If you want to eat after a workout. What to do if you don't feel like eating after a workout? "Female version" of the previous horror story

Those who are actively involved in sports or fitness know that after you give your best on the simulators, you don’t want to eat for a very long time. Obviously, after exercise, some mechanism is activated that suppresses appetite and hunger. But what is this mechanism?

Jay-hun Jongu (Jae Hoon Jeong) and his colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine came up with the idea that it was all about an increase in body temperature - we warm up quite a lot due to physical activity.

Thermoregulation, like appetite, depends on the hypothalamus, a small area in the brain that controls a variety of physiological processes. Each process has its own group of nerve cells, but maybe the hypothalamic neurons that regulate eating behavior also sense temperature?

Cells that suppress appetite are found in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus; their peculiarity is that they are able to directly feel the hormones and other substances that float in the blood (the brain, as we know, is protected from direct contact with the blood by the blood-brain barrier).

To see if these neurons could respond to heat, the researchers treated them with the alkaloid capsaicin, found in hot peppers, which acts on heat receptors (which is why we feel the peppers burn). An article in PLoS Biology says that two-thirds of the cells in the arcuate nucleus have sensed capsaicin - that is, they have heat receptors and are active.

From experiments with cells, they moved on to experiments on mice. When the animals were injected with a burning substance directly into the hypothalamus, into the region of these very neurons, the mice lost their appetite for 12 hours - they continued to eat, but ate noticeably less than usual. If heat receptors on neurons were blocked, then capsaicin did not suppress appetite.

When mice were run on a treadmill for 40 minutes, their temperature rose rapidly (including in the zone of the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus) and remained elevated for an hour - and mice after “fitness” also ate half as much as mice that did not exercise. But if mice ran on a treadmill with disabled thermal receptors on neurons, then they did not have any changes in their appetite - physical education did not affect their appetite.

That is, the hypothesis was confirmed: brain cells that suppress appetite really respond to heat. (To explain why this is necessary, for example, you can do this: a lot of physical activity happens when you have to run away from someone, and the desire to eat a hearty meal here would be inopportune.)

Most likely, the same mechanism has remained with us, and here you can come up with different options for how to use it to reduce weight. Although what is there to come up with - you just need to go to the gym.

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The appetite-regulating neurons in the brain sense body temperature.

Jay-hoon Jong ( Jae Hoon Jeong) and his colleagues at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine came up with the idea that it was all about an increase in body temperature - we warm up quite a lot due to physical activity.

To see if these neurons could respond to heat, the researchers treated them with the alkaloid capsaicin, found in hot peppers, which acts on heat receptors (which is why we feel the peppers burn). In an article in PLoS Biology it is said that two-thirds of the cells of the arcuate nucleus felt capsaicin - that is, they have heat receptors and they are active.

If you go to the gym, then one way or another you are more attentive to your diet. The body just makes you think about what to eat before a workout and what to do when you really want to eat after a workout ...

I managed to ask a question about why it is so strong, one of the best nutritionists in Ukraine - Svetlana Viktorovna Fus. Now she is participating in the filming of the new season, and she also helps women lose weight in the unique project Slimmer and Younger.

Svetlana Fus spoke about the main reasons for an attack of very strong hunger after a workout (after all, what you want to eat is normal, the problem is that you want to eat MUCH, VERY MUCH).

So. Svetlana Fus named two main reasons:

insufficient or improper nutrition before training;

I know that my load is quite adequate (45-55 minutes of step), so I asked about what dietary mistakes lead to this terrible hunger after a workout.

It turned out that the problem was in my desire to limit the amount of carbohydrates. And before training (1.5-2 hours) for people like me (who really want to eat after fitness) - you just need to eat a portion of porridge with boiled turkey or chicken.

I've been doing this for a week now and I've noticed that it really helps. Not only is there no feeling of hunger after a workout, but the session itself is much easier. Lighter than after cheese, cottage cheese or a piece of boiled meat, which I used to eat before training, trying to limit the amount of carbohydrates. Need carbs!

