Nutrition After Training- The Key To A Well Defined, Toned Body

By Author: Brett MacPherson
Total Articles: 8
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Your post workout meal is often the most important of your day. This is because when you finish a hard workout session, Your body enters a tissue breakdown stage, where your muscles energy stores are low and your bodies stress hormones excessively breakdown your muscle tissue. This is not a good state to be in for a

long period, but it is easily solved by eating an easily digested meal as soon as you can after your workout, which then stimulates a repair phase in your body. An ideal post workout meal should contain easy to digest carbs to replace the muscle's energy stores, as well as some good quality protein to help muscle repair. The surge of energy from this type of meal allows the nutrients from your meal to go straight into the muscles where it is needed to help with the repair process.

300 to 500 calories is usually ideal for a post workout session meal. For example, a 55kg female may only need a 300-calorie meal, whereas a 90kg male may need a 500-calorie post workout meal. Your post workout meal may contain more nutritious carbohydrates than you would normally eat as this allows for faster absorption ...
... into the muscles. The other meals in your day should always contain some healthy fats, however with your post workout meal keep the fat to a minimum, as fat slows down the absorption of the meal, which is not ideal after a workout.

When you choose what you will make for your post workout meal, it is important to know that you often do not need the expensive post training supplements, advertised in the magazines, who often also sell them, with nutrition eating natural real food is always preferred. Healthy sources of quickly absorbed carbs include:

- Frozen bananas
- Pineapples
- Raisins
- Honey

These are all great for ushering the fuel into your muscles and for starting the repair process.

As for healthy protein sources look for a good quality whey protein and/or some good quality yogurt. Here are some ideas for great post workout smoothies that will start your recovery process:

Chocolate Banana - mix together 1 cup water, ½ cup skim milk, one and a half frozen bananas, 2 tbsp of organic maple syrup, and 30 grams of chocolate whey protein powder - 38 g prot, 72 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 440 calories.

Pineapple Vanilla - blend together 1 cup water, ½ cup vanilla yogurt, one cup of frozen pineapples, 2 tbsp honey (ideally raw and organic), and 30 grams of vanilla whey protein powder - 35 g prot, 71 g carb, 0.5 g fat, 425 calories.

If your looking to burn fat, know that your post workout meals should be very different from your other meals over the day. Your post workout meal should have quickly absorbed carbohydrates, easily digested protein and only a small amount of fat, on the other hand all of your other meals throughout

the day should be comprised of low glycemic index, slowly absorbed carbohydrates, slow release proteins, and more healthy fats. These are powerful strategies for creating a lean body with minimal body fat. Another benefit of the post workout meal is this is when you can satisfy your sweet cravings, by eating good quality sweet carbohydrates without it going straight to your belly. Instead, it all goes straight to the muscles!

Enjoy!