No Diet Liquid Protein What Post Workout Drink Should You Reach For, Sports Drinks, Chocolate Milk Or Water.
You have just completed your work out knowing that you have just burned up a bunch of calories but it has left you in serious need of fluids. What do you reach for; sports drinks, chocolate milk or water? What you choose at this point can make or break your fitness efforts.
What you choose to drink after a work out depends on your type of work out and your goals.
Are Sports Drinks the Best Option? Your first instinct might be to reach for a sports drink. Commercials and advertisements bombard us for sports drinks. They claim to rehydrate you better than anything else and replace minerals that your body may have lost during your workout. Is it true though?
Well actually it is true; sports drinks are a great way to rehydrate if you don't mind the calories. Sports drinks do have all the electrolytes and minerals needed to replenish what you lose in an extensive workout. An additional advantage of sports drinks is that they are flavored which encourages most people to drink the amount of liquid need to replenish after working out.
However, with 50 calories and approximately 13-15 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving, you can totally sabotage your diet if you are working out to lose weight. most people do not need the extra calories from sugar.
Recommendation: If you are doing extensive physical activity for 60 minutes or longer use a sports drink. Sports drinks are a good option if you are an athlete and you not trying to lose weight. Is Chocolate Milk, New Sports Drink?? We've all heard the ads lately about chocolate milk being the new sports drink. When I first heard that I had a hard time imagining being able to even think about drinking milk after a work out. It doesn't sound very refreshing or thirst quenching to me so I pretty much counted these ads as a bunch of bunk.
After some research though, I found that chocolate milk is actually a very good beverage to drink after strength training. It has the right balance of carbs and protein to help with muscle recovery.
In studies of cyclist they found that the athletes that drank chocolate milk after expending all their energy were able to go 50% further on their next round of exercise. About the same as the athletes that consumed sports drinks.
Again, the weight conscious need to take heed. Regular chocolate milk can have up to 226 calories and 32 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving which makes sports drinks look like a diet beverage. You can cut the calories by choosing low fat chocolate milk. Low fat chocolate milk has about 158 calories and 24 grams of sugar but that is till high.
Recommendation: Drink low-fat chocolate milk after strength training to help muscle recovery but only if you are not watching your calorie consumption. What About Water? What if you are like me and working out to burn calories and lose weight? I am not a professional athlete and I rarely exercise more than 60 minutes at a time. Every calorie counts in my world and I prefer to eat rather than drink my calories.
Water is your best option for low impact activities that are less than 60 minutes long, like short runs, walking, quick cardio, yard work, swimming, etc. Yes good old fashioned water.
If you are not a plain water fan then drink enhanced water but watch for the calories. Ounce for ounce some of the enhanced waters have as many calories in them as a soda!
Recommendation: Drink plain or enhanced water to rehydrate after low impact physical activities or if you are watching your caloric intake. Keep the calorie count to 10 calories or less per 8 ounces. Want More?
For more nutritional and training advice call personal trainer. Call a personal trainer trained and certified and can help you reach your health and fitness goals.
No Diet Liquid Protein.