If you do not have a similar problem after training, you still need to eat before class. So training will be more effective and digestion will be just perfect. Carbohydrates can be different: porridge, fresh juice, vegetable salad. Beets, carrots, pumpkin - these are the products that will give energy to the body.

Salad with radish and egg

INGREDIENTS:

1 bunch of radishes with fresh leaves, 1 egg, 50 g of cheese, dill, 3 green onions, 1 tbsp. tablespoon olive oil, salt

COOKING:

Wash the radishes, let them soak in water for 30 minutes, free them from the tails and cut into slices, radish leaves into strips, cheese into cubes. Finely chop the hard-boiled egg, onion and dill. Mix all the ingredients, add small pieces of cheese, salt, season with olive oil.

After training, very active processes in the body begin. And if you want fitness to rejuvenate you and make you healthier, you need to give the body the amino acids that are found in proteins. What to eat after a workout? It can be a light protein, which is found in cottage cheese, rennet cheeses ("Adyghe", "Mozzarella"). You can have dinner with boiled fish, turkey, eggs (if the goal is to lose weight, then only protein).

Find out why you get hungry after a workout, whether you should eat after the gym, and how carbohydrates affect your body.

Why does hunger appear after a workout?

This problem is especially relevant for beginner athletes. Many of them say that the lesson has not yet ended, but they are already hungry. Most prefer to endure, because they are sure that eating immediately after training reduces its effectiveness. One of the main reasons for the appearance of hunger after a workout is an improperly adjusted diet.

Most often, people, having decided to get rid of excess weight or pump up, get a subscription to the gym and begin to perform a lot of exercises. As a result, they return home exhausted and it is quite obvious that the desire to have a bite in this case is simply huge. Such a system will not bring you the desired success. In order not to feel hungry after a workout, you need to eat well two hours before the start of the training. As a result, you will have the desire to eat 40 minutes after your workout.

First we need to find out who is training on an empty stomach:

those who decide to train in the morning;
if you need to attend classes after work;
losing weight, confident in the effectiveness of this approach.

However, you must remember that such an approach to organizing the training process is not only incapable of bringing positive results, but can even harm the body. Let's look at two situations.

The first example would be a morning run. The man did not eat until eight or nine o'clock, and there is no doubt that upon returning home he will have a strong appetite. In addition, people often wake up with a strong feeling of hunger. If in such a situation you do not have breakfast, but immediately go for a run, then hunger after a workout cannot be avoided.

In the second case, a person immediately after the working day goes to the hall. This suggests that between four and six o'clock in the evening he did not eat. We will not focus on those processes that are activated in the body during training. We only note the fact that already at the twentieth minute of training there are no reserves of glucose left in the body and at the end of the training the body requires to replenish them in a short time. The most dangerous thing about feeling hungry after a workout is not the appetite itself, but the fact that you can eat harmful foods.

How to get rid of hunger after a workout?

As we have said, first of all, you should eat before the start of the training:

If the lesson is held in the morning, then it is worth at least drinking a glass of juice (freshly squeezed). The body will quickly process it and increase its glucose stores.
When you visit the gym after work, at the end of the working day, you should eat foods containing complex carbohydrates, such as porridge. Also suitable are fruits.

Exercising at relatively low temperatures can also lead to post-workout hunger. This is possible at that moment if you train at a temperature of less than 15 degrees. Similarly, the situation is with classes in the pool. The body must spend energy not only to perform movements, but also to maintain body temperature.

If you swam in the pool, then you know that after a workout you really want to eat something, and preferably with a high energy value. If you prefer to train outdoors, then you should responsibly approach the choice of clothing. When you plan to swim, don't spend more than 30 minutes in the pool.

Severe hunger may appear after a high-intensity workout. The reason for what is happening is quite obvious - the high consumption of glycogen. The actin you train, the more the body has to expend energy. To avoid hunger after a high-intensity workout, a compromise must be found. When playing sports, it is important to have a sense of proportion, for example, train for 30 minutes, do not use high intensity, take fruits or cottage cheese with you.

What to do if you feel hungry after a workout?

