What to Eat to Fuel Your Workouts

So you've just completed another so-so workout, now you feel drained and worse than before, but your supposed to feel drained after a workout right? Many times a proper diet can provide the extra boost your body needs to keep going after exercise, but what to eat?

Many will tell you, especially in many gym circles, that the post workout meal is the most important meal of the day. This is in fact can not be more wrong. Your pre-workout meal is vital to your performance, without proper nutrition you may experience hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) and its symptoms such as fatigue and light-headedness. What you eat, and when you eat, depends on the intensity and specificity of the exercise. For moderately hard exercise one can consume.5 grams of carbohydrate per pound of body weight an hour before, or 2 grams four hours before exercise (ACSM, ADA, and Dietitians of Canada 2000). In a 150 pound man this translates to anywhere from 75-300 grams of carbohydrates. This can mean eating a bagel covered with some peanut butter, a bowl of cereal with milk and a sliced banana, or yogurt. However the foods are both situational and preferential, if it works for you do not feel inclined to change it.

This first 30 minutes following exercise are also critical to success. In this time your body has depleted its' glycogen stores within the muscle, and without replenishment, you stand to lose anything gains made. For an endurance athlete can mean decreased performance in the coming practices, for a bodybuilder this can spell loss of muscle mass. A small meal with anywhere from 100-300 calories immediately following exercise is all that is needed. A popular choice in chocolate milk. There are simple carbohydrates (sugars) that the body can immediately use, as well as protein to help repair. A full meal with complex carbohydrates and protein should be eaten approximately 2 hours after exercise.

So those of you looking to increase performance in a competitive environment, or even those looking to get the most out of their workouts, keep these guidelines in mind.