I’m the first to admit that I’m a gym rat. To me, it’s relatively easy to sweat for about an hour while watching the Today Show, and then sail on through my day filled with those happy workout-given endorphins.
The hard part for me, on the other hand, is deciding what to eat after my workout. I don’t always fit in the time to eat between the gym and the office, and sometimes I grab a greasy croissant on the way. Good post-workout food choices don’t come naturally to me. But I put a lot of effort into those grueling boot-camp classes and morning runs, so why not maximize that effort by filling up the right way? With all the hype out there—low-carb, low-calorie, high-protein, detox—what’s really the best, trend-free choice? What should the goal be (other than channeling Jessica Biel’s physique) when building a meal immediately after a workout?
Fueling Up Right Matters
According to Pam Shawver, a Denver-based nutritionist, “You need to eat right immediately after … and that meal should contain specific elements.” When it comes to maximizing all that hard work we put in, whether it’s a spinning class, weightlifting, or a yoga session, the most important meal we eat is the one we gobble right after we exercise. Giving muscles the right food—at the right time—helps them build that tone that we all lust after. And this doesn’t mean egg whites and protein shakes (so keep reading!).
After a strenuous workout of any kind, we’ve sweated out fluid, depleted our energy stores, and created small tears in our muscles that need repairing. Sounds wrong, but those micro-tears are actually good for us; it’s how working out makes our bodies stronger. When the muscles repair themselves, they rebuild stronger. This is known as the catabolic state, and an optimal post-workout meal will bring us back to our pre-workout, or anabolic, stage where energy stores are refilled and broken-down tissue is repaired.
We make up for the lost fluid by drinking water. But we’re still left with depleted energy levels—technically referred to as our glycogen stores—and muscles that need repairing. How do we best address these needs? Our glycogen stores are sort of like a car’s gas tank—we need to refill it properly so the body’s ready to go next time we hop behind the wheel. “The best way to do this is to eat carb-rich foods within thirty minutes of working out,” says Kim Geisel, a Los Angeles–based personal trainer. “The body is starving for nutrients during this window of time.”