Let's see what to do if after the training you really want to eat. Let's start with the fact that your occupation should not be the line after which you must deny yourself food. Moreover, it is even necessary to have a snack. When the body receives nutrients after physical exertion, the regenerative processes are accelerated. Glycogen stores are quickly restored, and after that, the restoration of microdamages in muscle tissues begins.

To get rid of the feeling of hunger after training, we recommend doing the following:

chicken breast (boiled);
egg white omelet without adding yolks;
low-fat cottage cheese;
squid (boiled or steamed);
vegetable salads dressed with olive oil, but in small quantities.

Of course, proper catering in general and after training in particular has a lot of nuances. Do not forget about the individuality of the body of each person. For some, the norm is to use a glass of kefir after class, and another athlete says that at this time, fermented milk products are not absorbed in his body.

Some compare hunger with thirst, while arguing that if you drink enough water throughout the day, you will not drink more than the body needs. You can definitely say that after the training, water is necessary, but hunger may not immediately disappear. We can recommend that you experiment and determine what is best for you.

Fasting and sports

There is a lot to talk about intermittent fasting today. If you analyze the reviews about it, you get the impression of a fairly high efficiency. Let's try to figure out how sports can be associated with fasting.

Benefits of Intermittent Fasting for Athletes

Let's start with the advantages that fans of this technique talk about:

Insulin sensitivity increases, and the body responds better to carbohydrates from food.
Studies have found significant improvements in health, affecting all systems of our body.
Metabolic processes are accelerated.
The body more intensively synthesizes norepinephrine, which leads to an increase in energy reserves.
The production of somatotropin is accelerated, which leads to the restructuring of energy metabolism for the use of fats, and protein compounds are used exclusively to solve plastic problems.
Appetite drops, although many are sure of the opposite. If you are fasting correctly, then your appetite will not increase.
Convenient from a practical point of view, because there is no need to carry food containers with you.

Quite often you can hear the complaints of athletes that fractional nutrition does not allow them to reduce their appetite and everything happens exactly the opposite. Not every person can be satisfied with small portions of food and it may be better to eat less often, but eat a lot of food at once. Obviously, there is only one thing in this matter - each person must find the optimal diet for himself.

Should carbohydrates be eliminated from the diet?

The impact of hunger on human performance is directly related to evolution. Our ancestors did not have the opportunity to refuel with carbohydrates before hunting or gathering plants. They were forced to alternate periods of fasting with times when food was plentiful.

However, it is necessary to look for food on an empty stomach, otherwise it is impossible to survive. Scientists are sure that our genetics has not undergone major changes since the time of the caveman. This allows us to assume that even today we can perform a large amount of work without additional feeding of carbohydrates.

For energy, the body is able to use not only carbohydrates, but also fats. In the body of an average person, the carbo supply is about 500 calories, but fat reserves can be much larger. For example, your weight is 75 kilos and a quarter of this mass is fat. Thus, the energy reserve in the body will exceed 160 thousand calories.

Aerobic exercise activates the processes of utilization of adipose tissues and, first of all, it is fats that are burned. The body is able to adapt to physical stress and a person becomes stronger, faster and more beautiful. When you starve and exercise against this background, the body begins to more rationally use the fat reserves it has. We again come to the logical conclusion that exercising, combined with a carbohydrate deficiency, can help you lose fat. The situation is similar with the intermittent fasting system.

The body creates stores of glycogen from carbohydrates supplied with food. Moreover, they are stored not only in the muscles, but also in the liver. If muscle glycogen is only needed to provide energy to the muscles, then the substance located in the liver is used to feed the brain.

There are plenty of studies showing the importance of eating carbohydrate sources before, during, and after exercise. In this case, it is necessary to consume enough carbohydrates during high-intensity training. In this mode of operation, the body primarily uses carbohydrates. Fats become the main source of energy only if unhurried movements are made.

When an intense workout lasting more than an hour is carried out, scientists recommend taking from 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrates every 60 minutes. One of the main reasons for the lack of progress in losing weight is the high frequency of carbohydrate replenishment. For example, to burn all the calories contained in a regular bottle of sports drink, you may need about 30 minutes of leisurely work on a stationary bike or treadmill. If after the training you immediately eat, then you may well gain weight.

