workout recovery food - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

bluehen94 · 02-27-2005, 02:23 PM

I know its best to have a liquid drink (such as water and whey) after a workout since that is most quickly absorbed by the body...however I know its also important to refuel with some carbs. My question is what would be best to add to this workout drink to have some carbs too and how many carbs would be sufficient enough to refuel the body? Also would this amount be different after a morning workout versus after an evening workout when you will go to bed soon after?

Thanks for the input!

Naxis · 02-27-2005, 03:50 PM

Post workout shakes can be whey and white sugar, since you want those high GI carbs to get soaked into the muscles as soon as possible. The basic formula is 25% bodyweight in grams of protein and 50% bodyweight in grams of carbs. When cutting, I'll drop the carbs down to about 30%. I wouldn't change the the shake regardless of time of day, although you might want to go with the lower carb count if you're going to bed 1-2 hours after training. But do not cut it out entirely.

bluehen94 · 02-27-2005, 05:59 PM

That seems like an awful lot of calories roughly 400 if I weigh around 140. I don't think I would want to eat this much so close to bed. I think I've been going with 20-25 protein, 20 carb grams, 1-2 fat. You think that is too little?

bluehen94 · 02-27-2005, 06:00 PM

OK, maybe 300, still a lot though.

Naxis · 02-27-2005, 08:13 PM

That should still be fine. Since you're not really trying to build much muscle, you don't need to be too worried about getting so many calories in. As long as you have some protein and some carbs right afterward to prevent muscle breakdown and start repair, you'll be fine. Your current ratio should work just dandy.