Post-Training Nutrition: What Should I Eat After Training?
October 2024
By Giulia Angelico, Sports Dietitian
The period following a workout is vital for promoting recovery and supporting your body’s adaptations to exercise.
Proper fueling after training helps sustain energy for future sessions, minimises fatigue, and enhances overall performance, ensuring that each training session maximises your potential results.
Why Is Post-Training Nutrition Important?
Muscle Recovery
Intense exercise causes microscopic tears in muscles. Consuming the right nutrients post-workout aids in repairing and strengthening these tissues, supporting faster recovery and reducing the risk of injury.
Refuel Energy Stores
During exercise, your body depletes glycogen (stored carbohydrates) to fuel activity. Glycogen is especially important during high-energy activities like running, cycling, or lifting weights. Replenishing these stores with carbohydrates after training helps restore energy levels and prepares your body for the next session, helping to prevent fatigue and sustain endurance for future workouts.
Reduce Muscle Soreness
The right nutrition can help reduce muscle soreness by managing inflammation and promoting effective recovery. Nutrients like protein, antioxidants, and omega-3 fatty acids work together to support muscle recovery and minimise delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), allowing for a return to training in optimal condition.
Support Positive Training Adaptations
Refuelling after a workout aids your body’s response to training, accelerating progress and reducing the risk of hitting a plateau. Over time, this helps ensure that your fitness goals, whether focused on strength, endurance, or muscle gain, are consistently achieved.
Support Immune Function
Inadequate post-training nutrition can weaken your immune system, increasing susceptibility to illness. This is especially significant if you train regularly or at a high intensity, as illness can disrupt your training schedule and hinder progress.
What Should I Eat After Training?
Post-training nutrition focuses on the 4 R's: Refuel, Repair, Revitalise, and Rehydrate.
-
Refuel with carbohydrates
Why: Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred and primary source of energy, stored as glycogen in muscles. During exercise, particularly high-intensity or endurance workouts, your muscles rely on glycogen for fuel. After exercise, it’s important to replenish these glycogen stores by consuming carbohydrates to restore energy levels, support recovery, and prepare your body for the next training session.
Examples: Bread, oats, cereal, muesli, rice, pasta, potatoes, fruits and legumes.
-
Repair with protein
Why: Exercise, especially resistance training, breaks down muscle fibres. Protein provides essential building blocks (amino acids) to repair and rebuild these fibres. This process aids in recovery and supports muscle growth and strength gains over time.
Examples: Chicken, fish, eggs, yoghurt, whey protein, plant-based options like lentils or tofu.
-
Revitalise with healthy fats & colour
Why: Nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables (the “colour”) provide essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that help combat inflammation and support recovery. Healthy fats contribute to long-term recovery, hormone regulation, and the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins like A, D, E, and K, which are crucial for overall health and performance.
Examples: Fruits, vegetables, avocado, nuts, seeds, olive oil, fatty fish like salmon.
-
Rehydrate with fluids and/or electrolytes
Why: During exercise, fluids and electrolytes are lost through sweat. Rehydrating after a workout is essential to prevent electrolyte imbalances and support recovery. Eating salty foods with meals can also help replenish electrolytes effectively.
Examples: Water, milk, smoothies, and electrolyte-based drinks like Gatorade or Powerade. Including salty foods with meals can assist in electrolyte replacement.
Post-Training Meal Ideas:
Breakfast:
-
Smoothie with banana, berries, oats, yoghurt and milk
-
Yoghurt bowl with granola and fruit
-
Overnight oats with chia seeds, protein powder, fruit, and peanut butter
-
Breakfast burrito with eggs, black beans, cheese, spinach, and avocado
-
Eggs on toast with cottage cheese, avocado, and tomato
Lunch & Dinner:
-
Wholegrain sandwich with chicken, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and avocado
-
Grilled salmon with steamed vegetables and quinoa
-
Chicken pesto pasta with peas & spinach
-
Salmon or tuna bowl with rice, edamame, carrot, cucumber, and avocado
-
Tofu stir fry with noodles and a mix of vegetables
Each meal provides a balance of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and micronutrients essential for optimal recovery.
What Should I Eat If I’m Not Hungry After Training?
After intense workouts, it's common to experience a reduced appetite due to various physiological changes. These changes can include:
-
Increased body temperature: Your body diverts energy to cooling mechanisms to avoid overheating.
-
Shift in blood flow: Blood is directed away from your digestive system to provide more oxygen to working muscles.
-
Hormonal changes: Exercise can disrupt hormones that regulate appetite, such as ghrelin, which promotes hunger.
Despite these factors leading to a decreased desire to eat, refuelling remains essential for recovery. In these situations, liquids can be an excellent and convenient alternative. Options like chocolate milk, protein smoothies, or Up & Go Energize offer easy nutrition when a full meal isn’t appealing. Once your appetite returns, it’s important to consume a balanced snack or meal that includes protein, carbohydrates, and fats to support recovery.
For those training multiple times a day, quick glycogen replenishment is important. It’s beneficial to consume fast-digesting carbohydrates shortly after a session to help fuel your next workout. Convenient options like dried fruit (sultanas or dried mango), fruit juice, lollies, or quick snack bars (like LCM or muesli bars) offer effective sources of energy.
What About The “Anabolic Window?”
A common misconception suggests that protein must be consumed within an hour after working out. Although protein is important for recovery, research indicates that the "anabolic window" spans several hours (around 3-5) around your workout.
Including a quality source of protein, such as lean meat, dairy, or plant-based options, within this broader timeframe is more important than focusing solely on immediate timing. Additionally, ensuring an adequate protein intake throughout the day is essential for maximising recovery and supporting muscle growth.
Post-training nutrition is essential for optimising recovery and enhancing performance. By focusing on the 4 R’s - refuel, repair, rehydrate, and revitalise, your body receives the nutrients it needs to recover from intense exercise and prepare for upcoming sessions.
Keep in mind that everyone’s nutritional needs vary. A post-workout recovery plan should align with your unique goals, the type of training performed, and overall health.
Experimenting with different post-training meals can help determine what works best. For a personalised approach, consulting a sports dietitian ensures that nutrition is tailored to your training schedule and performance targets, setting the stage for success.