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Post-Workout Shakes & Weight Loss

If you exercise regularly, you have probably heard of the concept of post-workout nutrition. At its most basic level, post-workout nutrition refers to feeding the body immediately following the workout to increase recovery ability and decrease soreness from exercise. What you might not know, however, is how proper post-workout nutrition can positively affect weight loss efforts. This article will explain post-workout nutrition and divulge the ways it can help your quest to lose weight.

  1. About Post-Workout Nutrition

    • Exercise causes physical damage to the muscle tissues of the body, which must then be repaired. While exercising, your body is in a state of catabolism, which means the body is breaking down muscle tissue. Upon cessation of exercise, proper post-workout nutrition can return the body to a state of anabolism, which is the process of building new muscle tissue to replace the old.

    Contents of Proper Post-Workout Nutrition

    • Dr. John Berardi, biochemical Ph.D., studied the effects of post-workout nutrition for his doctoral thesis. He discovered that proper post-workout nutrition should focus around rapidly digested carbs and protein in roughly a two-to-one ratio. This increases the body's insulin level, which then shuttles nutrients into the muscle tissue as fast as possible, facilitating recovery.

    Preservation of Lean Mass

    • Proper post-workout nutrition assists the weight loss process by ensuring that the body preserves as much lean mass as possible. As lean muscle tissue is more metabolically "active" than corresponding amounts of fat mass, retention of lean mass keeps metabolism high throughout the day. This facilitates your fat loss efforts by helping you to burn more calories even when you are not moving.

    Avoidance of Temptation

    • Adhering to proper post-workout nutritional standards also benefits weight loss by avoiding the most likely time for a "cheat" meal. After the workout is normally when people are likely to fall off the wagon while dieting, since they feel that they have "earned" an unhealthy snack. However, you cannot outwork a poor diet, and this becomes increasingly true as you age. Eating a fixed, nutritious post-workout meal can curb hunger pangs and keep you on track with your diet, dodging the temptation to cheat.

    Post-Workout Shake Suggestions

    • While there are a number of products on the market designed specifically for consumption during the post-workout window, you can simulate their effects by blending your own shake. Just mix flavored protein powder with water or milk and some fresh fruit. As stated, you should have roughly twice as many grams of carbs as protein in your shake, but a rough approximation of these figures will still be effective at keeping your weight loss efforts on track.

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