Diet After Lifting Weights – Best Foods to Eat After a Workout

Are you a workout enthusiast or passionate about bodybuilding?

Then, planning what to eat after lifting weights is just as important as planning your whole workout regime.

Whether it’s about just having a fit body or about building muscles and strength; all those who are into workouts and exercise have a fitness goal to achieve.

And for hitting those goals, the basic requirement is to maintain a balance between your diet and exercise.

When lifting weights or strength training is a part of your workout, your worn-out muscles need a lot of nutrition to recover themselves.

But while many focus on improvising their workout, they fail to look after their diet.

Hence, along with worrying about how much weight to lift, “what should I eat after lifting weights”, should also be an area of concern for you.

Diet should be a vital part of your training plan if you want to maximize the benefits of your workout.

So, what should be your post-workout meals to fuel your weight lifting routine.

Diet After Lifting Weights: Why Is It Important?

Strength training is not easy and lifting weight is not a joke.

You try involving as many muscles as you can to get a more defined and stronger shape.

But if you forget to fuel your muscles properly, you might have to wait longer to witness the desired results.

Wait!

You must be thinking—well, I know what to eat before lifting weights in the morning.

But what about when you put those weights back?

When your muscles are completely torn?

When you are extensively exhausted?

Don’t you think the machine AKA your body needs to be fueled right to continue working hard?

Also, micro-tears in the muscles take place causing muscle wasting.

This whole process begins the anabolic activity in the body leading to muscle growth and development after which your body is in dire need of energy to rebuild itself.

Hence, you need to refuel it and what you choose to eat after exercising has a lot to do with building stronger and bigger muscles.

Nevertheless, post-workout nutrition is required to:
#1. Replenish your energy.
#2. Re-build the muscle tissue.
#3. Repair the muscle damage.

Here’s a list of some of the foods you can add to your diet after you are done lifting weights.

5 Foods You Should Eat After Workout

Being thoughtful about what to eat after lifting weights or simply just a workout will help you reach your fitness goals early and also maximize the benefits of your hard work.

And here, I’m not talking about the post-workout supplements.

Rather, I am talking about the real foods; the food that you and your body enjoy and need after working hard.

#1. Eat Whole Eggs

Every medium-sized egg contains 7 gm of protein making it one of the excellent sources of protein.

In a study done at the University of Illinois, researchers measured the rate of protein synthesis between men who consumed whole eggs and those who had only egg whites.

And even though both contained an equal amount of protein, there was a 40% greater muscle-building response from whole eggs as compared to egg whites.

So, whether you prefer scrambling, making an omelet, having plain toast and egg, or simply mashing some hard-boiled eggs; having whole eggs after your workout is a complete meal your body needs.

#2. Have Some Sweet Potatoes

When working out, you can’t afford to skip carbs.

When looking for post-workout snacks, carb-rich foods are indeed your friend and need to be on top of your list.

Carb-rich foods like sweet potatoes, grains, and fruits can maintain your immunity level and increase the intensity of your exercise.

Moreover, if you’re a vegetarian and don’t know what to eat when lifting weights to lose weight, you can go for sweet potatoes; they are indeed savory and nutritious!

#3. Make Some Room For Cottage Cheese

Not many know that cottage cheese is a brilliant source of protein and can help you build/maintain muscles.

It is one of the cheapest sources of high protein food; 4oz of cottage cheese can offer 13g of both casein and whey protein.

Hence, not much to surprise, cottage cheese is freshly home-made in most of the South-Asian households.

Whether you eat it plain or add some fruits, texture, and flavor, cottage cheese is your great go-to option.

#4. Greek Yogurt With Berries

Do You know what do weightlifters eat?

Well, although it depends from person to person, one thing I can tell you for sure is that Greek yogurt is everyone’s favorite when it comes to post-workout snacks.

Having a cup of Greek yogurt with some added berries will not only fulfill your body’s protein requirement but also provide it with antioxidants that will help you rejuvenate and relax.

#5. Stay Hydrated

Working out squeezes nearly every drop of water from your body.

