Fat Loss And The Post-Workout Window: Should You Eat?
A large number of people who are aiming for the goal of maximum fat loss figure that by skipping food right after a workout, they will help their body to continue to burn off fat, thus dramatically boost their results. They think that since their body is in ‘fat burning mode’, if they go ahead and eat after that workout, they are virtually shorting themselves on a high amount of progress that they otherwise could have experienced.
Is this really the case?
The answer is no. While under certain conditions the body will be burning fat coming out of a workout, failing to eat immediately after this time is only going to set you further behind, rather than boosting your fat loss up.
Why?
Let’s have a look.
Muscle Glycogen Resynthesis
The first reason why you should be eating immediately after your workout is because of the fact that at this point, your muscles are really going to be asking for carbohydrates in order to restock the body’s supply of muscle glycogen.
After a hard workout session, they have been, for the most part, exhausted, meaning that they now need to be restocked with fuel in order for another workout to take place. While they obviously will obtain food since you will be eating later on in the day, immediately after a workout your muscle tissue is like a little sponge, just waiting to suck up nutrients.
Therefore, eating the calories at this point in the day is the time when they are least likely to get shuttled into your fat stores, preventing fat gain from taking place.
Boosted Metabolic Rate
The second reason why you should be eating immediately after a workout is because your metabolic rate is going to be at an all-time high at this point. You’ve just been working the body hard, and especially if you completed a weight lifting workout, your body will be incinerating calories at a rapid pace.
Why not eat more of the foods you enjoy at this point in the day without suffering the consequence of weight gain? There are many people who actually use somewhat ‘junky’ foods to fill their post-workout meals out – including things such as low-fat ice cream (or ice cream sandwiches), sugary ‘kiddie’ cereals, bagels, granola bars, perogies, and so on. The body wants fast acting carbs at this point, so you might as well give it to it. You aren’t going to hinder your ability to lose weight provided you still stay within your daily calorie intake guideline.
Increased Recovery Rate
The third reason why the post-workout meal is so critical is because it is the meal that is going to help improve your recovery rate. Since you want to be able to get back into that gym and perform another workout as soon as possible, you need to be eating. Failing to eat within an hour of your workout will slow the recovery process, hence you’ll need more downtime from the gym before your next workout.
Better Nutrient Partitioning
Finally, it’s important to keep in mind that you’re going to have, what is called, ‘better nutrient partitioning’ immediately following a workout.
What this basically means is that any calories you consume immediately after a workout have a much greater chance of being used as fuel or being stored in the muscle tissue, rather than being stored as body fat. Because of this, choosing to place more of your daily calorie intake right after the workout is a very smart technique if you want to change your body composition, bringing your body fat percentage down a notch.
So, don’t be fooled into thinking that it’s best to avoid eating after a workout. You really must eat – especially if the workout was strength training or a higher intensity form of cardio training.
The only reason adding a post-workout meal would cause you to potentially gain body fat, is if it put you over your calorie balance for that day (keep in mind that as you add calories post-workout, you should reduce them from elsewhere in your day).
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