The Why
Why would I want to put calories in my body immediately following my workout, especially if I am trying to lose weight?
Fact
Whether your performance goals are fat loss, muscle gain, toning, or all the above, optimizing the Recovery period that follows your workout is critical to achieving your goals. Nutrition is 80% of the battle and the key to your success!
Anatomy 101
Eating a balanced diet of Proteins, Carbs and Fat supplies your body with the necessary energy you need to perform all your tasks throughout the day. Carbs are broken down into a simple sugar – Glucose and is stored in your muscles and liver as Glycogen. Glycogen is the primary fuel used by your body throughout the day and during, resistance or aerobic sessions lasting less than 2 hours. Since the human body can only store between 200- 500 grams of Glycogen (800 –2000 calories), it is entirely possible to burn through most, or all your Glycogen in a 60–90 minute session of intense exercise. Depleting Glycogen stores during a workout causes your body to go into a Catabolic (muscle-wasting) state, which causes your own muscle to breakdown to feed your body’s elevated metabolism and need for energy. Over time, the net result is a higher Fat to Lean muscle tissue ratio. This decrease in muscle lowers your metabolic rate and potential to store more energy, making it more and more difficult to burn calories and lose fat.
Did You Know?
If you haven’t stored enough Glycogen prior to your workout, your body will convert its body Proteins (muscle) into Glucose to supply the energy it needs to sustain your workout. Less muscle equals less energy and endurance for your workout.
The Solution
By drinking a high glycemic based drink immediately following a workout, preferably a 2/3 to 1 ratio of Carbs to Protein respectively, all sugars are shunted directly to your muscle fibers, not to your hips or those pesky love handles. Remember, Glycogen is stored in your muscles not in Fat. Once in your muscle cells, Recovery can begin and you can begin to rebuild a stronger, leaner you. Even if you are just trying to burn Fat, replacing the sugars that you just burned enables your body to keep your metabolism humming by keeping your hard-earned muscle.
To optimize Recovery, nutrition is critical. Consuming an equal amount of calories relative to total calories expended during your workout period is the essential first step to Recovery.
Eat Well!
