The Recovery Window

A surprisingly good diet day yesterday. Both my husband and I were really tired and not in the mood to cook last night, so we ended up having readymade soup with beans on toast. Given the lack of meat, I was worried my protein count for the day would be low, but I’m quite impressed with the 19g of protein I did get out of that meal! On the plus side I wasn't overly hungry or experiencing cravings for sweets or carbohydrates, which I put down to my Sponser Protein Snack bar after my workout. 

One of the keys to getting the most out of workouts is to eat within 30 minutes of stopping exercise. Right after exercise your muscles are craving protein to repair the damage done by the workout and carbohydrates to replace those used for energy. This means that just about anything you eat in that 30 minute window goes straight to repairing muscles and replacing glycogen stores, not to fat. And of course eating and drinking healthy vitamin and nutrient rich foods will speed up the recovery process so you are less tired and sore the next day. It’s easy enough if you immediately sit down to a proper meal, but I find it difficult to get the right combination of protein to carbohydrates to fat if it’s only a snack, especially if I’m not at home. Which is why I use protein bars and recovery shakes after most of my workouts, because it just makes things easier. Usually I agree that whole foods are better for you, but I know my Sponser Protein Snack bar has enough protein and vitamins to speed up my recovery, so I don’t have to think about that, and it’s delicious and easy to eat on the go.

For once convenience does not mean compromising on quality!

The Score:

Calories:	Protein:	Carbs:	Fat:	Alcohol:	Fibre:
1848.95	100.10g	224.21g	60.60g	0	36.24g
	22%	48.5%	29.5%
Calories burned through exercise:		439

What I ate:

Time	Item	Amount
07:30	Vitamins - Centrum Advance A to Zinc, 400iu of Vitamin E, 1000iu Vitamin D3 and 500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 each
	Cold water	200mL
	Mattesson's Turkey rashers	3 rashers
	Sainsbury's Freefrom oats	50g
	with Sultanas	20g
	and walnuts	10g
	Sainsbury's Orange, Mango and Passionfruit juice	200mL
08:30	Black Tea	500mL
09:30	Raspberry and Echinacea tea	250mL
10:30	Brazil nuts	6g
	Cashews	17g
	Red grapes	110g
11:15	Black Tea	200mL
12:45	Green Tea	250mL
13:00	Turkey cottage pie	280g
	Irish Yoghurts Diet Pear and Mango	125g
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill
14:00	Resistance workout + 30 min bike
	Orange Nuun electrolyte tablet in water	750mL
16:15	Sponser Protein Snack bar	1 bar
19:45	New Covent Garden Moroccan Tagine soup	300g
	Genius brown bread toast	1 Slice
	Heinz Beanz, reduced sugar and salt	200g
20:30	Lindt Excellence 70% cocoa dark chocolate	20g
21:30	Ellactiva Chocolate Calcium Chew	1 chew
	500mg Glucosamine sulphate	1 pill

Plus 500 to 1500mL of cold water sipped from a water bottle throughout the day.