Men’s Chow Down: Watch What You Eat Before and After Your Workout

Are you eating properly before and after your workouts? To stay healthy and fit, it’s a must for all men who work out – whether at the gym, or in the comfort of their own homes – to pay attention to proper nutrition.

What You Eat Before and After Your Workout

>

Admittedly, there’s always the temptation to eat like a bird pre-workout, then gorge heavily or to chow down after a workout. But temptation doesn’t need to be given in to. You can resist temptation. What’s important is for you to carefully choose what to eat all the time, but most especially, before and after you exert a lot of effort in working out.

Lean Muscle

It’s essential to watch what you eat before and after workouts for the following reasons:

• Before workouts, you need to have enough energy in your body to be able to cope with rigorous cardio and weight training.
• After workouts, you need to have sufficient nutrients for the repair and recovery of your muscles.

You workout because you want to get rid of excess fat and build lean muscle. You can’t do both if you don’t watch what you eat.

Before Your Workout

Energy and resistance to stress and fatigue are what you need most before starting your workout. You can get these from carbohydrates and protein. However, since it is not advisable to eat a heavy carb and protein meal (i.e., steak and potatoes) immediately before your workout as it could get chucked up when you start your routine, it’s best to get your protein requirement by having a protein shake. You also need some complex carbohydrates, as these will fuel you up. A half cup of oatmeal would be good. If you can add a small banana, so much the better.

Remember that you have to give some time for the food to settle down inside you before you start working out. Otherwise, you might feel nauseous. If you are not used to taking anything in before working out, start conditioning yourself to adjust to it. You should never do a workout without any energy reserves within you, as that could be the cause of a host of health problems later on.

Muscle Recovery and Repair

After a proper workout, your muscles are sore, and you are generally tired. That’s your body signaling you that you need to take in the right kind of nutrients for recovery of your energy and the repair of your muscles.

The biggest mistake that you can make at this point would be to chug down a hefty energy drink. Sure, all that caffeine and sugar may give you the boost that you’re craving for, but if you use an energy drink for that, then you will just have wasted your time in working out.

Instead of doing that, drink some water instead. Slowly, don’t gulp it all in, or your stomach might revolt. It is important to get rehydrated after a workout. Then, after a few minutes, you can eat something delicious that has a lot of protein, carbs and potassium, such as a peanut butter-banana sandwich. Use wheat bread, and you’re good to go!