What Do You Eat First After A Workout?

What Do You Eat First After A Workout?

Most athletes pay fairly good attention to what they eat before exercising, but afterward for some, well, it’s almost as if ‘anything goes.”

Eating the right foods and beverages after your workout does more than just replenish your draining fuel supply. It helps your body get ready for your next round of activity, too.

What do you eat first after a workout?
What do you eat first after a workout?

Your body needs protein

A bit of protein is important in recovery, too, since it helps to stimulate muscle repair and growth after you’ve been working out. It doesn’t take much—about 10 grams of protein or so will do.

The ideal post-exercise meal or snack contains a combination of healthy carbs and protein. This is why athletes often turn to foods like a sandwich on whole grain bread, a dish of yogurt and fruit, a protein shake made with milk and fruit, or specially formulated recovery beverages.

What to drink

Water is fine as a fluid replacement. Since you’ll be eating afterward, you’ll need to pick up carbohydrates, and sodium (and likely some potassium) from your foods. For those who don’t normally drink high-calorie liquids, this is the one time they might drink fruit juices.

Meal timing is important

When you exercise, your muscles become very sensitive to the nutrients that are available. And that sensitivity lasts for a limited amount of time. That’s why many athletes who want to optimize muscle recovery pay attention to this “metabolic window.” That’s a time period of about 30-45 minutes after exercise, during which you should try to eat your carbs and protein.

Replenish fluids and salts

When you exercise, sweating causes you to lose important body salts, like sodium and potassium, which need to be replaced. Many advanced athletes get in the habit of weighing themselves before and after exercise, in order to figure out how much fluid needs to be replaced. For each pound that you lose during activity, you should drink about 2-3 cups of liquid (or about one liter of fluid per kilo of weight loss).