After my Basic Workout Routine what should I eat?

When you are trying to tone stomach muscles and learn how to reduce tummy fat, you will need to follow a healthy diet. All your meals through the day should have healthy fats, slow release proteins, and slowly digested carbs. But what about that meal right after your workout routine has finished, can you do anything differently? The answer is yes, this most important meal can in many ways have the opposite characteristics to your other meals.

When you finish an intense training session your muscle glycogen is depleted and your muscle tissue is starting to break down. The only way to counteract this is to eat a meal full of easily digestible food. The carbs in the meal will quickly replenish the muscle glycogen, while the protein will provide the amino acids required to start the process of muscle repair, at the same time an insulin spike is produced which transfers the nutrients into the muscle cells.

Between 300 and 500 calories is about the right size for this meal depending on your size. For example a 200lb man might need a 500 calorie meal while for a 120lb woman 300 calories would be sufficient. Fat slows the absorption of food, which is the opposite of what you want after a workout, so you want the absolute minimum of fat in your post workout meal. As for carbohydrate and protein, you should have somewhere between twice as much and four times as much carbohydrate as protein.

When you choose what to have in your post workout meal, bear in mind that natural is usually best. You don't need any of these expensive supplements you see advertised. You need a good source of quickly digestible natural carbs such as pineapple, frozen bananas, raisins, organic maple syrup or honey to promote the muscle building process. You will need a source of quickly digestible protein such as low-fat or fat-free yogurt, a quality whey protein or even some fat-free or low-fat ricotta. Ricotta cheese is mostly whey protein, so it is quick to digest. On the other hand, cottage cheese, although it is a great part of your diet at other times of the day, is slow to digest and would not be a good component of a meal for straight after a workout.

Here are a few ideas for delicious smoothies to have after training, which will start your recovery (each of these will give you approx 72g carbohydrate, 0.5g fat, 35g protein, and 450 calories):

Pineapple Vanilla - blend 1 cup water, one cup frozen pineapple, ½ cup vanilla yogurt, 2 tablespoons honey, and 30 grams of vanilla whey protein powder.

Chocolate Banana - blend 1 cup water, one and a half frozen bananas, ½ cup skim milk, 2 tablespoons organic maple syrup, and 30 grams of chocolate whey protein powder.

When looking to lose body fat and tone stomach muscles, remember that your meals after a basic workout routine must have the opposite characteristics of your other daily meals. Your regular meals should have healthy fats, slow release proteins, and slowly digested carbs, but your first meal immediately after a workout should have quick high glycemic index carbs, minimal amounts of fat , and quickly digested proteins. This is a powerful strategy to develop a lean muscular body with low body fat. Keep in mind that the great thing about your post-workout meal is that now is the time when you can satisfy any cravings for sweet foods, because this is the one time in the day when you can get away with eating a little extra sugar without adding to your tummy. Instead it goes straight to the muscles!

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