Extra pounds are a universal universal pain for those who have ever thought about a healthy lifestyle, beauty, lightness, and longevity. How much effort and effort have to be spent to get rid of them. Especially ahead of the summer season. The beach dress code, without any concessions, will demonstrate who spent the winter and how. And queues line up for gym memberships, personal teachers are assigned, offering exercises, loads, indicating what to eat after a workout to lose weight, guaranteeing that when doing so, they will correct their sagging waist and normalize their plump sides.
Let's figure out how to approach the process correctly so that there is movement forward, and not marking time or, which is completely unsuitable, rolling back.
Food before workout
Often people deliberately do not eat not only after training, but also before, so as not to interfere with fat oxidation. These fears are not justified.
Research shows that carbohydrates during intense cardio (interval training, HIIT, etc.) have no effect on fat oxidation. Of course, low-intensity workouts (light jogging, brisk walking, cycling or stationary cycling) will be affected, but such workouts usually do not require additional energy, are low-energy in themselves, and can even be done on an empty stomach.
Moreover, carbs before an intense workout can indirectly help with fat loss - simply by allowing you to work harder, longer, and harder. As a result, you burn more calories per workout than if you could barely move from weakness and hunger.
From a weight loss point of view, the ability to train at full strength is much more important than the additional calorie expenditure due to skipping meals, especially since it is very small.
The same applies to strength training while losing weight. The ability to train hard, intensely always takes precedence over the ability to burn a few extra calories. Moreover, strength training does not consume many calories - during the workout, a person rests in total more than he trains.
The goal of strength training during weight loss is not so much to burn calories as to protect your muscles while on a diet. Spending calories is just a bonus, not a goal.
How to eat after a workout
After strength and intense training, an anabolic, or carbohydrate, window opens in the human body: a deficiency of proteins and carbohydrates occurs. This can be corrected by quickly eating healthy foods.
The average duration of the carbohydrate window is 30–90 minutes, it is advisable to eat during this period of time. This will help restore and prevent further muscle breakdown, and the body will burn its own fat reserves. It is imperative to consume easily digestible proteins and carbohydrates, but a snack in the form of healthy fats, such as nuts, is also allowed.
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Eating after an intense workout
After a high-intensity workout, the body continues to use fat for fuel, even when you eat carbohydrates immediately after (as long as you maintain a calorie deficit for the day). Carbohydrates are used for recovery, and the body continues to use fat for energy.
Post-workout nutrition has a huge impact on the body's recovery. On a diet, recovery is worse, and if a person does not eat two hours before training, an hour during training and two hours after, stress becomes greater.
Therefore, the benefits of eating post-workout outweigh any benefits from the additional (and very modest) calorie expenditure.
Meals and snacks
The following recommendation should be followed. The daily diet requires several meals and snacks. 3-4 meals a day are recommended (at least 3 times a day).
Snacking is an important part of your routine and healthy eating. Snacking is necessary to control your hunger levels. If you have snacks between main meals, severe hunger does not occur. In addition, the body spends energy on digesting these small portions of food, which maintains the metabolic rate at a good level. Eating with long breaks leads to the fact that the body begins to sound the alarm and goes into saving mode, metabolic processes slow down. The body strives to spend as little as possible and store as much as possible.
Also, with the help of snacks, you can reduce the volume of main meals.
Eating after regular cardio
Many people forget that weight loss occurs not only during training, but in the remaining 23 hours when a person is not exercising. Therefore, the basis of any weight loss is, first of all, diet.
If you maintain a calorie deficit throughout the day, you will lose weight even if you eat right after cardio.
Regular cardio, due to its low power, does not require a large amount of energy before, during and after exercise. Therefore, here you can rely on the feeling of hunger. If you want, eat, if you want, don’t.
Principles of a therapeutic diet
Food products for food after gastric ulcer surgery are subjected to heat treatment in the form of boiling in water or steaming, stewing, baking. Liquid, soft and puree foods are easily digestible. To ease the load on the gastrointestinal tract, you can use separate nutrition, which consists of consuming one product at one meal. It is recommended to eat 5-6 meals a day in small portions. Dishes are prepared from fresh, natural products.
Rules:
- Cereals are ground or slightly ground before cooking.
- It is better to sweeten tea with natural honey.
- Bread is consumed in the form of crackers or biscuits. Fresh bread has a negative effect on the stomach.
- Porridges occupy an important place in the diet of postoperative patients.
- Salt is consumed in very limited quantities - no more than 5-6 grams per day.
- It is acceptable to add a little butter or vegetable oil to purees or porridges.
- Food should be warm, not cold or hot.
- Hunger is contraindicated.
- Marinated, fried, smoked and salted foods are excluded.
Attention: you should not eat coarse foods with a lot of fiber.
How to organize meals?
Instead of cutting out carbs before and after strength training to burn more calories, do the opposite. Eat basic carbohydrates before and after training, reducing their amount at other meals.
