If you throw all good eating habits out the window and reward yourself with a snack that defies sound nutrition principles, then you probably just negated many of the good benefits your workout provided you.
Your muscles worked hard and they need proper nutrition to repair and grow stronger.
However there is a little wiggle room.
Let me explain.
When you exercise, your body pulls glycogen from the muscles.
Glycogen is your body's storage form of glucose or sugar, which is the primary fuel for exercise depending on the type and the intensity level.
If you workout at a higher intensity or are involved in anaerobic exercise (short, powerful bursts of energy such as strength training or certain sports), then your body primarily uses glycogen for energy.
If you are involved in low or moderate intensity exercise, your body will use fat along with glycogen for energy.
Once you are done exercising, you must replete the glycogen.
If you don't, you won't have enough energy to do your next workout or the one after that.
Or maybe you will but your performance will be less than ideal and you won't last as long as you might usually do.
So bottom line, you must replete that glycogen! You have a window of opportunity to replete glycogen and ideally it's within 30 minutes.
Within that 30 minutes when you finish exercising, you should have a snack that is comprised of carbohydrate and protein.
Ideally you don't want carbohydrate that is full of fiber because fiber slows digestion.
You actually want the carbs to be digested rather quickly so they get to your muscles.
Protein is important to include as it helps your body digest the carbs and it allows your muscles to absorb the glucose for storage.
A client of mine came to me with 2 goals.
She told me that she wanted to win races (she's a triathlete) and she wanted to lose some weight.
One catch though..
..
she wanted to keep her Starbucks skim caramel macchiato in her diet.
When it comes to weight loss, that might be something that would need to be cut out more frequently than she would have liked.
However because she already exercises regularly, I encouraged her that the ideal time to include the Starbucks coffee would be right after her workouts.
It includes carbohydrates from the syrup and protein from the milk.
Of course there are other snacks that are of better quality nutrition however keeping this coffee in her diet is extremely important to her.
So we made it work to her benefit.
If you like to eat foods that contain a lot of simple sugar, the best time to do that would be after a workout.
You still need to control the portion size however make consumption of these foods work to your advantage.
For example, if you like to eat chocolate, have 1 or 2 small pieces along with some milk as your post workout snack.
A few other suggestions for snacks include: a glass of chocolate milk, cottage cheese and fruit, a cup of yogurt, a toasted bagel with slices of cheese on top, a sandwich with turkey and cheese, or a piece of fruit and a glass of milk.
Of course these are just a few suggestions.
Think about what you like to eat and be sure to get a combination of carbohydrate and protein after your workouts to reward your muscles for their hard work.
You'll notice the difference in your strength and muscle tone for eating a proper snack after exercising.
Your muscles worked hard and they need proper nutrition to repair and grow stronger.
However there is a little wiggle room.
Let me explain.
When you exercise, your body pulls glycogen from the muscles.
Glycogen is your body's storage form of glucose or sugar, which is the primary fuel for exercise depending on the type and the intensity level.
If you workout at a higher intensity or are involved in anaerobic exercise (short, powerful bursts of energy such as strength training or certain sports), then your body primarily uses glycogen for energy.
If you are involved in low or moderate intensity exercise, your body will use fat along with glycogen for energy.
Once you are done exercising, you must replete the glycogen.
If you don't, you won't have enough energy to do your next workout or the one after that.
Or maybe you will but your performance will be less than ideal and you won't last as long as you might usually do.
So bottom line, you must replete that glycogen! You have a window of opportunity to replete glycogen and ideally it's within 30 minutes.
Within that 30 minutes when you finish exercising, you should have a snack that is comprised of carbohydrate and protein.
Ideally you don't want carbohydrate that is full of fiber because fiber slows digestion.
You actually want the carbs to be digested rather quickly so they get to your muscles.
Protein is important to include as it helps your body digest the carbs and it allows your muscles to absorb the glucose for storage.
A client of mine came to me with 2 goals.
She told me that she wanted to win races (she's a triathlete) and she wanted to lose some weight.
One catch though..
..
she wanted to keep her Starbucks skim caramel macchiato in her diet.
When it comes to weight loss, that might be something that would need to be cut out more frequently than she would have liked.
However because she already exercises regularly, I encouraged her that the ideal time to include the Starbucks coffee would be right after her workouts.
It includes carbohydrates from the syrup and protein from the milk.
Of course there are other snacks that are of better quality nutrition however keeping this coffee in her diet is extremely important to her.
So we made it work to her benefit.
If you like to eat foods that contain a lot of simple sugar, the best time to do that would be after a workout.
You still need to control the portion size however make consumption of these foods work to your advantage.
For example, if you like to eat chocolate, have 1 or 2 small pieces along with some milk as your post workout snack.
A few other suggestions for snacks include: a glass of chocolate milk, cottage cheese and fruit, a cup of yogurt, a toasted bagel with slices of cheese on top, a sandwich with turkey and cheese, or a piece of fruit and a glass of milk.
Of course these are just a few suggestions.
Think about what you like to eat and be sure to get a combination of carbohydrate and protein after your workouts to reward your muscles for their hard work.
You'll notice the difference in your strength and muscle tone for eating a proper snack after exercising.