What You Can Eat After a Workout Routine

You must keep in mind that not every food is beneficial for you to eat after your workout. Eating something inadequate after training can make all of your efforts useless.
What You Can Eat After a Workout Routine

Last update: 14 December, 2018

After training, we feel tired! Our bodies have made a hard effort and lost a large number of liquids and minerals. That’s why it’s important to know what to eat after a workout routine to provide nutrients to your body and help it recover.

To avoid making nutritional mistakes after training, we’ll explain the characteristics of the foods you should eat after a workout. We’ll also suggest some easy and quick recipes for those days when you arrive home tired from the gym and don’t feel like cooking or you simply don’t have the time.

What’s the best time to eat after a workout?

After training there’s a feeling of hunger. It’s normal for you to feel the need to eat because your body has consumed its fat deposits and it’s dehydrated.

Woman eating after working out

Experts recommend eating no later than one hour after the end of your workout. It’s when our bodies are more receptive and absorbs nutrients better. If you want to get the most benefit from your training session, eat the nutrients listed below and just after you finish exercising.

As we’ve mentioned on other occasions, diet is just as important as exercise. We cannot forget that both go together and that, by neglecting one or the other, we’ll never achieve our goals.

What to eat after a workout routine?

The first thing you must do after training is re-hydrate your body. You can drink water, coconut water or a specific drink for athletes. However, in order to avoid dehydration, remember to drink water during your training. Once you’ve replaced the fluids you lost, you’ll be able to ingest the necessary nutrients.

Diet makes recovery after exercise faster and more effective. It’s during this time that it’s necessary to ingest proteins. Since it’s been a short time since the end of your workout, your body is more receptive and assimilates it better.

It’s important to eat the right amount of proteins. Don’t think that by consuming a higher dose, the results will be more visible, because the exact opposite will happen. The body can only assimilate a certain amount of proteins and when you exceed that amount, you can start to gain weight. Therefore, you shouldn’t eat excessively large portions, but rather, a plate that makes you feel full and helps to recover your energy.

After training recipes

As we mentioned before, the best practice to follow your training is to eat protein. That’s why we should eat foods rich in this nutrient during the first hour after training.

A bowl of yogurt and fruits

Next, we’ll suggest different, quick and easy recipes that will help you achieve your goals, and they’ll also help your body to recover from the effort.

  • Tuna sandwich. Choose whole grain bread and benefit from all its properties. Add some lettuce and a can of tuna. It’s that easy to make a perfect afternoon snack or dinner for after the gym!
  • Oatmeal porridge. This recipe, unknown until a few years ago, has become essential for many athletes. Here we show you how to make it, but you can modify the recipe including the fruits you like.
  • Grilled turkey breast. This grilled meat, along with sautéed vegetables, is a perfect recipe for after the gym. A fast, healthy, high-protein meal.
  • Scrambled egg white with shrimp. The egg white is one of the foods that contain the most proteins. If we also add shrimp, the result is a light recipe with a very high protein content. Just what we need after exercising.

Eating after a workout is as important as the exercise itself. Remember to hydrate your body and nourish it with proteins one hour after you finish exercising. With the fast recipes we’ve suggested there’s no excuse to not do it!


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This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.