Many people start a diet to achieve the desired results sooner. It is vitally important to know when and how to ingest the nutrients so that our body is at full capacity. When we train hard in the gym, our energy stores are depleted. Therefore, many people wonder what to eat after training.
Here you can learn about the importance of food before, during and after training and what to eat after training. You want to know more?
Nutritional needs
The first thing we have to take into account are macronutrients. For our body to function properly, whatever our goal, it must be well nourished. Whether we want increase muscle mass, move to muscle definition, lose weight or simply be in shape our body cannot lack nutrients. When you want to lose weight, people turn to hypocaloric diets and they end up forgetting that our body is an engine and that fuel is food.
To get energy, our body needs carbohydrates. As they are assimilated in the body, they replenish our glycogen stores. However, after the depletion for the year, the reserves are at zero. This is where you have to ask yourself what to eat after training to recover as well as possible.
However, you have to know which foods are the best to eat after training. Not all foods have the same components or the same speed of assimilation. That is, when our body has trained for one or several hours, it has depleted energy reserves. Therefore, you need to recover as soon as possible. There are foods that are assimilated faster than others. In the case of muscle gain, you may have heard of milk protein or Whey protein. This protein has a rapid assimilation so that our body recovers as soon as possible.
Key moment
All people have a goal for which they train. Whatever the goal, the key moment of the post-workout meal must be respected. If it is done correctly, results can be achieved much sooner than we think.
After training the body has not only lost energy, but also you lose fluid, minerals, and electrolytes. Therefore, it is essential to give him a good recovery.
If we are in the process of gaining muscle, we must eat a meal with a high protein content and simple carbohydrates with a high glycemic index. This is done because the body uses amino acids for the synthesis of new muscle tissue.
If we are looking to lose weight and burn fat, it will be enough to drink plenty of fluids and take care of hydration. Once the exercise is finished, you should wait at least one hour to eat food. When it's time to eat Ideally, choose those with a low glycemic index. In this way we are making the body use fat as an energy reserve and we continue to burn it.
What to eat after training if you want to gain muscle mass
There are many people who want to increase their muscle mass to look better. The volume gain process is very tough. The total kcal that must be consumed have to be above those that we burn. You also have to perform hard routines to gain muscle mass.
In this case, we will train around an hour / hour and a half in the gym in an intense way. After training, we must stimulate our body with an easy-to-eat protein, water and a little sugar to stimulate muscle protein synthesis.
The time in which these foods should be taken is between 30 minutes and two hours after the effort. It is at this time of day that the body cries out for nutrients.
Here are some examples of foods you can eat after training:
- A banana and a glass of milk. Banana has a high glycemic index and some sugars. It is ideal for recovering the spent glycogen. On the other hand, milk is a good source of protein.
- Orange juice with a scoop of protein. The whey protein has a fast assimilation and the oranges will help you to recover the minerals.
- Oatmeal and honey. Oatmeal can be taken with milk to increase the protein dose. Honey is sugar for muscle recovery.
- A scoop of amylopectin and whey protein. Amylopectin comes from waxy cornstarch. It is a fast assimilating carbohydrate.
- A glass of milk and three dried apricots. The latter contain natural sugar to restore muscles.
What to eat after training if you want to burn fat
When you are burning fat, you want to create a caloric deficit that causes the body to consume fat as an energy source. This means that the post workout meal should not include solid foods that provide energy immediately after training. Yes, it is advisable to drink a lot of water.
When the training is over, after about two hours, it is good to eat foods that are not well digested. In this way, we will force our body to continue burning fat as a source of energy.
These are some of those foods:
- 1 apple with skin.
- A skimmed yogurt with fresh fruits.
- 1 glass of skimmed milk with 5 walnuts or 10 almonds.
- 30 grams of sunflower seeds.
- 1 glass of skimmed milk with oatmeal without added sugar.
- 1/2 sandwich of whole wheat bread with low-fat fresh cheese and tomato.
What to eat after training depending on the effort
There are numerous types of effort and duration. Therefore, the type of food that we should eat depends a lot. If we have done a three-hour marathon, we will need water with electrolytes, sugars and minerals to recover potassium, magnesium, sodium and others.
If the effort is about 90 minutes, the ideal is an isotonic drink. We can also take banana or another type of fruit such as watermelon or melon.
I hope that with these tips you can improve the results of your training and achieve the objectives in a shorter time 🙂