Your gym bag is ready, your workout outfit is comfy and your shoes can’t wait to hit the treadmill but is there something that you’re missing? Food! Believe it or not, all that sweating out is not going to make wonders unless you balance it with a proper food intake. Your body functions aggressively when you workout and just like how your phone demands to be charged, your body demands to be fueled. By fuel, we don’t mean a ‘chhole kulcha’ before workout and a burger post that. It’s high time you channelize your diet on the basis of what your body really needs to effectively show the results of your training. No offense Pizza, but we need a break! In this article we’ll talk about what should you include in your diet as pre and post workout meals, along with our in-house Nutritionist Sujetha Shetty, as she says:  

“The meals around your workouts have a major role to play in the effectiveness and results you are going to get from your workouts.”

What’s a pre-workout snack?

Quench your hunger before you hit the gym, making sure your body utilizes most of it. But guessing what is the right thing to eat? Well, keep reading and soon you’ll ace your nutri-snacks game! Pre-workout snacks consist of your food intake before 30 minutes to one hour of your workout. Your pre-workout snacks fuel you up with the required energy to make your body perform better during training. A nutritional intake before workout maximizes the body performance and minimizes the chances of muscle damage and breakdowns. Every meal you take should be enriched with macronutrients that support your body’s system. Needless to say, energy is what you need to stock up for a smooth and efficient workout.

Every athlete and fitness enthusiast swear by the benefits of pre-workout snacks. If you work out on empty stomach your body starts catabolizing and you start feeling low on strength and energy. The healthy snacks you munch on stores Glycogen in your body that burns while you workout balancing your strength and stamina. The trick is to intake mostly carbs along with a bit of protein to get you going while you workout. It keeps you away from fatigue and prevents your muscle from breaking down.

Pre-workout Snack:

AVOCADO EGG TOAST

Whole wheat bread- 1 slice

Avocado spread- 2 Tsp

(Avocado+Lemon+salt+pepper+Lemon)

Hard boiled egg- 1

Tips: For best results, have your snacks at least 30-60 minutes before workout and choose the snacks that are easy to digest.

Sujetha adds, “Pre-workout meal is important so that there is adequate glycogen in store, which can help you push your body to get results.”

What’s a post-workout snack?

Trust us when we say this, post-workout hunger is a thing and when it strikes it can turn you into a Hulk from a monk in a few seconds. Hogging pizza might surely satisfy you for a while but is that what your body wants after a rigorous workout? Definitely not! You put a lot of efforts while training which deprives your body of Glycogen making you feel exhausted. Your muscles are in a recovery phase post workout and it’s important to provide the body with the macronutrients it needs to recover smoothly and get you charged for your next training sesh. When you workout, your body breaks down muscle protein, so it’s fair for you to charge up on your protein intake post workout. Protein intake helps your body to build up protein amino acid which repairs damaged muscle and rebuilds new muscle tissues. Post workout snack allows you to gain more lean muscle, which leads to better metabolism and fat burning ability as well as enhanced recovery, with potentially less soreness and future performance.

“Post-workout meal is crucial for recovery, improves your ability to train consistently and helps in building lean muscle mass.”

Carbs! You need it pre, you need it post, just let your life revolve around carbs if you’re getting into fitness. After protein, carbs should be your next pick when it comes to a post-workout meal. Consuming carbs after a workout helps replenish the Glycogen that your body sucks up while working out. A post-workout meal with a proportionate quantity of proteins and good fats enhances glycogen storage and muscle protein synthesis. It revives the strength and repairs the muscle damage for an efficient training and recovery. Post-workout snacks also have other benefits, it reduces the muscle soreness and enhances your immune system, along with improving the bone mass and building muscles.

Post-Workout snack:

PROTEIN PACKED SMOOTHIE

Skim milk- 100ml

Whey- 1 scoop

Vanilla extract- 1 tsp

Yogurt/Curd- 100ml

Banana- 1 small

Chopped almonds- 6

Tips: It’s advised to have your post-workout meal within 45 minutes of your workout. In this period your body is most active with the process of glycogen synthesis.

So, next time when you’re getting hunger burps, make sure to glance at your watch and time your meals according to your fitness routine. Understanding your body’s need is the first and foremost step towards a fit lifestyle. Carbs, proteins, good fats and other micronutrients fuel, repair and withstand your body against muscle damage and fatigue. Lucky for us, eating right is all we have to do to get closer to the goal of that perfect Insta-bod!

We say, “Eat right, train, repeat!”