Eating after a workout

Discussion in 'The Green Room' started by Talkahuano, Mar 28, 2010.

  1. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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    Does the body hoard calories after a workout? i.e. if I spend an hour biking and 30 minutes later eat a sandwich, will my body try to store any amount of fat in that sandwich? I'm such an exercise newb :lol:
  2. Yelling Bird

    Yelling Bird Probably a Dual

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    No, food you eat after working out doesn't make you fatter. What will make your body "hoard calories" is eating large, infrequent meals.
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  3. mburtonk

    mburtonk mburtonkulous

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    It's good to eat after (or even during a workout), because it not only keeps your body going but it speeds up your recovery. The body needs stuff to work with to repair you.

    As an aside, I don't know how much you're cycling, but one of the rules of thumb we've been working on this season is to eat one bar (clif bar, power bar, etc.) AND one gel (gu, clif shots, etc.) AND one bottle of electrolytes (gatorade, etc.) every hour we're on a ride. It seems like an awful lot until you start doing it and realize how much better it can make you feel.
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  4. Volpone

    Volpone Zombie Hunter

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    Yup. I wanted to defer to the experts, because my info on such things comes from whatever I've picked up while looking for pictures of fitness girls in bikinis, but basically as you work out you cause microtears in your muscles. That is the pain and soreness you feel. To protect itself, your body builds the muscles back even stronger. So if you eat something--particularly something high in protein--after working out, your body dumps it right into building muscles.
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  5. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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    So, I got $10 from the parents to pay the fitness center to train me on weights. Nothing hardcore, just wanna get some muscle on me. Plus that'll stabilize my joints, which is nice. Anywho, I suppose that means focusing on a more protein-type diet. I'm assuming this means red meats, nuts, and fish? :unsure:

    Also, I'm building ass callouses! :lol: The first time I got on the stationary bike I did 20 minutes and my ass was OUCH, and now 35 minutes doesn't seem so bad. Hmm.

    What's a good heart rate to maintain, and what's a good way to do so? I know I'm to avoid hitting 180 (thanks async! :D ) but I suppose I should ask, what's a good number to shoot for?
  6. Ward

    Ward A Stepford Husband

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    JohnM would've loved this thread.

    Oh, c'mon! You know someone was going to do it!
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  7. Ward

    Ward A Stepford Husband

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    :)

    On subject, though, any fitness routine is going to take a while to get used to doing. You can't starve yourself because you won't have the fuel to work out as hard as you need to to get results. Also, don't expect to lose weight while you're increasing your workouts. Muscle weighs more than fat so while you may gain a few pounds, you'll look and feel better. Your clothes will fit differently, too. A lot of people will say eat smaller meals more often. That's not bad as long as you don't slip into eating bigger meals more often. That's really easy to do, too.

    Consistency counts. The real goal if you want to lose weight is to get your metabolism up so you're burning more calories all the time. Also, make sure to throw in rest / easy days or you'll just wind up hurt and/or discouraged which could lead to getting careless about food and alternative exercises.

    Keep it up, though! Sounds good!
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  8. mburtonk

    mburtonk mburtonkulous

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  9. Azure

    Azure I could kick your ass

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    30 min or so after a workout is when your body will absorb protein the most. I don't know the numbers, but it is substantially higher than how it normally absorbs protein.

    There was a study done a while back that if you workout your blood sugar levels come down. Drinking high sugar, high carb sports drinks after a workout basically fucks that up. Not a big deal to someone who is in shape, but I see no point in having to drink Gatorade after a workout. Instead, drink something like chocolate milk which has a lot less sugar, and it doesn't spike your blood sugar as much.

    Or, drink a PWO that isn't loaded with carbs.

    If you DO drink Gatorade during or after a workout, please go to the local Walmart and buy the powdered version. It doesn't have HFCS in it, and you can dilute it with water. Check the label to actually make sure it doesn't have HFCS in it.

    As for your HR, I'm 21 and I've hit 190-210bpm before. 180 isn't necessarily that bad, but I doubt you'll be able to sustain that pace for a long time. It really depends on what you're doing. If you're in a cycling class, and you do long stretches of cycling, something like 120-150bpm would be just fine. Moderate to Low exercising usually gets your HR up to about 140.

    One other thing, don't be like me and eat so fucking much. Eat smaller meals instead. Train yourself to eat smaller meals.
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  10. Azure

    Azure I could kick your ass

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    PWO = post work out.

    Basically a post workout drink. Either a protein shake or something like chocolate milk.
  11. Vignette

    Vignette In Limbo

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    Some things to keep in mind:

    Just because eating after a workout doesn't mean you will "hoard calories" does not give you free reign to eat however much you want of whatever you want. (I'm not worried that you will). Make your calories count. This happens a lot to people who are "carbo loading" before an event.

    Working out, especially for extended amounts of time, will make you hungry. More hungry than you should be. Don't overdo it. (Again, not too worried about this happening for you). Especially if your blood sugar drops while you're working out. When your blood sugar is low, your body stops using the energy you are putting into it. This also goes in hand with the eat more smaller meals a day thing.

    So I guess what I'm saying is, use common sense?
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  12. Liet

    Liet Dr. of Horribleness, Ph.D.

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    The general rule-of-thumb as I've heard it stated is that 220 minus your age is your maximum heart rate and that your target rate in a workout should be to maintain about 60%-80% of your maximum heart rate. At your age you might target about 120 for a longer lighter workout or 160 for a shorter more strenuous workout. If you can keep up 160 on a longer workout that won't hurt you but it would mean you're in good enough shape that you really don't need to be asking for advice on wordforge. ;)

    More important than the exact b.p.m. you target during a workout is how your working out affects your resting heart rate. If your resting heart rate is in the 60s, that's good, under 60 is really good, and if you get down into the 40s you're in the range of competitive athletes. And if you get down around 30 b.p.m. that probably means you've just won the Tour de France.
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  13. RickDeckard

    RickDeckard Socialist

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    Is that the conventional wisdom? i.e. that long, slow workout burn more fat?

