What Should You Eat Pre & Post-Workout For Overall Fitness
Do you know how pre or post-workout nutritional intake impacts our fitness? You may have been shedding your blood, sweat, and tears in the gym or other exercise sessions.
Yet, if you are not closing in on the desired fitness goal, maybe it’s time to change your dietary habits and plan. An overall nutritional intake is crucial for achieving and maintaining an ideal fitness target.
The most important meal is what you take in your pre and post-workout food out of your daily nutrition intake. So, what should you eat to add to your pre and post-workout meal? We can answer this question in two parts, explaining the importance of these two meals in detail.
We have highlighted how pre or post-workout food can keep your body fueled up to perform actively. Let’s understand how your pre or post-workout meals should look like.
What is the Importance of Pre-Workout Food?
Not only physical training but nutrition, too, helps lose weight and to achieve a fitness target. Nutrition supports this process significantly, but we often fail to maintain it with the right food.
For example, on weight loss, people avoid carbohydrates to limit calorie intake. However, carbohydrates are a great source of energy for our body. It helps us throughout the day to perform well.
When your body’s carbohydrate stores or levels are depleting, you may experience energy-loss during exercise. Thus adding some carbohydrate-rich foods or snacks to your pre-workout meal will fuel your body and make workout sessions more effective.
More importantly, if you are doing strength training, HIIT exercises, or other high-intensity exercises, a pre-workout meal is a must. Protein, fibre, and fats are great nutrition for fitness but not just before starting your gym. For pre-workout nutrition, you must focus on-
- Enriching the body with energy sources,
- Preserving glycogen levels, and
- Enhancing endurance level to enhance performance.
Thus, Before Starting Your Exercise Session, Consume Any of This Food Suggestion As A Pre-Workout Meal:
- Dried fruit
- Peanut butter
- Apple
- Dates
- Sweet potato
- Whole grain bread
- Fruit cereal bars
- Fruit smoothie
- Banana
What is the Importance of Post-Workout Food?
Post-workout meals are crucial to fill back your energy stores and help your body function. Either you take a snack or a proper meal, try taking this meal within one hour after every workout session.
You can determine your post-workout meal considering your fitness goal. Otherwise, protein-rich food is the most essential and ideal for after-workout meals. It helps in restoring strength, replenishing the body, and healing the tired muscles after high-intensity activities.
Besides focusing only on protein sources, you can better prefer a combination of nutrients on your plate. A little amount of protein, carbohydrates, fibre, and healthy fats on your plate is an ideal post-workout meal. You can keep a measured amount of each supplement depending on your fitness goal.
Even foods rich in antioxidants like fruits and vegetables are also a good option to keep in your post-workout food platter. They speed up the torn muscles’ recovery process and other engaged body parts in a high-intense workout session. Furthermore, Antioxidants also support the immune system and reduce inflammation. For post-workout nutrition, you must focus on
- Storing back the energy levels,
- Replenishing the body with protein for the recovery of damaged muscles,
- Replenishing lost fluids, and
- Taking lots of antioxidants to reduce inflammation.
Thus, Make A Nutrient-Rich Post-Workout Meal Platter With This Food Suggestion:
- Protein bars.
- Protein shake.
- Protein food sources for vegetarians like beans, pulses, chickpeas, etc.
- Lean meat like chicken, turkey, tuna, salmon, etc.
- Oats and porridge.
- Avocado, berries, and eggs on toast.
- Homemade hummus.
- Full cottage cheese.
Fitness is all about the habit and food you choose to eat. You can not eat anything and everything and lose weight; neither can you stop eating the least and perform well physically. You have to have a balance between your food and physical activity.
If you understand and follow the 70/30 rule of fitness, achieving your fitness target is not difficult. What is the 70/30 rule? According to this rule, weight loss depends 70% on your food consumption and 30% on your physical activity.
Thus, limiting frequent eating habits and enriching your meals with the required nutrients the body needs is crucial. So here, you have a clear idea about what to add to your pre or post-workout meals. Plan your weekly chart, and start this healthy habit from today!