While drinking water doesn’t necessarily come under the category of what to eat after weight lifting, you cannot deny its importance.

Staying hydrated is one of the essentials both before and after a workout.

It ensures better returns from those workouts.

Moreover, when you sweat while working out, your body loses electrolytes and water.

Hence, hydrating yourself after working out aids in performance improvement and muscle recovery as well.

Furthermore, the ways to hydrate vary from person to person along with the amount of hydration required.

While some simply go for plain water, some like to have juice, herbal tea, or coconut water.

Added to these recommendations, you can also try having salmon, foods rich in omega 3 fatty acids, ricotta, protein pancakes, low-sugar breakfast cereal with milk, whole grain bread, and oatmeals.

Moreover, now that you know what to eat after your workouts, determining when you eat must also be considered in your post-workout meal plan.

When To Eat After Workout?

While most people lack patience and start to munch over their favorite protein bars while chugging down protein shakes, research shows that you don’t have to consume your nutrients immediately after working out.

To elaborate, the best time to have your meal post-workout is 30 minutes after you are done lifting weights.

This will allow your muscles to store the glycogen in cells and help relax the muscles.

Your second post-workout meal should be 2-3 hours after having your first snack. For this, you can choose a mix of carbohydrates and fast-digesting proteins.

Correspondingly, what not to eat after workout is also important, and, therefore, you must avoid or limit high-fat foods because they are difficult to digest.

To simply put, the food list of what to eat after lifting weights need to be wholesome and fulfilling in terms of nutrients.

Benefits Of Post Workout Snack

From what I look around, most people are blindly following the masses when engaging themselves in strength and endurance training.

However, these investments yield no noticeable results when done without implementing nutrition.

Weight lifting, strength, and endurance training push your muscles towards a change, and, in that process, your muscles need to be replenished and repaired.

And only one thing can do that, i.e., diet.

Benefits of having a nutritious post-workout snack include:

#1. Remodeling and repairing of the muscles
#2. Boosted immunity system
#3. Reduction in muscle soreness
#4. Reduction in the production of stress hormones
#5. Replenishment of the stored form of carbohydrate
#6. Better preparation of the body for the future workout sessions
#7. Boosted muscle building
#8. Stronger bones and muscles

So, what to eat after lifting weights to build muscle and lose weight is critical for reaching your body goals and must not be ignored.

In A Nutshell

Losing weight, having a fit body, building muscle and strength, and carving 6 pack abs is the dream of every person who steps inside a gym.

And for that, they are willing to lift weights and do strength training.

But when you know what diet to complement your hard work with, for instance, what to eat when strength training to lose weight, it makes your journey more exciting and beneficial.

So, next time when planning to lift the weight, do pay attention to what you feed yourself for better results.

FAQs

The following Q&A will give you answers to some of the most-asked questions.

#1. Are post-workout snacks important?

Hell yes! It’s important to replenish your energy after those workouts.

And while quantity might vary, it’s essential to fuel your body to help recover and improve the performance.

#2. What happens if I lift weight and don’t diet?

If you are lifting weight, clearly, you want to build muscle and gain strength.

And without nutrition, it’s not even nearly possible.

Lifting weight without a proper diet leads to loss of muscle tissue and energy, which will hinder the muscle gaining process and recovery of sore muscles after the workout.

#3. Is it ok to not eat after workout?

When you fail to provide your body with adequate energy, it shifts to a catabolic state and starts to break muscle mass for energy.

Because of lack of energy, you might also feel nauseous and light-headed.

#4. Can we eat just after exercise?

The ideal time to eat after working out is within 30 minutes.

Try to distribute your post-workout meals into two parts and eat your second meal after 2-3 hours.

#5. Is it better to eat before or after a workout?

It’s important to prepare your body before you hit the gym. A mini-meal at least 1-3 hours before starting your workout is good for your body.

And while the benefits of post and pre-workout meals might vary depending on the body, scientists believe post-workout meal has comparatively more benefits to serve.

So, hopefully, this thorough guide has helped you! Let me know what other queries you have about post-workout meals and diet plans right below in the comments section.