If you have heard of the intermittent fasting system, then you probably know its basic principle - for 16 hours you fast, and for the remaining 8 you eat three times. It should be noted that this technique is actively used not only for weight loss, but also for gaining muscle mass. If you do not trust the reviews that are on the official website of the intermittent fasting system, then there are the results of a scientific experiment. It was conducted by British scientists and confirms the fact that during fasting, growth factors are activated and it is easier for an athlete to gain muscle mass.

Unfortunately, many novice athletes do not pay due attention to proper nutrition. They mistakenly believe that for the growth of muscle mass, you just need to exhaustively train, and nutrition is a secondary matter. If you are one of these people, then we have to disappoint you: food before training and food after training plays a huge role in the process of bodybuilding! Here you can draw an analogy with the construction of a house: if workers during construction use cheap and low-quality materials, then they are unlikely to ever finish this house. The same is with bodybuilding: if a person eats everything, then he can forget about a beautiful and slender physique forever! The purpose of today's article is to tell you what to eat after a workout to gain mass or lose weight, as well as to bust a few myths associated with nutrition. Interested? Then we wish you a pleasant reading!

Why should you eat right after a workout?

We have already briefly said that a good diet is necessary to build a beautiful physique, but now we will reveal this issue in more detail. Proper post-workout nutrition is the key to good recovery and muscle growth. Intense physical activity depletes the reserves of water and energy in the human body. In addition, while working with iron, the athlete's muscle fibers are destroyed, and high-quality products are needed to restore them. Some people who want to get rid of extra pounds at all costs mistakenly believe that if they do not eat at all after a workout, then this will benefit their body. In fact, such a serious restriction in food, on the contrary, can seriously harm your health! In order to have good health throughout the day and strength for the next workouts, you need to replenish your energy reserves.

Protein-carbohydrate window

Almost every athlete who is actively involved in strength training in the gym sooner or later comes across such a concept as a "protein-carbohydrate window". According to supporters of this theory, within an hour after a workout, it is imperative to give your body those vitamins and minerals that it "lost" during intense physical exertion. They believe that at the end of this time, catabolic processes are launched in the body that destroy our muscles, and do not contribute to their increase. It so happens that not all people have the opportunity to take food after training during this time. In such a situation, many athletes strongly recommend using some kind of sports nutrition (proteins, gainers, etc.). Many fitness portals and publications write about this theory, but is everything really as they claim? From here we smoothly move on to the next section, which has the answer to this question.

Post workout food for muscle growth. When should you use?

To answer this question, a group of athletes decided to conduct an experiment. They refused to consume the gainer immediately after exercise and instead began to eat regular protein food an hour after the workout. At the end of the experiment, its participants did not show any deterioration in the results, but, on the contrary, noted that such a meal after training had a positive effect on muscle growth. On top of that, the subjects noted that during the experiment they improved the functioning of the gastrointestinal tract. We can easily find an explanation for this in medicine. The fact is that after intensive work with iron in the next hour, there is an outflow of blood from the muscles to the internal organs (including the gastrointestinal tract), which favorably affects the process of digestion.

Post workout food for weight loss

If your goal is to lose a few pounds of excess fat, then the first 40 minutes you are strongly advised to refrain from eating. And the point here is not only in the better functioning of the gastrointestinal tract (as we wrote earlier), but in the fat-burning processes that take place during this period of time. For the first half an hour, an exhausted body takes energy reserves from the fat layer, thereby reducing it in size. If at this time you eat tightly, then the body will burn the calories received from the food eaten, and not the extra fat, which the training was aimed at combating.

The main principle of proper nutrition for weight loss sounds like this: you need to eat fewer calories than you spend, but not less than you need for the full functioning of the body. For people who are shedding excess body fat, they should focus on eating high-protein foods (such as eggs, cottage cheese, or other low-fat dairy products) after a workout. You can also add protein shakes to your diet.

