Post workout meals to burn fat and build muscle - Part 1

There are a number of views about post workout meals like it is the most important meal of the day (after the breakfast), it needs to have lots of carbs, it needs to have lots of proteins and bla bla bla. There is so much information on the internet, that you never know what is right for you. I remember when I was doing my own research I found people basing there arguments on things like you should not eat too much protein because it will turn into carbs and you will get fat. I almost fell off my chair laughing when I read this. What I intend to do is give you some basic scientific facts about your what goal goes with which post workout meal so that you can make your own decision.

Ok…so our topic today is post workout meals to burn fat and builds muscle. The most common type of muscle building post workout meal is - high GI carbs followed by low GI carbs and high protein and no fats. The idea is - after a muscle building workout, you are completely drained of the muscle glycogen (carbs) which is the primary source of energy for your body and you need to repair the muscles as you have put stress on them during the workout and created microscopic muscle tears. If you take the high GI carbs right after a workout and then take the low GI carbs and protein, you get the following effects.

- You raise you blood sugar levels
- You raise insulin levels
- You get low GI carbs and protein in your system for muscle repair

The sugar will rush to the muscles, get used up and fill the glycogen pools, which means that you will store the carbs/glycogen in the muscles rather than as fats. There is a lot behind this as well, but I don’t want to bore you unless you ask me to :-). Insulin is an anabolic (cell building) hormone and also promotes muscle synthesis (muscle building) - it will use the protein that you have taken and push it to repair the muscle (i.e. build the muscle). The remaining low GI carbs will provide continuous energy to your body in order to get the muscle repaired and not feel lethargic. This is the most widely used approach for muscle building. The mix of high GI and low GI carbohydrates is used to provide your body with quick regeneration properties and also getting constant energy so that you don’t feel tired. There are a lot more details to this but you get the gist of it :-).

This method is excellent for muscle building, but is it good for fat loss? The insulin level tells your body, not to use any stored fat as the body has too many carbohydrates anyway, so the majority of the energy comes from carbohydrates. How will you lose fat using this method? The answer is that you can lose fat and weight using this method only if the meal is very small. Once the high GI carbs run to the muscles and there are no carbs in the blood stream, the body may get some energy from the fats. However, it is important to note that the insulin levels will be raised (to some extent) which will minimize the fat usage but nonetheless, some fat can be used. Once you take the low GI carbs and proteins, you will slow down the usage of fats even more. Basically, this method is not all that great for fat loss. There are other more effective methods for fat loss.

Stay tuned for the next post there I will discuss a post workout meal that can help you burn fat. I want to know what you guys think so, please don’t forget to leave comments. Till next time :-).