Aug 08
29
For several years now, post-workout nutrition has been studied rather extensively. These studies have shown that intaking a shake (consisting of simple sugars and whey protein) immediately following your workout greatly assists in muscle recovery replenishment.
In fact, these studies have been so convincing that you’ll be hard pressed to find a fitness expert who doesn’t vehemently advocate that all trainees drink this type of post-workout shake immediately after every workout. Let’s step away from the trend for a second and investigate whether or not this is the best protocol for everyone to follow.
I agree that post workout nutrition is very important for the purposes mentioned above. If your goal is primarily muscle building or weight gain, these shakes are a great way to easily consume an abundant amount of calories at a time when your body is least likely to store those calories as body fat.
You see, following an intense workout, your muscles are depleted and are thirsty for replenishment. Therefore most of the calories ingested at this time will be soaked up by the muscles, making less calories available to be stored as fat.
But we want to burn body fat at the fastest rate possible! Will drinking a sugar laden shake enhance our fat loss efforts? Of course not. To the contrary, I have found that these shakes could be detrimental to your fat burning efforts.
After reading through all of the research, I’ve learned that these studies were not performed on subjects whose goals were fat loss specifically. So I experimented with these shakes on myself and my clients. The rate of fat loss slowed across the board. These are real world results and unlike some lab study, these findings are accurate. So to burn fat at the fastest rate possible, you must lose those high sugar post-workout shakes!
So you’re probably asking, “What should my post workout meal consist of?” The answer is simple. Just eat a solid meal! This meal will be structured just like any of your 5-6 daily meals. Be sure to consume this meal within one hour following your workout.
Remember, you will get leaner with natural, solid food. So if losing body fat is your goal, save your money on those expensive commercial post workout shakes. Eat a good meal and watch that body fat melt away.