If you're training in the evening, it doesn't make sense to eat most of your carbs for breakfast. Moving your carbs to the evening can preserve some of the benefits of a low-carb diet during the day (due to low insulin levels), while still allowing you to exercise intensely and allow your body to recover afterwards.
Pre-workout nutrition
To lose weight, you need to eat in this way - consume fewer calories than you burn.
So, for a day there is enough for training:
- men 2.0 – 2.3 thousand cal.;
- women 1.7 – 2.0 thousand cal.
Divide the numbers into several meals on the basis that a solid lunch is 500-600 calories, and a snack is 300. Based on this, create a menu.
On empty stomach
Those who prefer to exercise in the morning are concerned with the question: “Should I eat before sports or should I abstain?”
It’s difficult to answer without understanding it. Active actions are a waste of energy. This means that you need to make sure that it is enough for a full-fledged lesson. The conclusion is: should we eat? At the same time, we must not forget about the goal - to lose weight - is it possible not to eat? We will look for answers to these questions.
First, let's define what hunger means. This is not the case when, fifteen minutes after eating a delicious cookie, you feel an unbearable desire to repeat the pleasure. An organism is considered hungry if it last came into contact with food 8 hours ago. In this case, when under load, there may be very unpredictable sensations.
For example, in the morning, as soon as you wake up, the first thing you do is use the exercise machine, and your head is spinning, your stomach is nauseated, your arms and legs are shaking. This is where you want to maintain your health, not about muscles and a thin waist.
What experts say is that short-term aerobic (no more than 20 minutes) exercise is acceptable on an empty stomach. We went for a run, rode a bike, enough - to the kitchen for a portion of calories.
It is completely contraindicated for beginners to exercise on an empty stomach in order to avoid possible weakness and loss of consciousness due to a sharp drop in blood sugar levels.
Trained people get used to overloads and tolerate them more easily. With increasing sports experience, the body hardens and does not react so violently to active actions in the absence of food, adapting to the economical use of reserves. But this body skill complicates the process of losing weight.
Why is starving worse?
With the beginning of active actions, the body processes fat into energy, taking it from under the skin and muscles. As soon as the load stops (you've finished running), the unused fat is again stored under the skin. It’s not a fact that there will be less of it than before the run.
Protein from the muscles is used as energy fuel, which is absolutely undesirable if your goal is to build muscle mass.
Conclusion: To get more effect from your exercises, it is better to eat, being aware of what you are eating and when.
After a light snack
Some people are used to waking up and immediately throwing something edible into the firebox. Others sway for a long time, not even having the strength to cram a cup of coffee into themselves. And if you have a gym visit ahead, what should you do?
You can’t look at food – a light snack is enough. If you don’t have enough time to prepare a full breakfast, but you definitely need to put something in your stomach, steam oatmeal with a banana. Too difficult? Then just two bananas with a slice of whole grain bread. Advanced snackers snack on dried fruits and a handful of nuts.
The snack is also relevant for lovers of evening activities. Lunch has long been forgotten, dinner is far away, and there are loads ahead, a waste of energy.
A couple of crackers and natural yogurt are the solution to the problem.
A portion of low-fat cottage cheese with a banana or melon will help out.
In case of an emergency, when there are no conditions for food, stock up on energy bars (you can make them yourself from a mixture of dried fruits and nuts). We ate a couple, replenished our calorie reserves, and sports activities will go like clockwork.
Important! Complete a small meal 20-30 minutes before the start of sports activity.
After a full breakfast
The exercise will be beneficial if you take into account two factors when eating:
- Correct ratio of proteins, fats, carbohydrates;
- There is time when there is.
Meals should consist of carbohydrates with added protein.
Choose carbohydrates that have a low glycemic index. They are energy-intensive and maintain blood sugar levels for a long time. Therefore, try to eat a serving of:
- brown rice;
- or vegetable salad;
- oatmeal;
- whole wheat bread;
- nuts.
You will feel light and energetic.
It is necessary to add proteins to the diet to prevent their breakdown in tissues. It could be:
- natural yogurt;
- low-fat cottage cheese;
- a piece of cheese.
Exhausted muscles, having previously received protein, take the necessary amino acids from it and recover faster.
Pay attention to the amount you eat. Having eaten a lot, it is difficult to devote yourself to fitness with enthusiasm. The body is busy digesting the incoming food and does not listen well to the hostess or owner who wants to jump and gallop after a serving of porridge.
Attention! From the end of breakfast to the start of the morning workout, at least one and a half to two hours should pass. From lunch to evening sports – two to three hours.
But even in this case, you should not overload with food. If you want to lose weight, fatty foods and alcohol are prohibited. Portions should be small. Stop before you begin to feel full, then in the gym excess food will not interfere with shaping your figure, reminding you of yourself:
- heaviness in the stomach;
- belching;
- heartburn;
- nausea;
- dizziness;
- weakness.
