Exercise is stressful to your body. During exercise, you increase the demand on your muscles and organs to perform higher intensity activity. To fuel this activity and keep moving, your body burns calories for energy. Once you have completed your exercise session, your body needs to recover and consuming the proper amount of calories after your workout is essential.
Postexercise Nutrition
Food is fuel and properly fueling your body helps it function at an optimal level. In fact, proper nutrient timing helps repair damaged tissue, restores physiologic function, replenishes your glycogen stores and promotes muscle growth, according to Dr. Len Kravitz of the University of New Mexico. Inadequate postexercise calorie consumption can lead to fatigue, muscle soreness and overtraining by leading to faster recovery and removal of waste products that result from strenuous exercise.
How Much to Eat
How many calories you consume after your workout depends on what your health and fitness goals are. To maintain your body weight because you are healthy, you should replace the calories burned during exercise. If you need to gain weight, you should consume more calories than you burned. If you want to lose weight, you should consume slightly less calories than you burned during exercise, according to Nancy Clark, MS, RD. Determine your specific health and fitness goals and monitor caloric burn during exercise to eat adequate amounts after you exercise.
What to Eat
A review of the scientific research on nutrient timing by Dr. Kravitz points out that a 3:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein appears to be optimal for postexercise nutrition. This means that for every gram of protein you consume, you should also eat 3 g of carbohydrates. Each gram of carbohydrate and protein is 4 calories. Chocolate milk or a home-made fruit smoothie made with yogurt or milk are both suitable choices. Some people crave solid foods after a workout so a turkey sandwich may be more appealing. It depends on your body and how you feel after you exercise.
When to Eat
If you are exercising less than one hour, your regular diet is probably adequate for meeting your nutritional needs. However, if you are exercising over one hour or are exercising at a very high intensity, you want to eat within 45 minutes of finishing your workout. This will help replace depleted muscle glycogen as well as supply necessary protein for muscle recovery. Depending on your goals, you may want to ensure that you eat another meal within two to four hours of completing your workout to keep your body fueled and speed recovery.
References
- "ACSM's Guidelines for Exercise Testing and Prescription"; American College of Sports Medicine; 2010
- "Nancy Clark's Sports Nutrition Guidebook"; Nancy Clark, MS, RD; 2008
- University of New Mexico: Nutrient Timing
- National Council on Strength and Fitness: Post-Exercise Energy Replenishment
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