October 16, 2011
The following post-workout nutrition lesson is just one of the 20 fueling myths that I dispel in my upcoming title from Endurance Planet entitled: “Endurance Planet’s Guide To Sports Nutrition with Ben Greenfield: “20 Fueling Myths Exposed”. Look for that book to be released in 3 weeks.
It’s likely that you’ve seen somewhere the legend of a mystical, magical fueling window. From exercise books, magazine articles and websites to nearly every resource that exists on sports nutrition, you’ll commonly read that “after you finish a workout, you have 20-60 minutes to replace precious energy by consuming a mix carbohydrates and proteins”.
Here’s what they don’t tell you:
In every study or experiment that has investigated the benefit of immediate post-workout nutrition replacement, subjects were fed after completing an exercise session that they had performed in a fasted or semi-starves state.
In other words, of course you’re going to benefit if you eat a meal after a workout in which you were completely depleted of energy! But how many of us actually roll out of bed in the morning, hop on a bicycle, and ride hard for 90 minutes to 2 hours with absolutely no fuel? In most cases, this would unpleasant, difficult and not a standard workout protocol.
So here’s the deal: if you’ve actually had a pre-workout meal or any other recent meal, there’s no crucial, do-or-die need to eat after your workout – especially if you’re still “burping up” that bar you ate before your exercise session. This is especially true if you have no other workouts planned for the day, since your body is able to totally replenish energy levels within 8 hours of normal hunger-driven eating.
But it does make sense to fuel within that 20-60 minute window if you:
A) Haven’t had anything to eat before your workout and you’re in a total energy depleted state (such as an early morning hard session before breakfast) and/or
B) You’re going to be working out again within the next 8 hours.
In such a case, grab a 3:1 ratio of carbs to protein, such as a banana smoothie with a handful of nuts and scoop of protein powder, and you’ll be set (and yes, that's another myth that adding a fat like nuts to your post-workout meal is going to slow down uptake of carbs or protein).
If you really want to geek out on the nitty-gritty, scientific details of this post-workout nutrition discussion, then you should check out the free Rock Star Triathlete Academy article “Putting the Pre & Post Workout Nutrition Debate Into The Grave” and also listen to in Podcast Episode #73 of David Warden’s Tri-Talk.
Questions or comments? Leave them below.
You’ve claimed you reached 3% body fat in competions.. A little difficult to believe. Arnold S at his leanest in the 1973 Mr. Olympia was about 8% bodyfat, but Arnold wasn’t as lean as Frank Zane who was the most conditioned of the golden era at about 6–7% bf. Today’s bodybuilders who compete at the Olympia level are a maximum of 5% bf. The leanest guys on stage are about 4%
thanks for sharing it’s really helpful for me.
Thanks for the article. I have checked many articles on this topic but couldn’t find a complete explanation and then I found your article. Surely, you must have done great research for this article.
Optimum nutrition is not about eating more or even less, just enough to keep you going. A little less and you will feel awful and irritable, a little more and you will gain extra body fat, which is the last thing you want. Therein lies your nutritional journey, taking care of your body both before your workout and post your workout.
While there are many ready-made options available for you to take care of your needs, be aware of its contents as sometimes they are packed with things that do more damage to your health than good, such as sugar in all its forms, hydrogenated oils, additives, preservatives. It is advisable that you churn up a quick meal for yourself instead of resorting to the fancy-looking processed foods. The options listed below are easy to procure and easier to prepare so that you do not have to work hard in the kitchen before you work hard at the gym!!
Hi,
What if I fall asleep right after an intense workout for building muscle without having a post workout meal? I slept for about 3 hours long. I woke up and drank a smoothie afterwards. Will that make up for the meal I skipped? With not eating a meal after I workout and fall asleep hinder me from reaching my goal?
Hi Ben,
I only work out once a week (lifting) just to keep things moving and not get the ol beer belly.
I am usually empty stomach since waking up, do the workout at lunch, and finally eat at dinner.
My thinking is that I have enough nutrients stored up from the past week that my body should be able to burn since I am not constantly beating down my body with frequent workouts.
I don’t feel light headed and I make sure to stay well-hydrated. Is there any danger or research on this kind of low frequency, hoping to use the body’s stores of energy strategy?
Eating once a day is fine, just as long as you're getting enough calories with that one meal.
Hi Ben, I do intermittent fasting from 8pm to 12nn. I usually just have one big meal by noon and some snacks here and there. My usual workout time is 8pm onwards so I consume my whey protein before workout (before starting my IF) and don’t consume anything after. Is this a sustainable practice? I am also doing this while maintaining a low carb diet.
