The Best Food to Eat After a Workout - Muscle & Fitness (2024)

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The Best Food to Eat After a Workout - Muscle & Fitness? ›

What is the best thing to eat after a workout? Some foods to eat after exercising may include a combination of chicken, potatoes, fish, rice, fruits, vegetables, and plant-based proteins.

“Recreational exercisers who train two to three times a week for 30 to 45 minutes can easily recover by having their usual balanced meal that contains carbs (to refuel) and protein (to build and repair muscle), such as oatmeal and eggs, yogurt and granola, a sandwich and milk, or chicken and rice,” says Nina Kolbe, a ...

The best foods for muscle recovery after exercise should contain protein, carbohydrates, and healthy fats. These macronutrients can help your body repair muscle damage and refill energy stores. Some foods — such as bananas, spinach, and oatmeal — also contain plant compounds that can reduce inflammation.

To maximize muscle growth, a clean bulk is better than simply eating high calorie foods. This may include a well-balanced diet of healthy fats, carbohydrates, and proteins. Some foods include chicken, shrimp, eggs, salmon, brown rice, quinoa, sweet potatoes, and fruits.

Fruit juices. Like electrolyte-rich sports drinks, drinking 100% fruit juices helps replenish electrolytes lost through sweating, as well as carbohydrates and glucose. Tart cherry juice is growing in popularity because it contains anti-inflammatory chemicals that help prevent muscle damage and reduce muscle soreness.

Eggs: the perfect post-workout snack

Eggs provide all of the nine essential amino acids (also known as the building blocks of protein), making them an effective food for maintaining, building and repairing muscle. For a portable snack to enjoy post-workout, you can't go wrong with a simple serving of hard boiled eggs.

Eating a snack or meal with protein and carbohydrates right after a workout will help ensure that you are giving your body the energy to replenish what you have used. It also helps to promote the repair and building of muscle.

A mix of pea protein, ground flaxseed, and brown rice protein offers a complete amino acid profile, including branched-chain amino acids particularly important for muscle repair after a workout.

Light workouts usually only require good sleep, while intense workouts may require a few days of recovery. Stress can cause your recovery time to be longer. Quality sleep, passive and active recovery, massage, foam rolling, compression garments, plus hot and cold therapies are all good for muscle recovery.

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Whey is a top choice for those wishing to gain muscle because it may be absorbed more rapidly than other types of protein, and it contains all nine essential amino acids (we must get these from food, as our bodies cannot make them).

Just one tablespoon of peanut butter has four grams of protein, making it a good source of protein for building muscle. Peanut butter is also a good source of monounsaturated fat and antioxidants as well as vitamins and minerals that will help your body stay healthy and function properly.

Should you eat afterwards? Absolutely! The post-workout meal is crucial because it will be good for both your body and your mind. Your body will be able to regenerate, restoring the energy used during exercise and encouraging the rebuilding of muscle tissue, thus preventing the onset of cramps and muscle pain.

Many people who exercise also wonder how much protein after a workout is best. Wardlaw recommends at least 15 to 25 grams of protein within 2 hours after exercise. That helps stimulate muscle growth.

Exercising on an empty stomach can help you burn more body fat for fuel. When you eat right before exercising, your body is going to first use the calories you just consumed for fuel.