What to Eat After Your Workout So That You Don’t Feel Like Death

You don’t mind working out to look and feel the way you want.  However, you still need to perform in life when the workout it done.  You cannot afford to stare at your computer struggling to find the words for your email response.  You cannot afford to two steps behind when your toddler bravely tries to jump off the couch.

Your post-workout snack can help you train hard to look fierce without compromising everything else.

Listen.  You don’t have to skip your workouts to keep your boss lady card.  Here’s exactly what you need to eat post-workout to avoid feeling like death for the rest of the day.

If  you don’t care about the meal breakdowns and rationale, skip the article and download my Post-Workout Snacks by clicking the button below.

Here’s what to include in your post-workout snacks and why.

Carbohydrates

When you do intense workouts or long bouts of endurance exercise, you deplete blood sugar.  Depending on how hard or long you work, you will also use glycogen, sugar stored in your muscle tissue.  When you don’t replace the burned sugar after a workout, you end up feeling lethargic and unfocused. 

The amount of post-workout carbohydrate you need to recover depends on your workout intensity, performance and appearance goals, and your unique metabolism.  You may need a piece of fruit, a medium sweet potato, or even a tablespoon of honey.  On the other hand, your friend, may recover just fine with carbohydrates from vegetables.  Remember that individuality thing, right?

While consuming carbohydrates after a workout is important, you don’t want to just eat carbohydrates.  Couple your carbohydrate source with a protein source.  With a little experimentation, you can discover the perfect post-workout carbohydrate for your energy levels, performance, and body goals.

Protein

You may think of your workouts as a way to build or tone your muscles; however, they actually cause muscle damage.  Increases in muscle strength, size, and density happens between workouts as a result of recovery.  Consuming protein post-workout is one way to aid muscle recovery, and reduce aches and soreness.

You don’t need to devour a steak dinner to recover from your workouts.  Like post-workout carbohydrate intake, protein intake needs with vary from person to person- mostly based on body size and goals.  However, consuming 15-30g or protein after a workout is a good place to start.

Your choice of protein food should be based on personal preference and ease of digestion.  If you find that your appetite is low after a workout, you may prefer protein powder or Greek yogurt. If you have a more significant appetite post-workout or need to stay satiated for a longer period of time, you may prefer whole food sources like chicken or tuna.

Fat & Fiber

Because the goal of post-workout nutrition is to quickly replenish fuel lost during training and assist muscle recovery, you want to avoid high fiber and high fat post-workout meals. Both fiber and fat help you stay fuller longer by slowing down the break down and use of the food that you eat.  That is the opposite of what you want after a workout.

The amount of fat and fiber that is optimal for your post-workout snack will be individual.  Although, generally speaking, you want to start low to avoid delaying the delivery of fuel to assist in the recovery process. 

There are times when you may want to experiment with slightly higher fat or fiber in your post-workout snack. Those instances are when you feel hungry within less than an hour of eating your post-workout snack or you cannot eat for prolonged periods after your post-workout snacks.

Post- Workout Snack Examples

Tuna & Rice Cakes

Small Chicken Breast & Orange Slices

Plain, Low-Fat Greek Yogurt & Diced Pineapples

You don’t have to choose between killing those workouts and performing well in the rest of your life.  Optimizing your post-workout nutrition can help. You may have to experiment a little; however, the benefit is worth the effort.

Post-workout nutrition is just one factor in post-workout productivity.  If you fix your post-workout nutrition, and still feel bad after your workouts, check out my other post: 5 Reasons You Feel Worse after You Work Out. 

So what do you think of all of this?  Do you feel like death after your workouts?  Which of these post-workout snacks are you going to try first?  Sound off in the comments below.