Hi Marc, I would need to gather much more information about you and your exercise/diet habits via a one-on-one consult: https://BenGreenfieldFitness.com/coaching You could also get advice on this sort of thing in the Kion Community: https://Facebook.com/groups/GetKion
Elmira Nutrition Clinic Patient,
Hi Mac,
I am a patient at the Elmira Nutrition Clinic for Eating Disorders in Elmira New York. I was just reading this and would like to respond to you, because I really don’t want you to make the same mistake that I did.
I am a former intermittent faster as well, however, as part of proper IF you should workout as deep in your fasted state as possible for increased fat burning, (for example, I did the 8PM-12NN fast, and would work out at 8 AM, finish at 930, break my fast at noon). Here’s what could be problematic with what you’re doing:
When you’re fasting, naturally, your insulin levels are very low. So when you combine it with a LOW carb, HIGH protein diet, you might think it’s even better fir you. HOWEVER, what happens eventually is your body gets used to having low insulin and sugar levels, and high protein and stops utilizing carbs for energy. What your body does is turn to protein for energy– like ketosis… but with protein. The end result is that protein is NOT going towards your muscles, and you use it for energy.
This is what happened to me. I lost 30 pounds on a low carb, high protein diet with fasting. But what did the tests show? I lost about 5 pounds of fat… the other 25 was MUSCLE. Oh yeah, I was also lifting HARD three times per week and still getting weaker.
The bottom line is if you want to fast, go ahead. But you really don’t need to as long as you’re not overeating. There are TONS of online calorie calculators that you can use. If you are going to fast, UP THE CARBS BEFORE YOU START TO LOSE MUSCLE. Trust me. it’s exactly what happens to me.
I now have a new diet plan with one of the best nutritionists in the East Coast.
I really hope this helps.
My Old Macros (When fasting)
CALORIES: 2,300 ::: Protein: 200g ::: Carbs: 150g ::: Fat: 100g
My New Macros
CALORIES: 3,100 ::: Protein: 150g ::: Carbs: 400g (yes, really) ::: Fat: 100g
What’s the result from my new diet? About 3 pounds of muscle I’ve put on in the last two months.
Best of luck. I hope this helps.
**Marc… sorry for forgetting the “r”
Zach i love this info thanks!
Hi Ben! My question is related to working out and faster (time restricted eating). My eating window is from 11 am to 7 pm, and I workout at 5;30 am (HIIT and X3 protocol). Is my eating window starting too late? I want to avoid aminos to stay on a fasted state, but do you think I should be eating breakfast ? Does the benefit of excise followed by a meal outweights TRE? Dinner at 6 pm is our family time so I cannot get away with moving that.
For questions like this where I need to gather much more information about you and your exercise/diet habits, I recommend going over this in a one-on-one consult: https://BenGreenfieldFitness.com/coaching You could also get advice in the Kion Community: https://Facebook.com/groups/GetKion
Hey Ben,
Have a question for you. I’m planning on hiking 20 miles on Sunday. What do you think of doing a 24 hour fast from Friday dinner to Saturday dinner? Is Saturday’s dinner enough to replenish before a long hike like that?
What if I were to hike 20 miles Friday? Would it be unwise to do a 24 hour fast starting post-hike that Friday dinner to Saturday’s dinner after a long hike like that?
Nowlin
Have you done a fasted endurance event before? If not, start with fewer miles and see how it goes. Listen to your body!
I have not! Great advice, thank you. Decided to fast today and do 8 miles this evening.
Keep on keeping on, love your work.
NJ
I had a question for you regarding nutrition and post workout protein consumption.
I eat two meals a day with breakfast being very large and hefty. I eat around 8am when I wake up and I’ll have a bowl of oatmeal, a banana, 2 spoonfuls almond butter as well as eggs with avocado and nutritional yeast.. SO… HUGE haha.
Since breakfast is my biggest meal of the day, I am typically full until around 4pm and am dont get hungry at all until around 4ish where Ill have a small snack (vegetables) and then dinner around 6. I guess this is kind of along the lines of intermittent fasting??
Anyway, I was wondering if Im doing myself harm by not eating protein after I work out? OR does my body use the protein I consumed the couple hours before for breakfast to rebuild muscle? Or is that of no use..? I dont want to force myself to have protein if Im still SO full from earlier..
Also, Im not working out that hard because of knee injury (45 min of elliptical, band work, machine weight exercises). So is protein really necessary after? But I do want to grow muscle.
