If you’ve ever felt sluggish halfway through a workout or found yourself overly sore the next day, there’s a good chance your overall nutrition, or the timing of your meals, needs improvement. What you eat before and after exercise plays a big role in how you perform, how you recover, and your overall energy levels. It’s easy to get lost in all the advice available online, but it’s not that difficult. Follow these simple rules and get the most out of every session.
Let’s start with the basics: before your workout, your body needs energy to move. That energy is provided in the form of carbohydrates. These can come from foods like oatmeal, rice, pasta or fruit. After your workout, you need a more complete meal with a combination of carbohydrates, protein and fats to refuel your body, and let your muscles recover. Think of meals like chicken wraps, salmon with sweet potato, or Greek yoghurt with fruit. The amount of food you need to eat depends on the intensity of your workout.
Pre-workout
Ideally, try to eat one to two hours before your workout. If you have time, a balanced meal with protein, healthy carbs and a bit of fat works best. If you’re short on time, some easy to digest carbs are a better choice. Think of a banana, or a small handful of nuts with dried fruit. Why the focus on carbs? They help replenish your glycogen stores, which are your body’s primary energy source during most types of exercise. Some protein in your pre-workout meal also supports your performance, as well as muscle recovery afterward. It’s best to avoid meals that are too high in fat or fiber right before training, as these can slow digestion and leave you feeling heavy or uncomfortable.
Post-workout
After your workout, your focus should be on re-fueling your body. Muscles that were stressed during exercise, specifically weightlifting, begin to recover, rebuild, and grow stronger. What you eat can help speed up this process and reduce soreness or fatigue the next day. Some older studies suggest that you should eat within 30 to 45 minutes after a workout, but those are slowly getting debunked. In more recent studies, it is suggested that a meal several hours after your workout is still beneficial, as the muscular response to protein is wider than previously thought.
A good post-workout meal should include protein to support muscle repair and carbohydrates to restore energy, as well as some fats. This doesn’t have to be complicated. Toast with scrambled eggs and a salad, pasta with chicken and veggies, or cottage cheese with fruit and some honey can do the job.
Stay hydrated!
Drinking enough water before, during and after your workout is just as important as the food you eat. You lose fluid and electrolytes through sweat, and you need to replenish those fluids to keep performing well. Did you know that a fluid loss of only 2% can already result in a reduction in exercise performance? It is recommended that you drink 500-600 ml of water in the two to three hours before your workout, and 200-300 ml during your workout. After, try to refill the amount of weight you lost during the workout.