    Because if you follow HIIT, which tends to burn fat while preserving lean muscle mass, your heartrate should be maintained at at least 75% of the maximum.
  14. Azure

    Azure I could kick your ass

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    75% with HIIT is more or less what you should be getting.

    Course, nobody is going to say you're not doing it right if you get 65% one day. Anything over 60% is pretty good.
  15. Liet

    Liet Dr. of Horribleness, Ph.D.

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    If you're looking to cram as many calories burnt as possible into as short a time frame as possible, or if you're looking for quick performance gains because you're a competitive athlete, some variant of HIIT is the probably best option. It takes a lot of dedication and micromanagement of your workout routine to maintain a HIIT routine, and it's definitely not for everyone, or even most people.

    The 60%-80% of maximum heart rate is, roughly speaking, the range at which you can sustain a longer workout at a constant level of effort that is intense enough to burn fat and achieve cardiovascular gains without endangering yourself. If you are looking for a sustainable routine that will get you in shape without requiring too much thinking about it, that's the range you should target. It's a range that works with whatever your preferred aerobic exercise is. If you want a maximally efficient workout routine then you probably need to be at the high end of the range and to think about more than just your heart rate.
  16. Scott Hamilton Robert E Ron Paul Lee

    Scott Hamilton Robert E Ron Paul Lee Straight Awesome

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    I'm 26 and when I workout, I run at 165bpm - about 7.5 mph on the second difficulty on the elliptical.

    You really, really change your metabolism when you work out. Trust me. For example, I recently fell off the wagon. Went on a fishing trip, didn't resume working out after it was over for ten days. Continued to eat healthy, lost 3 pounds. :|
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  17. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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    Ok, I did a half-hour bike workout thing at ~140-150 bpm and found it rather easy. I did manage to keep my heart rate pretty constant, which I thought was rather fun. I'm gonna try to bump the bike time up to an hour. How fast that happens depends on my ass's willingness to sit on a bike for that long. :P
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  18. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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    Ok, I got the fitness center to put a plan together for me. Here it is! I'm doing one set next week, two the week after that, and three the week after that. Before the end of school I'll talk to them again, and see what I should add/change/whatever.

    They've also got me on interval training 3 days a week, and then 20 mins of cardio any day I come in. They said warmup first, then weights, then cardio. Methinks I can do this. :TKO:
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2012
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  19. Volpone

    Volpone Zombie Hunter

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    Looks like a reasonable regimen (granted, I haven't done weight training for 15 years or so). Obviously as a guy I'd do more weight and knock off a couple reps. One set or multiple?
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  20. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    After a workout, I typically choke down a powdered recovery supplement consisting of hydrolized whey protein, L-Glutamine, and Creatine, followed by a burnt hunk of meat on whole grain toast. If the workout was heavy on the cardio and I'm feeling dehydrated, I might throw in a sugary sports drink like Gatorade.
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  21. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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    Interval training... not fun... hurting...
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  22. Rimjob Bob

    Rimjob Bob Sue Collini always gets the weenie

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    After the workout is the perfect time to flood your body with both carbs and proteins to recovery muscle and the energy lost in a workout. Your metabolism should be peaking, so there’s no worry about storing fat.

    The carbs, as always, should be complex whole grains. Sugars should always be minimized.

    The "G2" bottled version of Gatorade uses sucrose instead of HFCS, and has way fewer calories. Also an option.

    I think better, newer wisdom is that long, moderately-intense cardio burns fewer calories while contributing to muscle atrophy. HIIT does the opposite.

    I just started a two-month HIIT program (they call it “Max Interval Training”) called Insanity by Beachbody. I’ll post my before and after photos and let you guys know how it goes.
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  23. LizK

    LizK Sort of lurker

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    Don't really want a heart rate that low - there isn't enough perfusion to get oxygen to the brain, let alone the heart.
  24. Azure

    Azure I could kick your ass

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    ^^^^Can't do much about it though. Some people are born with a natural HR that low. I know mine has been in the low 40s during hockey season, and I don't even train that hard.
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  25. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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    I found out 10 years of dance will do a lot for a person. My boyfriend hasn't worked out in 2 years, but all the dance he did before then makes it so he has to try DAMN hard to get his heart rate over 135. Meanwhile I'm hitting 150-160 regularly, which is good for what I'm trying to do. Anywho, another 7 miles on the bike today, with intervals... ok 10 minutes of intervals. After 10 minutes I couldn't take it any more and I had to go back to 70-80 rpm and stay there. :lol: Weights went fine, I showed the bf how to do them and we had a good time laughing at how little we can lift.
  26. mburtonk

    mburtonk mburtonkulous

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    [action=mburtonk]quits lurking[/action]

    Seven miles on the road or seven miles on a spin bike?

    [action=mburtonk]goes back to lurking[/action]
  27. Talkahuano

    Talkahuano Second Flame Lieutenant

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  28. Uncle Albert

    Uncle Albert Part beard. Part machine.

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    :shock:

    Damn. I'm pretty flexible, but there's no fucking way I could ever pull that off.
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  29. Volpone

    Volpone Zombie Hunter

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    How goes the autofellatio quest, anyway?
  30. Liet

    Liet Dr. of Horribleness, Ph.D.

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    I'm incredibly flexible in my joints--i.e. I can rest the inside of either elbow on the ball of the opposite shoulder, which always works to freak out the unsuspecting--but my hamstrings would explode if I tried something like that. Flexibility is not all of a piece.
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