Did you know that you should be refueling your body with a post workout snack within 30 minutes after you finish your workout, if you’ve been exercising at a moderate to high intensity for 45 minutes or longer? Even for early morning exercisers, you may find that by the time you get around to eating breakfast, after showering, dressing, sometimes commuting, it’s been way longer than half an hour.
Great post workout meals or snacks include carbohydrates and protein. The carbs are to replenish your glycogen stores. Glycogen is your body’s storage form of excess carbohydrates, and is used as the main fuel for short, intense activity, but is also necessary to assist your body break down fats for energy in low to moderate intensity exercise. Protein is necessary to help your body repair muscle tissue. The word ‘snack’ here is key, too – this is not a free pass to eat a huge carb/protein meal and call it a snack!
Check out my list of some easy snacks to pack and eat following your next workout!
Post Workout Snacks
– Low-fat chocolate milk! Yum, right? The perfect combination of protein and carbohydrate, sold in just about every deli in NYC.
– Non-fat or low-fat Greek yogurt with fruit (fresh or dried). A small tub of 2% Greek Yogurt has 150 calories, while the same size 0% has 100 calories. I prefer the 2% because it’s a little creamier, and the fat helps keep me full.
– A banana or an apple with nut butter. You can cut the apple ahead of time and pop it in a ziplock bag, or you can get those little single serving squeeze pouches of nut butter, then you can just squeeze onto the fruit for every bite! 🙂
– Small whole-wheat pita with hummus. Or if you have veggies already cut up, you can do hummus with strips of carrot, peppers, or celery.
– A hard boiled egg and a piece of fruit. Super easy and portable.
– String cheese stick and a handful of dried fruit. Again, something you can find in the deli, or easy to pack in your gym bag.
What are your favorite post-workout snacks? Got any suggestions for easy and portable snacks for refueling?
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