You should also not forget about carbohydrates (we are talking about slow carbohydrates, and not about fast ones, which are found in excess in sugar and sweets). In this case, fresh fruits, vegetables, berries and whole grain flour products are perfect. Do not forget about fruit and vegetable fresh juices, dried fruits and unsalted nuts.

When it comes to eating after workouts for weight loss in the evening, you can't help but say a word about fats. Many experts argue that fatty foods after exercise have a negative effect on your figure. In addition, fat and dietary fiber slow down the digestion process. And you know what? They are absolutely right! But despite this, you should not completely exclude this element from your diet. After exercising in the gym, it is recommended to consume fats in an amount of no more than 10 grams.

Gaining muscle mass: what to eat

Eating after a workout to gain muscle mass is a topic that interests many athletes no less than food for weight loss. In fact, the difference between these diets is that when gaining muscle mass, a person should not limit himself in calories, but, on the contrary, consume them in sufficient quantities.

Post-workout meals should contain enough protein, slow carbohydrates, not be too high in calories and, most importantly, make you feel full. This is especially true for people who play sports in the evening and eat before bed. Here is a list of the best post-workout foods to increase muscle size:

Eggs (in the morning).
Seafood.
Yogurt.
Cottage cheese.
Boiled chicken.
Herbal teas.

After a meal, you should not feel hungry, but this does not mean that you should overeat and force food into yourself.

What should not be eaten at night?

As mentioned earlier, most people tend to train in the evening, after the end of the working day. The list of foods that we mentioned earlier can be consumed 1-2 hours before going to bed, but there are some foods that are best avoided if you eat after a workout at a late time. Their use may not have a very positive effect not only on the figure, but also on the quality of sleep. These include:

Meat products with a high content of calories.
Foods high in saturated fat.
Sweets.
Mushrooms.
Coffee and products containing cocoa.

Do you need sports nutrition?

This topic causes a lot of controversy among both beginners and professional athletes. Some argue that it is impossible to do without sports nutrition in bodybuilding and fitness, while others talk about its uselessness and absolute uselessness. Still, do you need to use sports nutrition? In fact, the answer to this question is as simple as 5 cents. Protein, gainer, creatine, etc. are all sports supplements (the key word here is "supplements"). If you are able to provide yourself with good food containing a lot of proteins and high-quality carbohydrates, then there is not much point in buying a sports nutrition. But if, for example, you live very far from the gym and get home for a long time, or you have a busy work schedule in which you can’t even make time for yourself to eat fully, then sports nutrition can really help you.

Protein: myths and reality

The importance of protein in the process of bodybuilding, we think, no one will dispute. Many beginners are ready to absorb tons of it so that their biceps increase at least a centimeter. Some athletes believe that after a workout you need to take a loading dose of protein, because only at this time it is well absorbed. In fact, both proteins and carbohydrates are normally synthesized by our body throughout the day, and therefore there is not much difference when exactly you take your protein product. This can be done both an hour after work in the hall, and during the next day.

The best product for the night

We have previously mentioned how important this product is, complete casein protein, which is ideal for a night's sleep. Casein fills muscle fibers with amino acids for 8 hours, promotes their growth and significantly slows down catabolic processes. As an alternative to cottage cheese, you can use a special casein mixture.

Importance of water

During exercise, the body loses a lot of water through sweat. In addition, the greater the mass of a person, the more fluid he will release during training. With the departure of water from the body, the athlete gets tired faster, which is why productivity gradually decreases. Therefore, it is very important to drink enough liquid both during classes in the gym and after them.

We have already discussed with you the topic of food after training, gaining muscle mass and losing weight. Now it's time to give you some very important tips:

Make a diet based on your physical data, and not the data of other people. Do not forget that each person is individual and each needs a different approach in terms of nutrition and training.
Don't drink alcohol after your workout. Studies show that alcohol drunk after working with iron accelerates the catabolic processes of the body by 40%.
If you feel that changing your diet is getting worse every day, then be sure to consult a doctor! It is very important to consult with a specialist on the topic of dietary changes from the very beginning in order to avoid problems in the future.

Your attention was presented an article on the topic: "Food for muscles after training." We hope that in this publication you have found a lot of interesting information that answered your questions.

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