These fluids carry electrolytes — electrically charged minerals — that help keep your body's systems functioning properly. When the amount of water in your body changes, you can become dehydrated and experience a drop in electrolytes, resulting in symptoms like headaches, fatigue and muscle cramping or weakness.

However, take a strategic approach to your post-workout beverages. Instead of reaching for a sugar-loaded sports drink or a cup of coffee after a sweat session, be intentional about replacing your fluids with drinks that are low in sugar and high in hydration.

When choosing post-workout drinks, water is your best option for rehydrating after exercise and cooling your body from the inside out. Consuming water throughout your workout will also help you stay hydrated and improve your performance.

Health experts recommend drinking eight ounces of water every 15 minutes of your sweat session. To get the most out of your post-workout meals, you need to eat the right foods.

After a challenging workout, you need to focus on what macronutrients — carbohydrates, protein and fats — you consume. Getting the three macros from the right sources will supply your body with the nutrition it needs to rebuild and recover.

Understanding and prioritizing post-workout nutrition is essential in order to fuel your body. Finding the right balance of macros can be challenging. To make your post-gym meal planning simpler, try one of these nutrient-rich, muscle-building meal ideas:.

On some days, you don't have time to cook an entire meal after hitting the gym. For times when you need something a bit quicker to tide you over before a full meal, here are a few of the best post-workout snack suggestions:.

Regardless of which recovery snack you pick, make sure you follow it up with well-balanced meals throughout the day. In addition to getting the right nutrients after exercising, you need to ensure you eat your post-workout meal or snack at the right time.

According to the widely popular anabolic state theory , there is a limited minute window immediately after working out in which the body increases blood flow and delivers nutrients more efficiently.

Eating carbs and protein within this window is critical for boosting protein synthesis, reducing muscle protein breakdown and replacing muscle glycogen as fast as possible.

Though many fitness and nutrition experts promote refueling soon after working out to replenish the body and repair muscle as quickly as possible, the anabolic window is still a bit of a gray area. Research has found nutrition timing often depends on variables like age, individual fitness goals and workout intensity.

For example, if you tend to work out on an empty stomach, you must refuel your body quickly before the anabolic window closes. However, it is still up for debate whether timing matters as much for other fitness fans.

At the Gateway Region YMCA, we have the resources you need to get in a quality workout and refuel properly. After using top-of-the-line fitness equipment at the Y, you can hop on our Y mobile app to create a personal nutrition plan and make sure you're getting all the nutrients your body needs.

While on the app, you can also choose a workout plan, join a challenge and connect with other Y members. Plus, you can embark on a delicious journey towards a healthier you with YMCA Nutrition Services. At the Gateway Region YMCA, our team of Registered Dietitians will whip up personalized nutrition plans that make your goals a reality, while sprinkling in sustainable lifestyle changes that stick.

RDs are licensed to tackle the toughest of challenges, from busting diabetes, to conquering cholesterol, obesity, CHF, malnutrition, kidney disease, and high blood pressure. Learn more about Nutrition Services at the Y today or get started by finding a nutrition session or package.

Find the Gateway Region YMCA nearest you to start making the most of your post-workout nutrition today. Main Menu.

Breadcrumb Home Blog Post-Workout Nutrition: What to Eat and Drink After Exercise. Post-Workout Nutrition: What to Eat and Drink After Exercise.

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Copy Link. This article was medically reviewed by Samantha Cassetty , MS, RD, a nutrition and wellness expert with a private practice based in New York City. Our stories are reviewed by medical professionals to ensure you get the most accurate and useful information about your health and wellness.

For more information, visit our medical review board. Redeem now. After a workout, you should be getting a healthy balance of protein and carbohydrates.

Great post-workout protein sources include lean meat, like fish and chicken, and grains like quinoa. Include additional vitamins and nutrients in your post-workout meals with avocados and leafy greens.

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When it comes to exercise, what you eat before or after a workout can have a big impact on both how your body performs and how it recovers. Alternatively, eat too much, too little, or just the wrong stuff, and you might end up with an overly heavy pre-workout meal sloshing around in your stomach, be faced with a mid-session crash, or simply struggle to recover in time for your next session.

Rich pasta dishes like mac and cheese , fried foods like donuts and sweet treats or pastries are all high-carb, but are also very high in fat and sugar, making them much harder to digest before you exercise — leaving you susceptible to feeling sluggish, overly full or having a sugar crash.

Instead, aim to build around 50g of simple-to-digest, complex carbohydrates like fruit, bread, pasta, rice, potato or cereal into your pre-workout meal or snack, alongside a small amount of protein or fat. Two slices of thickly sliced bread provide around 50g of carbohydrate, while the tomato topping is easy on your stomach, low in fat and contains plenty of water to keep you hydrated.

A similar approach to the bruschetta, but in salad form. This Tuscan classic contains an ample amount of carbs, plus plenty of extra hydration from the cucumber and tomatoes, which both have high water content.

An ideal light meal when you have a couple of hours until your workout. One for when you have around 3 hours until your workout, this pasta salad provides plenty of easy-to-digest carbohydrates from the pasta and the sweet potatoes, which have the added benefit of helping to control your blood sugar — giving you a steady stream of energy throughout your next workout.

Typically, nutritionists recommend athletes eat around g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight when carb loading. If your pre-workout meal is intended to fuel your muscles during exercise, the main goal of your post-workout meal is to supply your body with the right nutrients to enable you to recover properly — as well as maximising the benefits of your chosen activity.

According to the British Dietetic Association BDA , protein has an important role to play in repairing and building muscle. Here, sports nutritionists recommend that you eat a small high-carb snack in the first half hour after exercise, followed by a larger meal rich in protein and carbohydrates within two hours of finishing your workout.

In terms of what foods you should be eating post-workout, complex but easily-digestible carbs like pasta, rice and potatoes are all good options for your larger meal, alongside a lean protein source like fish, chicken or beans.

Fresh egg pasta is one option as the eggs used in the dough provide extra protein compared to dried pasta, while pasta made with whole grain flour — like spelt pasta — is even higher in protein, without the extra fat that comes from the egg yolks in a traditional dough.

An average person should aim for around g of uncooked fresh pasta or g of dried as an ideal portion size , accompanied by around 10 to 20 grams of lean protein. A g serving of white fish like cod provides around 20g protein , which makes this cod pasta recipe an ideal alternative to chicken.

With a delicate tomato sauce made with olive oil, this dish also provides plenty of vitamins and good fats. For vegetarians and vegans, legumes like lentils are an excellent way of getting plenty of protein into your post-workout meal, without having to resort to supplements.

Serving this tomato and lentil ragu with plenty of pasta makes for a complete meal — well-suited to a post-workout refuel. Savour our authentic, Italian dishes from the comfort of your own home.

Choose from cook-at-home recipe kits, ready in as little as 5 minutes or pick a ready-to-eat takeaway, freshly prepared in our cucina's across the UK. Eating food is important. Before or after the workout? Not so much. Just make sure it's near enough to fuel your body right. Increased flexibility when timing nutrients.

For endurance, carbs are essential- but for muscular, meh, who cares. Protein all the way, between 20 and 40 grams before and after is recommended with a 3 - 4 hour gap between meals to allow for a 90 minute training session aiming for about 0.

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