Weight Loss, Fruit, and Your Post-Workout Meal

Many of you will already know by now that your post-workout meal is going to be critical to the results you get from your workout, regardless of whether your goal is fat loss or muscle building.

Essentially, that post-workout meal is going to serve to increase your recovery after the workout by replenishing the muscle glycogen stores (storage form of energy in the muscle tissue), and by providing the raw materials for the muscle tissues to repair themselves after you’ve broken them down during the session.

If you choose to skip this post-workout meal, particularly if your goal happens to be fat loss and you’re on a reduced calorie diet, you’re not only going to hinder your recovery, but you will also set yourself up to lose a higher amount of muscle mass.

Since your muscle tissue burns the highest number of calories minute by minute in the body, this is one type of tissue you definitely do not want to part with.

That said, there is a specific recipe for your post-workout meal that you need to be following.

Protein Intake and The Post Workout Meal

First up is protein intake. Protein is going to give your body amino acids - which then get used to form the building blocks of the new muscle tissue.

If you take two people performing the exact same workout programs, give one a sufficient supply of protein and one a non-sufficient supply, the person who’s getting enough protein will grow stronger and maintain their muscle mass, while the person who isn’t will lose muscle mass.

Protein. You must not do without it in the post-workout meal. Period.

Carbohydrates, Weight Loss, and The Post-Workout Meal

Next up is the carbohydrate portion of the post workout meal when your goal is fat loss.

Many people are tempted to reduce back considerably on their carbohydrate intake, thinking this will help them remove calories and lose fat faster than if they kept them in the meal.

Unfortunately, this a huge mistake.

The problem with eliminating carbohydrates completely is that it’s really going to stop the recovery process from taking place, meaning you will require a higher amount of time in between workout sessions, and even when you do get back into the gym, you may find that you’re not nearly as productive as you otherwise would be.

If you’re going to remove carbohydrates on your weight loss diet, remove them from other parts of your day - not from the post-workout meal.

Fruit As A Carbohydrate Form

Now, that said, what about having fruit post-workout?

Many people actually think they’re doing a really good thing by doing so. After all, fruit’s natural, right? It should be one of the better choices you could make.

Not quite.

The problem with fruit is that while it’s definitely a healthy addition to the weight loss diet, it’s also about 50% fructose and 50% glucose.

Fructose is handled by the body differently than glucose is and will not get delivered to the muscle cells.

For you, this means it’s really going to do nothing for you muscle glycogen levels and recovery.

So, first things first. Make sure you are getting in some protein and carbohydrates immediately after your workout.

Second, try and shoot to have your carbs all coming from starch, glucose, or dextrose, as these will all be sucked up into those muscle cells and readily stored as muscle glycogen.

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