Six Pack Abs Diet : The Post Workout Meal

You may not be aware of this fact, but many experts consider that the first meal you eat after your workout could very well be your most important meal of the day.

The reasons for this are after you have finished your workout, your body is in a catabolic state. This means that your levels of muscle glycogen are lowered, which leads to an increase in Cortisol levels. This increase in cortisol will quickly begin to break down your muscle tissue.

This catabolic state is not good when you are trying to increase muscle mass, so you need to quickly reverse this catabolic state and get your body into an anabolic state. The way to achieve this is to eat a post workout meal that can be quickly and easily digested.

This easily digestible post workout meal should consist of quickly digestible carbohydrates and proteins. The carbs will increase your levels of muscle glycogen and the protein will enable your body to start muscle repair by increasing your bodies levels of amino acids.

This rapid increase in the levels of muscle glycogen and amino acids in your body will cause your pancreas to produce more insulin, which in turn results in more nutrients being sent to the muscle cells.

Depending on your gender and weight, your post workout meal should contain between 300 and 500 calories, with a ratio of carbs to proteins of between 2:1 and 4:1. So for example, a woman weighing around 120lbs should consume around 300 calories with a carb to protein ratio of 2:1, whereas a heavier male would need around 500 calories with a ratio of 4:1.

You should try and avoid fat content as much as possible in your post workout meal. This is because fat will reduce the effectiveness of your meal by slowing down the digestive process.

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