After your exercise routine, don’t forget to nourish your body well with good nutrition using these plant-based post workout snack and meal tips for women.

We all know the importance of a fitness routine, from the pre workout meal to recovery afterwards. While a pre workout meal helps to improve glycogen stores to power you through the workout to follow, post workout snacks and meals help aid in recovery of the body. Both meals are of equal importance, and when implemented consistently will set you up for greater success in reaching your health and fitness goals. 

Feeling tired, sluggish, and sore after a workout are all signs your body needs rest from the work you just put it through. While incorporating planned rest days into your fitness routine gives the body time to recover, it also needs supplementation in the form of food to optimize the recovery process. Aiming to consume protein and carbohydrates within 1-2 hours after a workout is ideal for recovery. 

Benefits of a Post Workout Snack or Meal

During your workout, whether that be pilates, strength training, or running, you are utilizing your body’s glycogen stores. This is the energy your body has saved up from the food you ate prior to exercise to provide fuel for your movement. As exercise duration and intensity increases, you use up these stores. By the end of your workout, the stores are most likely diminished to almost nothing, meaning your body needs more food to replenish so you can function properly during the rest of your day.

Additionally, the recovery process itself is energetically expensive. This means your body is going to need extra fuel in order to recover properly. During your workout, you are actively breaking muscle fibers with every repetition or step you make. In order to repair this breakage and make improvements in your fitness, you need to properly fuel your recovery, as well as your workout. Getting in a snack or meal soon after a workout helps to decrease muscle protein breakdown, increase muscle synthesis, restore glycogen stores, and overall enhance recovery.

What to Eat Post Workout

Consuming protein and carbohydrates post workout are crucial to optimal recovery and growth. As muscle protein is broken down during a workout, consuming a good source of protein after a workout can give your body the amino acids it needs to repair the tissue and also build new muscle. This also supports metabolic adaptation and lean skeletal tissue in adults. As protein consumption is a large part of muscle recovery, it is important to note that it should be done across the span of the day and not all at once. Eating around 20 grams of protein every 3-4 hours is recommended for proper absorption and utilization of the amino acids before and after training. 

As mentioned, your glycogen stores need replenishing after a workout has drained them. The rate at which your body’s stores are depleted depends on the intensity of the exercise and how much fuel you had before the workout. Nevertheless, consuming carbohydrates in combination with protein post workout can maximize protein and glycogen synthesis. Eating a 3:1 or 2:1 ratio of carbohydrates to protein is adequate for recovery. The amount of carbohydrates needed varies slightly depending on the activity performed. For endurance training more carbohydrates may be needed post workout compared to resistance training which may need less.

As for fat consumption post workout, there is not enough evidence to say whether it is beneficial or harmful to recovery, so plan on including moderate fat intake in your healthy meal or snack after workouts.

Post Workout Plant-Based Snack and Meal Ideas

Try these recipes to power your post workout period with good nutrition.

Timing of Post Workout Meals

While earlier research has supported the idea of an anabolic window after a workout to receive the greatest effects of muscle growth and recovery, newer research has shown that this window is wider than initial thought. The time to consume protein post workout to maximize the muscle’s response can last up to a few hours. Additionally, what you ate pre workout may also still be in use post workout (check out my plant-based pre workout blog). Recovery from a workout extends past what you eat directly after a workout, as well. Continuously eating protein and carbohydrates throughout the day can help give the body the proper nutrients it needs to recover for your next training session. 

Ensuring you are hydrating properly after a workout is a large part of recovery as well. Essentially all weight loss during a workout is fluid, therefore drinking around 20 ounces of water after a workout can help rehydrate your body.  

Plant Based Protein Efficiency 

While some may doubt whether plant-based protein consumption is adequate for proper muscle recovery, a new study shows that an exclusively plant-based diet is not any different than a mixed matched, animal protein consuming diet for muscle strength and mass. This highlights the fact that you can eat plant-based protein options and still achieve your health and fitness goals. 

While there are many options and opinions on post workout supplements, smoothies, and drinks, the best recovery comes from whole foods. Consuming the correct macronutrients post workout and continuously throughout the day will give your body the fuel to recover so you are able to make strides towards your goals and hit the next workout with more intensity than the last. 

For more information on fitness, check out these blogs: 

Written by Ashley Teltow, dietetic intern, with Sharon Palmer, MSFS, RDN

References

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3. Rasmussen BB, Tipton KD, Miller SL, Wolf SE, Wolfe RR. An oral essential amino acid-carbohydrate supplement enhances muscle protein anabolism after resistance exercise. J Appl Physiol (1985). 2000;88(2):386-392. doi:10.1152/jappl.2000.88.2.386. 
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5. Schoenfeld BJ, Aragon A, Wilborn C, Urbina SL, Hayward SE, Krieger J. Pre- versus post-exercise protein intake has similar effects on muscular adaptations [published correction appears in PeerJ. 2017 Aug 1;5:]. PeerJ. 2017;5:e2825. Published 2017 Jan 3. doi:10.7717/peerj.2825. 
6. Hevia-Larraín V, Gualano B, Longobardi I, et al. High-Protein Plant-Based Diet Versus a Protein-Matched Omnivorous Diet to Support Resistance Training Adaptations: A Comparison Between Habitual Vegans and Omnivores. Sports Med. 2021;51(6):1317-1330. doi:10.1007/s40279-021-01434-9.