Eating After Exercise

Eating and drinking well after you’ve exercised is almost if not as important as eating before. You will have used a lot of energy which your body needs to regain and rebuild in order to recover fully and rapidly after the activity. It is a good idea to have a meal within two hours of finishing the sporting activity, any longer and there is an increasing chance that your recovery is reduced. Technically speaking after two hours there is a 50% glycogen storage taking place in your muscles which slows down the recovery rate and reduces your chances of complete recuperation. Eating a meal which replenishes your lost carbohydrates and protein is the best way to counter this. Meals which include both these nutritional elements, such as fish and potatoes, or red meat and pasta, will replace your lost nutrients and help you recover quicker. Rehydration is also vital. Generally speaking you can’t really drink too much water, but the most accurate way to calculate the amount of liquid you’ve lost, in order know how much you need to drink, is to weigh yourself before and after the sporting activity. For every pound in weight lost you should aim to drink 30ml of water to replenish your body’s fluids.