Eating after workouts

[thescrawnycaveman]

Not quite sure where this belongs, but here it goes anyways:

I was wondering if anyone knew exactly how important it is to eat protein within an hour after a workout?

I just finished a pretty tough workout, and food is the last thing on my mind, in fact considering its almost 6am and I haven't slept yet, sleep is pretty much a top priority at the moment. If I go to sleep now and eat when I wake up am I going to be losing a lot of potential muscle growth?

Thanks ahead of time for any advice.

[Guest Carjack]

Eat cheese.

[Knightwatch]

A light protein drink like Isopure might be a good option. They're downright chuggable.

[thescrawnycaveman]

Tryin to avoid protein shakes and the like. I wanna keep things as much paleo as I can (so real food is generally preferred). So does anyone know how important it is to eat afterwards? Like if I regularly don't eat after workouts for awhile, am I missing out on a lot of potential strength gains?

[Gowaduv]

The way you've framed the question indicates you already know the answer: Yes, you're missing out. Where do you think your muscles are going to get the protein and aminos to rebuild? You need the three "S"es: steak, sweetpotato and sleep. Ok, you can get away with most animal-based protein, but "the two 's'es and ABP" doesn't have the same ring to it. Now go club a lower-order mammal and get your muscles rebuilding.

[thescrawnycaveman]

Where my confusion comes in, which I suppose I should have mentioned, is what if I had eaten before? I typically do my workouts a couple hours after my breakfast, which is chalk full of fat and protein. Does my body just not use that protein after I work out or what??

[Gowaduv]

The "experts" that I've read all say to eat within a half hour (some say up to an hour) post-workout. Yes, your body will allocate the previously ingested protein and whatnot as fuel and for rebuilding. But I believe from an efficiency standpoint, getting protein and some carbs (e.g. sweetpotato) as soon as you can post-workout will be better for recovery. If you're high protein for breakfast, then something like a sweetpotato afterward will be good for recovering your sugars without taxing your liver (if I'm remembering my Robb Wolf correctly ).

this place totally needs to be sponsored by the Sweetpotato Growers of America or something. Monetize this b!tch

[thescrawnycaveman]

Haha thanks a lot gowaduv, I will start carbing up after my workouts. And ya know, Rebel fitness could get some serious sponsors I think, the community is definitely growing. Lets get steve to email some sweet potato companies.

[Timmy M]

yh the 'experts' do say that you're body in a state of....... (forgot the word) and you need to eat protein stop you're muscles catabolising i.e. eating themselves for protein so yh three s's sounds like a plan but would of thought you'd need something faster digesting then animal, avian foetus (eggs) are faster i think so i'd go for that, maybe as scramble with a load of veg for antioxidants to flush out the lactic acid

[Deis]

I'm a vegan so I stick with Brendan Brazier and Matt Ruscigno's advice. After working out, I eat something easy to digest, with ratios of 5-4:2:1 carbs:protein:fat. Ie, 10g of protein, 40-50g of carbs, and 5g of good fats. But, remember that I am (most likely) physically smaller than you, and my workouts are running, or Krav Maga, which are, perhaps, more cardio based than what you do. So more protein may well do you good.

The easy to digest part is important; your body has enough to be getting on with without allocating resources to breaking up food. That's why a lot of athletes go with smoothies. I have a fruit smoothie with hemp powder and ground flaxseeds in it, though I have no clue how paleo that is.

[Timmy M]

actually yh if you go for smoothies you could add egg white (i get it in a carton and have it in my scrambles with 2 eggs)