What Should You Eat After A Workout?

After your workout, your body rebuilds glycogen stores and regrows those muscle proteins. Eating the right nutrients soon after you exercise can help your body get this done faster. It’s especially important to eat carbs and protein after your workout.

Doing this helps your body:

• decrease muscle protein breakdown
• increase muscle protein synthesis (growth)
• restore glycogen stores
• enhance recovery

Protein helps repair and build muscle

Exercise triggers the breakdown of muscle protein. The rate at which this happens depends on the exercise and your level of training, but even well-trained athletes experience muscle-protein breakdown.

Consuming an adequate amounts of protein throughout the day gives your body the amino acids it needs to repair and rebuild these proteins. It also gives you the building blocks required to build new muscle tissue.

It’s recommended to split up your protein intake across the entire day, at 3-hour intervals. So you’ll want to eat protein as part of small meals spaced throughout the day. Depending on your body weight, 20-40 grams of protein every 3 to 4 hours is recommended.

Studies have shown that ingesting 20–40 grams of protein seems to maximize the body’s ability to recover after exercise.

In addition, eating protein before exercise may decrease the amount you need to eat after without affecting recovery.

One study found that eating protein pre-workout and post-workout has a similar effect on muscle strength, hypertrophy, and body composition changes.

But if you’re specifically aiming to build muscle, eating high quality protein within the first 2 hours after a workout may stimulate your body to create the building blocks for new muscle tissue.

Carbs help with recovery

Your body’s glycogen stores are used as fuel during exercise, and consuming carbs after your workout helps replenish them.

The rate at which your glycogen stores are used depends on the activity. For example, endurance sports cause your body to use more glycogen than resistance training. For this reason, if you participate in endurance sports (running, swimming, etc.), you might need to consume more carbs than someone engaging in weightlifting.

Eating a high carb diet of 3.6-5.5 grams of carbs per pound (8-12 grams per kilogram [kg]) of body weight each day can help you maximize your glycogen stores.

Furthermore, insulin secretion, which promotes glycogen synthesis, is better stimulated when carbs and protein are consumed at the same time.

Therefore, consuming carbs and protein after exercise can maximize protein and glycogen synthesis

Early studies found benefits from consuming the two in a ratio of 3 to 1 (carbs to protein). For example, that’s 40 grams of protein and 120 grams of carbs

When rapid recovery is necessary (under 4 hours), current recommendations suggest a similar ratio. Specifically, you can help restore glycogen faster by consuming 0.4 grams of carbs per pound of body weight (0.8 grams of carbs per kg) with 0.1-0.2 grams of protein per pound of body weight (0.2-0.4 grams of protein per kg) during each hour of recovery

Recommendations for carb intake are targeted to the needs of endurance athletes. If you’re focused on resistance training, you may need less.

What’s more, most studies on this topic involve only male athletes, so it’s unclear whether female athletes may have different intake needs.

Fat may provide some benefits

There is not enough evidence to say whether you should limit fat intake after a workout 

Many people think that eating fat after a workout slows digestion and inhibits the absorption of nutrients. While fat might slow down the absorption of your post-workout meal, it may not reduce its benefits. For example, a study showed that whole milk was more effective at promoting muscle growth after a workout than skim milk

Moreover, another study showed that muscle glycogen synthesis was not affected even when ingesting a high fat meal (45% energy from fat) after working out 

Having some fat in your post-workout meal may not affect your recovery. But more studies are needed on this topic.

Carbs

• sweet potatoes
• chocolate milk
• quinoa and other grains
• fruits (such as pineapple, berries, banana, kiwi)
• rice cakes
• rice
• oatmeat
• potatoes
• pasta
• whole grain bread
• edameme

 

• Protein
• animal- or plant-based
•  protein bar
• eggs
• Greek yogurt
• cottage cheese
• salmon
• chicken
• protein bar
• tuna

Fats

• avocadoes
• nuts
• nut butters
• seeds
• trail mix (dried fruits and nuts) 
• Sample post-workout meals and snacks

Combinations of the foods above can create great meals that give you all the nutrients you need after exercise.

Here are a few examples of quick and easy meals to eat after your workout:

• grilled chicken with roasted vegetables and rice
• egg omelet with avocado spread on whole-grain toast
• salmon with sweet potato
• tuna salad sandwich on whole grain bread
• tuna and crackers
• oatmeal whey protein, banana, and almonds
• cottage cheese and fruits
• pita and hummus
• rice crackers and peanut butter
• whole-grain toast and almond butter
• cereal with dairy or soy milk
• Greek yogurt, berries, and granola
• protein shakes and banana
• quinoa bowl with sweet potatoes, berries, and pecans
• whole grain crackers with string cheese and fruit

Make sure to drink plenty of water

It is important to drink plenty of water before and after your workout. Being properly hydrated ensures the optimal internal environment for your body to maximize results.

During exercise, you lose water and electrolytes through sweat. Replenishing these after a workout can help with recovery and performance.

It’s especially important to replenish fluids if your next exercise session is within 12 hours. Depending on the intensity of your workout, water or an electrolite drink are recommended to replenish fluid losses.