Pre and Post Workout Meals
For your pre-workout (about an hour before), you want a mix of complex carbohydrates and protein. The complex carbohydrates will give you fuel throughout your workout so you don't burnout and the protein will go straight to your hard working muscles, making sure they don't get broken down for energy if your glycogen stores get too low.
An example meal would be oatmeal, non-fat Greek Yogurt, and a half scoop of vanilla protein powder, or egg whites if you don't have protein powder.
For your post-workout (within an hour of exercise), you want a mix of protein and simple carbohydrates. The simple carbs will be released into the bloodstream quickly, restoring your depleted glycogen levels so the body doesn't break down your muscle tissue for energy. The protein is going to get straight to work on your fatigued muscles.
An example meal would be a banana protein smoothie which would include a banana, protein powder or non-fat Greek Yogurt, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cottage cheese and 1 tbsp of almond butter.
NOTE: Do not consume a lot of fats after a workout. Imagine all your muscle tissue and fat stores are open following exercise and the last thing you want to do is load them up with FAT. A little bit is OK especially if it's a healthy fat and the source provides protein as well (like almond butter), just don't go over board. Fat also slows digestion (9 calories per gram of fat), which you don't want when you are trying to restore energy stores and drive protein into your muscle quickly.
For your pre-workout (about an hour before), you want a mix of complex carbohydrates and protein. The complex carbohydrates will give you fuel throughout your workout so you don't burnout and the protein will go straight to your hard working muscles, making sure they don't get broken down for energy if your glycogen stores get too low.
An example meal would be oatmeal, non-fat Greek Yogurt, and a half scoop of vanilla protein powder, or egg whites if you don't have protein powder.
For your post-workout (within an hour of exercise), you want a mix of protein and simple carbohydrates. The simple carbs will be released into the bloodstream quickly, restoring your depleted glycogen levels so the body doesn't break down your muscle tissue for energy. The protein is going to get straight to work on your fatigued muscles.
An example meal would be a banana protein smoothie which would include a banana, protein powder or non-fat Greek Yogurt, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, cottage cheese and 1 tbsp of almond butter.
NOTE: Do not consume a lot of fats after a workout. Imagine all your muscle tissue and fat stores are open following exercise and the last thing you want to do is load them up with FAT. A little bit is OK especially if it's a healthy fat and the source provides protein as well (like almond butter), just don't go over board. Fat also slows digestion (9 calories per gram of fat), which you don't want when you are trying to restore energy stores and drive protein into your muscle quickly.
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