish and repair.
Some popular recovery foods among athletes include:
- Turkey sandwiches
- Pasta dishes
- Rice bowls with vegetables and beans or chicken
- A banana and low-fat chocolate milk (full-fat milk may be harder to digest after a workout)
- Whole-grain crackers and peanut butter
- A smoothie with yogurt and frozen berries
- Find the food combinations that make you feel best and enjoy! And don’t forget to also rehydrate during recovery—possibly with a sports drink to replenish electrolytes.
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