During the training process, monitor your condition, choosing empirically what is best. Eat a substantial meal two to three hours before or have a snack 30 minutes before the start. With more experience, you will begin to better understand your own body signals.
Try changing portions and meals, taking into account the following important points:
- it is necessary to eat;
- for aerobic exercise, the composition of the meal should include 60% complex carbohydrates and 40% proteins. For strength – protein 60%, carbohydrates 40%;
- The minimum interval between food and exercise is half an hour. Large meals require a longer interval.
Eating right before training to lose weight is the key to excellent endurance during exercise and quick recovery. A thoughtful approach helps to achieve maximum effect from physical activity.
Prepare food in advance so that you eat slowly, don’t worry, or grab pieces of who knows what, which will reduce the effort spent to zero.
Sample menu after surgery for a week
| Eating | 1 breakfast | 2 breakfast | Dinner | Afternoon snack | Dinner |
| Monday | Rice porridge, steamed soft-boiled eggs, tea | A glass of milk or low-fat kefir | Vegetarian soup, steamed zrazy, compote | Rose hip decoction, unsweetened cookies | Boiled potatoes, boiled fish, tea with milk |
| Tuesday | Tender cottage cheese with yogurt or sour cream, steam omelette, tea | Pumpkin pudding | Oatmeal soup, boiled chicken or rabbit with vegetable puree, fruit drink | Banana-apple mousse | Steam cutlet with buckwheat porridge, glass of low fat milk |
| Wednesday | Semolina porridge on skim milk, herbal decoction | Sweet apple | Milk noodle soup, vegetable stew with baked fish, berry juice | Fruity or berry jelly | Stewed rabbit with pasta, a glass of milk |
| Thursday | Oatmeal, toast, 2 soft-boiled eggs | Fruit puree | Rice soup with chicken broth, baked vegetables with boiled fish, compote | Natural yogurt, banana | Boiled beef with mashed potatoes, tea |
| Friday | Cottage cheese and buckwheat porridge, tea | Berry or fruit soufflé | Noodle soup, casserole from lean meat and vegetables, fruit juice | Toasts, cottage cheese casserole | Steamed fish meatballs with boiled rice, a glass of milk |
| Saturday | Vegetable puree, steam omelette, milk | Fruit jelly | Oatmeal soup, pumpkin or zucchini puree with boiled chicken, berry drink | Natural yogurt, cottage cheese | Meat soufflé with buckwheat, green tea |
| Sunday | Milk rice soup, tea | Banana, pear | Vegetable vegetarian soup, steamed cutlets dietary meat with potatoes puree, jelly | Fruit mousse or soufflé | Boiled rice with fish, milk |
What foods are contraindicated before exercise?
Fast food
Before training, we need food high in carbohydrates and proteins. But hamburgers and fries don't really fit in here.
Firstly, fast food contains a lot of saturated fats, which will take the body at least 4 hours to digest.
Secondly, McDonald's food contains a lot of sodium, an excess of which upsets the balance of fluids in the body. And this can affect performance during training.
Thirdly, carbohydrates in fast food are mostly fast and have a high glycemic index. This means your blood sugar levels will rise quickly and you won't get the energy you need during exercise.
Milk products
Milk contains protein, carbohydrates and fats and takes a long time to digest. This is why dairy products are mainly used as a means of post-workout recovery.
Sweet drinks
Most lemonades contain many artificial sweeteners, which increase blood sugar levels and do not provide the necessary energy supply for training.
Alcohol
Alcohol dehydrates, disrupts balance, and distorts decision-making processes. Drinking a bottle of beer before training is not the best solution.
Spicy food
Spicy foods, especially in large quantities, can cause heartburn and muscle cramps.
What is prohibited
The patient is prohibited from:
- alcohol;
- pearl barley and millet;
- fatty foods, including fatty broths;
- eggs fried in butter;
- sausages and cheeses with high fat content;
- canned food;
- kvass and carbonated drinks;
- food with a pronounced taste - bitter, sweet, sour foods and dishes with seasonings;
- citrus;
- tomatoes, cabbage, cucumbers, sorrel;
- peas, beans, beans;
- mushroom dishes;
- garlic, onions, a large amount of herbs;
- seeds, nuts;
- fast food, chips.
You should not eat freshly baked pastries and bread after gastric ulcer surgery. Cocoa, coffee and strong tea are excluded from drinks. Foods that are difficult for the stomach cause aggressive secretion of juice, which has an irritating effect on the mucous membrane of the diseased organ.
All store-bought products that contain a lot of salt, sugar and chemical compounds are prohibited. Serious complications after gastric ulcer surgery can be caused by smoking. Tobacco smoke, and with it harmful substances, enter the walls of the gastric mucosa, irritating it and preventing healing.