Is what Im doing fine or do you think I should change it up so that my muscles have protein after?
Not necessarily, but you never mentioned when you were working out. I would re-read the above article :) Your answer is there.
I eat a large breakfast. Oatmeal with peanut butter, and banana, cottage cheese with fruit and nuts, and an egg with half an avocado at 8 Am and work out at 9am. Aka right after I eat that big breakfast. I work out for about two hours ( pretty intensely). Do I need to have anything after (protein/ collagen peptides/ etc)? Or is my body still pulling from the morning breakfast at that point? I just want to make sure I am not damaging my muscles/ tendons by not having protein after. I am still stuffed from breakfast for hours after my work out so I don’t feel the need to eat. Whats your opinion? Thanks!
Do you have to eat after a workout?
Hey Ben,
I participate in intermittent fasting (5-hour window). I workout about 2 hours after my last meal. I do not eat after my workouts, I usually aim for 5 days of resistance training (15-20 mins of cardio each) with light cardio on the 6th day and 1 rest day.
am I jeopardizing my fitness goals by not “replenishing” my body after a workout, especially when I am training a large muscle group?
The aim is to lose fat but keep the muscle mass.
Thank you!
i tend to workout after work,which is the hours around 5:30 to 7:30 and workout for roughly around 20-4o mins….i eat a late lunch…….my question is ,do i have to eat after my workout which probably ends around 8:30 0r 9 pm?
April, you don't need to, but that also depends on the intensity of your workout and what you've eaten throughout the day.
Ben, I love your site. My question is…if I workout at 4:30 for an hour and my last meal before that is at 2:30, should I still wait the two hours after I finish? I feel like two hours is not considered “fasted” at this point, but is not close enough to be considered a pre-workout meal…
Yep, I'd still wait a couple hours if I were you. That's what I do. But you can use aminos in this case, like this: https://getkion.com/shop/body/kion-aminos/
Just worked out late night and could still feel the reminence of my turkey sandwich lunch in my stomach. Was wondering if I needed to eat or not. Thanks for answering my question!! :)
Meant to leave that in the main thread not as a reply. ;)
Wonderful website. A lot of useful info here. I am sending it to a few pals ans
additionally sharing in delicious. And of course,
thanks for your sweat!
I always go run for an hour in the morning with empty stomach
Is it ok if i eat after running directly ?
Yep – fasted exercise is good for you and yes you can have breakfast afterwards.
I exercise 3 hours after I wake up then eat 30minutes later. I also exercise 3hours after supper, then go to bed maybe close to 2hours later. Is this okay for a person who wants to lose weight?
Yes that's fine – but I would check this out if I were you: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2015/09/how-to-l…
Got it! Thanks!!
I guess my question is, assuming I take in enough calories and balance macronutrients correctly each day, if my late evening workout occurs a mere two or three hours before bedtime, would you recommend distributing primarily carb or protein or fat consumption just before bed? Would it be better to fast eight or so hours (until breakfast) instead?
Carb backload, baby! Save the carbs until that post evening workout, period. Even if dinner came before that workout.
Thanks Ben, very helpful! In terms of planning my nutrition, if I am trying to improve health and maintain weight, given the proximity of my 9 pm workout time to my 11 pm or 12 am bedtime, after my workout, would you suggest consuming carbs (to replenish glycogen stores), protein (to increase rate of protein synthesis) or nothing at all (i.e. eat 7 pm, workout 9 pm, sleep 11 pm or 12 pm, eat 6:30 am). Love your podcasts! Thanks.
If you're working out at 9 PM you should have dinner all done with by around seven or 8 PM and then after your workout just do some amino acids with a small amount of carbohydrate, like a small sweet potato or a small piece of raw fruit. But if you want to get into the nitty gritty detail, book a consult at <a href="https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/ben” target=”_blank”>www.greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/ben and choose 20 or 60 minutes and we'll get you scheduled.
Hi Ben, thank you for sharing your insights! If as a result of family & work commitments, my only opportunity to run occurs at 9 pm (after a 7 pm dinner), what (if anything) would you suggest I eat between my 9 pm run and bedtime (between 11 pm and 12 am)? Would you offer different advice if my 9 pm workout involves strength training or HIT (rather than an endurance activity)?
Hi Ben, thank you for sharing your insights! If as a result of family & work commitments, my only opportunity to run occurs at 9 pm (after a 7 pm dinner), what (if anything) would you suggest I eat between my 9 pm run and 11 pm or 12 am bedtime? Would you offer different advice if my 9 pm workout involves strength training or HIT (rather than an endurance activity)?
