Pre-workout and post-workout meals – what to eat before and after a training

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Home » Blog » Pre-workout and post-workout meals – what to eat before and after a training

Pre-workout and post-workout meals – what to eat before and after a training

Diet and physical activity are an inseparable duo if you want to have a healthy, strong body and a slim figure. Therefore, it is worth taking care of the quality of your pre-workout and post-workout meals, which will allow you to achieve better performance during workouts and recover faster after them.

Do you meticulously follow your trainer’s training plan, but the results still don’t knock you off your feet? Perhaps it’s not a bad training plan, but rather an inadequately adapted diet and especially your pre-workout and post-workout meals.

The basics of balancing meals

Before we get into how peri-workout meals should be composed, let’s briefly talk about the basics of healthy meal balancing.

The absolute basis for creating menus is the proper balance of three macronutrients: protein, fats, carbohydrates. Each of these plays a very important role in the body and their presence is essential for its proper functioning. 

The body’s requirement for the above nutrients is a % of energy requirements respectively:

  • protein – 15-20%,
  • fat – 25-30%,
  • carbohydrates – 50-60%.

Of course, these are generalised values assumed for an average, healthy adult who does not follow any specific diet. However, they are not rigid measures, as each of us is different and may need a little more or less of a given macronutrient in our diet.

Where do we get our energy from during exercise?

At rest, the energy spent on vital processes comes mainly from carbohydrates and fats, but during physical activity, the body also starts to draw energy from protein. This happens when the glycogen (carbohydrate storage material) stored in the muscles is fully utilised. Muscle-building proteins, when subjected to exercise, are subjected to catabolic processes, i.e. they break down. It sounds as if exercise in this case is pointless, doesn’t it? Nothing could be further from the truth. A stimulus in the form of exercise is very much needed for muscles to grow, but for this to be possible, proper recovery must be ensured, including the restoration of muscle and carbohydrate reserve material, i.e. glycogen, through diet.

What should you eat before training?

Your pre-workout meal should be easily digestible and eaten about 1-2 h before your workout so that you are comfortable with your exercise. It is recommended that it should consist mainly of carbohydrates – ideally 2.5 g per kilogram of body weight in the pre-workout meal. However, it is worth testing different amounts and adjusting the most optimal version for you.

Examples of pre-workout meals, available from Fitatu:

  • Banana-apple shake
  • Coconut oatmeal with banana and kiwi
  • Pasta with cottage cheese and honey
  • Yoghurt pancakes with maple syrup
  • Rice with chicken, broccoli and carrots

What to eat after a workout?

The post-workout meal should preferably be eaten as soon as possible after the workout, but if this is not possible, within a maximum of 2 hours. It should contain carbohydrates – to replenish glycogen stores in the muscles – and protein, to regenerate the muscles and provide them with the building material to grow. The amount of carbohydrates should be 1g per kg of body weight. Research shows that consuming carbohydrates in combination with protein after a workout results in a faster recovery of muscle glycogen than when consuming carbohydrates alone.

Examples of post-workout meals, available from Fitatu:

  • Banana dessert with cottage cheese
  • Mexican style chicken fillet
  • Tuna salad
  • Coloured cottage cheese sandwich
  • Cheese and yoghurt dessert with strawberries

Electrolytes

It is also worth remembering that water and minerals are lost from the body with sweat, which is why proper hydration during and after training is so important. This can be plain water, but it is also worth adding a few simple additives such as grated ginger, lemon or orange juice or mint leaves. Such a drink will be a source of carbohydrates and electrolytes – minerals such as sodium, potassium and magnesium – and will help to better hydrate the body and replenish these components. The body should be supplied with approx. 2 litres of water a day, but on hot days the requirement increases and may be as much as 4 litres a day.

Vitamins

When composing a post-workout meal, it is of course important to remember about fruit and vegetables. Apart from the fact that they are often a good source of carbohydrates, they are also a wealth of minerals and vitamins, and these act as coenzymes regulating all metabolic processes in our body, including fat burning. 

Supplements in sport

When getting into the subject of supplementation, it is worth realising one important thing. Supplementation, whatever it may be, is only a supplement to the diet and should complement it, not be the main source of nutrient acquisition.

We should always try to ensure a supply of nutrients with an adequate diet in the first instance, and if this is not possible reach for dietary supplements.

However, if your training is very intensive or you have specific goals in mind, e.g. preparing for a sports competition, it is worth taking the appropriate supplements, e.g. BCAAs, protein isolates or carbohydrate-rich preparations, which will allow them to be quickly absorbed and thus replenished in the body. 

Research results show that branched-chain amino acids such as leucine, isoleucine and valine, which are contained in BCAAs, have a fundamental effect on the regeneration of muscle structures after intensive exercise. Among other things, BCAAs are contained in whey protein, a source of which is dairy products such as milk, natural yoghurt and kefir.

Other studies indicate that an adequate supply of arginine and lysine stimulates the pituitary gland, thereby stimulating the production of the growth hormone somatotropin, which intensifies the building of muscle mass, the burning of fat tissue and, after a strong workout, has a significant impact on the regeneration of the body.

Fitatu App

Download the application from the Play Store or Apple Store and start counting your macros with us! Do you prefer the web version? No problem. A basic web version is prepared for our subscribers. And now you can use the MEALS-W discount code by going to https://www.fitatu.com/app/giftcode and get 29% off your monthly Fitatu Premium.

What else can you find in Fitatu Premium?

  • over 1000 recipes plus several new ones every month
  • additional plans for intermittent fasting
  • the ability to create shopping lists
  • a choice of six ready-made menus full of meals to choose
  • filtering products and recipes
  • more synchronization with fit apps
  • access to the application in the web version
  • no ads!

Bibliography:

Bean Anita, Nutrition in sport, Wydawnictwo s.j. Poznań, 2005, 32-49

Cheng IS., Wang YW., Chen IF., Hsu GS., Hsueh CF., Chang CK., The of Branched-Chain Amino Acids, Arginine, and Citrulline Improves Endurance Performance in Two Consecutive Days, J Sports Sci Med., 2016, 15 (3) : 509-515

Dymkowska- Malesa M., Walczak Z., Supplementation in sport, Nowiny Lekarskie 2011, 80(3): 199-204

Kadey M.G., Protein more than supplementation, Fitness Authority 2006, 9(16): 36

Lemon R., Protein and amino acid needs of the strong athlete, Int. Sport Nutrits. London, 1991

Morifuji M., Kanda A., Koga J., Kawanaka K., Higuchi M., Post-exercise carbohydrate plus whey protein hydrolysates supplementation increases skeletal muscle glycogen levels in rats, Amino Acids., 2010, 38(4):1109-15

Zając A., Poprzęcki S., Czuba M. et al: Dietetic and supplementation support of the training process. AWF Katowice Publishing House, 2010

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