Are You Fueling Your Body Properly After Exercise!?

Bottom Line

You go to the gym, go for a run, go for a swim, go do some form of exercise. You say to yourself I am not hungry so I am not going to eat anything before. Afterwards you are thinking to yourself, well I am still not hungry, so I’ll just wait till I get hungry to eat. But sadly, that is the worst thing you can do for your body. Making sure you are properly fueling yourself is key to building muscle, replenishing energy lost, having a successful bout of exercise and growing your overall strength.

 

Why It Matters

Before exercise it is important to fuel your body. The reason being is you want to have some energy added to help prevent crashes during your activity. Now you can exercise on a fasted state and a lot of people do this. But if you know you are going to have a high intensity workout where you need the energy, I highly recommend fueling. Something light such as a glass of orange juice, a granola bar or a banana. Or if you know your body then do what works for you, if it isn’t broken don’t try fixing it. 

But if you are not eating properly after you lift you are not doing your body any good. There is something called your anabolic window. This is the period of time after a workout where it is imperative you get fuel into your body. Within this time period you are most sensitive to nutrients which has a direct factor on a system call anabolism. This is where your body is growing and getting stronger, think of it like helping to build more muscle! There is a rule called the 25 – 50 – 30 rule, 25 grams of protein, 50 grams of carbs, within 30 minutes of working out. This is the golden ratio to replenishing carbs used and getting in necessary protein to grow stronger.

 

Next steps

Now that we know this, what should people do to help benefit from this window? Try to have something ready for after your workout. Either a protein shake that has this macronutrient break down or bringing solid food that consists of this. This could be a protein bar, a banana, and some dried fruit. This is not the exact thing you need to eat after a workout, anything can fit into this rule. Just make sure you plan accordingly to have that meal ready to go. Use whatever works best for you, that is the beauty of this rule. It is not food specific; it is macronutrient and timing specific.

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