Scott, have you read this? https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/07/what-to-… – start there and let me know if you have any questions.
Does the need to refuel for an upcoming workout in the next 8 hours change if you’re in ketosis?
And what fueling strategies would you utilise (for post-nutrition) when ketotic?
If you want me to be more specific – high intensity intermittent team sport, not fasted
Only if that workout is glycolytically demanding/anaerobic. Fueling strategy would be any of the options here: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/07/easy-mea…
Could you please post a link (or two) to the peer-reviewed journals where these results were published? I get very science geeky about this. Many thanks!
You can find them in the article: “Putting the Pre & Post Workout Nutrition Debate Into The Grave” http://www.rockstartriathlete.com/putting-the-pre… and also listen to in Podcast Episode #73 of David Warden’s Tri-Talk http://traffic.libsyn.com/tritalk/tri_talk_73.mp3
i workout in the morning in empty stomach for 1 hr….is it to eat post workout meal after 2 hrs of workout…because my gym is far away from home ..and to get home it take 30 min …and i bath after workout…so it takes time ..so is it ok to eat after 2 hrs
I would suggest either eating something beforehand or finding a way to eat something within the first hour. Read the article, all the info you need is in there.
What if I want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time?
.. Then you should read this: https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2012/10/episode-…
Hi,
I experienced something weird this morning after my workout and googled my state and found your article amongst many to help. This is indeed a great article. Just want your opinion on this experience of mine.
So i woke up, after having a clove of garlic with warm lemon water, i started my workout. It was a 30 minutes session in which i had some strength exercises involved for core, some lunges and squats. I skipped a rope for 5 minutes to finish it off.
After 15 minutes, i had my oatmeal with a teaspoon of protein powder. And i have been feeling lethargic and sleepy since then. I was actually feeling sleepy while having my oatmeal.
What do you think went wrong here???? What do i need to stop doing? Thanks! Awaiting your reply.
I suspect this may have to do with either A) hypoglycemic response to oatmeal. Go for something more like the high fat smoothie on this page https://bengreenfieldfitness.com/2013/07/easy-… ; B) BAD protein powder…I'd check this out: https://greenfieldfitnesssystems.com/product/vega…
I want to know if you didn’t eat anything in the morning before a workout and then you had a moderate workout, even if you’re starving, will you NOT benefit as much or AT ALL from a workout if you don’t eat until more than an hour after a workout?
The answer is right there in the post…
It does make sense to fuel within that 20-60 minute window if you:
A) Haven’t had anything to eat before your workout and you’re in a totally energy depleted state (such as an early morning hard session before breakfast) and/or
B) You’re going to be working out again within the next 8 hours.
Good stuff Ben. I got fired from a Gym because I wouldn't push their smoothies on my athletes after a 45 min. spin class. Would these nutritional recovery ideas change if you were doing higher intensity workouts. Say LT intervals or hill repeats.
http://quickanddirtytips.com/health-fitness/exercise/what-to-ea…
Here you state otherwise. Confused.
Research evolves and I am constantly learning. What I have just said is what to do.
What is the latest research from? Is this from a journal article? Or another professional publication? I really wish that it would become mainstream for people to post their references. Nothing against you personally, love your stuff and I am a fellow Vandal, but there is so much, what I call "soap box science" out there…
Where did I say "latest research"? Read carefully. Just go look at *every* research study out there that's been done on sports nutrition or post workout nutrition. They're done in fasted subjects.
Ben, great points here and I trust your research and science without a doubt. However, after smashing a workout of like 10 tempo miles running and a high intensity spin workout, or any workout for that matter, there's nothing WRONG with eating after a workout is there? Granted, if you eat immediately before a workout, then do a not-to-intense workout, you don't need to eat. But if its been a couple hours then you workout for a couple hours, you should be eating something at least?
No there's no harm in eating after a workout like that. But if you're mixing up sports drinks and sugary protein laden beverages for magical postworkout fuel after a 45 minute lunchtime lift, you are simply fueling without need, and dumping oodles of unnecessary, acidic, nutrient-void sugar down the hatch.
I completely agree. Similarly, can you “start” the recovery process of a hard workout During a workout- like having a drink with some carbs and (moderate) protein during the last hour of a long ride?Thanks ben- congrats again on Kona man, that's really admirable–Chuck [email protected]@Amerigroupcorp.com Www.feerlessfood.com
I suppose if you want to carry that with you for the whole ride.