Doesn’t seem right, that you’ve just finished your vigorous workout, and what you do post workout can actually result in unwanted weight gain. After the workout is one of the most critical times to capitalize on your workout, otherwise the fitness that you’re attempting to achieve may not occur.
There are certain habits which you need to adopt to reach your fitness or weight loss goals, which doesn’t detriment your efforts. If you don’t comply to them, you’ll then gain back or lose all the hard earned work that you’ve just put in.
There are also instances when certain types of workouts will naturally cause weight gain, such as lifting weights and adding muscle, which is completely different from gaining body weight from fat.
The chances remain that the weight on the scale can increase, this despite all your efforts for various reasons. You comply to a regular and routine exercise program, and it’s usually your post workout habits which adds the pounds.
Not Drinking Enough Water
Getting dehydrated is a common issue with everyone, especially for athletes and fitness enthusiasts, as it can impact one’s physical abilities, while too much depletion can result in serious health risks.
Since the body is constantly sweating, especially during workouts, it needs to be replenished. Water is the critical building block, so skipping hydration post workout can cause weight gain.
The reason being that water affects muscle function, and not enough of it can cause fat storage instead of burning it. Being thirsty can also be confused with being hungry, so not enough water post workout can cause more eating.
Drinking Sports Drinks
What you see are athletes constantly drinking sport or energy drinks during, or after their workout. They’re not necessarily that bad for you, depending on the degree of intensity.
When doing extreme training, you need to replace the sugar and the electrolytes which are lost. What’s recommended is finding ways to get those electrolytes back while absorbing less sugar, otherwise weight gain can occur.
If it’s intense training, your body is then able to digest the sugar feeding the muscles. But for more sedentary workouts, if there’s too much sugar in the sports drink, your body turns it into fat and then stores it.
Not Eating Post Workout
What you eat or don’t eat after your workout can cause weight gain. Once you burn calories by working out your muscles, and then not replace the lost nourishment, doing so can have adverse effects.
Not replacing the burnt calories post workout can actually increase fat storage, while the muscles will suffer because of the deprivation of fuel that’s required for them to grow bigger.
Eating protein and carbs helps in muscle development since they play a vital role in losing weight, this because of their impact on metabolism. What developing bigger muscles does is encourages quicker fat burn.
This begins by feeding your muscles what it needs post exercise, which accelerates recuperation and refueling. The best is eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables post workout.
Don’t Reward With Junk
After a hard workout, you think that you can reward yourself with foods such as dessert. Since they’re loaded with refined sugar, doing so can completely offset your workout while storing fat on your abdomen.
So moderation is the key, as giving in to impulse by gorging on a burger post workout is counterproductive, so develop the willpower to fight off these cravings.
Calorie Overload
What you eat after your workout obviously matters. Most know that carbs and protein are important to refuel the body. It becomes easy however to overload on calories instead.
So instead of doing so, refuel on low-fat snacks which contains carbs and protein. Also choose foods which contain fiber, which helps you stay fuller for longer, while meeting your body’s nutritional requirements.
Since you need to eat anyways, and unless you’re training is extreme, choose to eat full meals to refuel post workout, and then continue with your regularly scheduled meals.
Not Stretching Properly
Stretching itself doesn’t directly affect weight gain, but it helps you to avoid muscle strain and discomfort, which allows you to complete your workouts.
Not stretching properly can result in injury, before and post workout. Your body will go into mild shock and your muscles will hurt the next day following your workout, which deters you from working out as hard, resulting in the risk of gaining weight.
So it becomes important to warm up your tense muscles, knots, and all the pressure points. When stretching properly, you’ll see a noticeable difference, allow yourself to heal faster, while getting you ready for your next workout.
Never Over Or Under Exercise
Exercising exhausts the mind and body. What the fitness junkies will do however, is continue to workout hard because of the splurge of endorphins.
The feeling of accomplishment, sweating, and all the good moods which are associated with the workout, while anticipating another one tomorrow.
The majority however dreads the daily workout, as they don’t like how they feel post workout. Most also don’t exercise consistently, all which leads to a mindset which results in weight gain.
Not only will that missed workout not benefit you that day, but you’re also further away from reaching your fitness goals, this once you limit yourself to one or two workouts a week.
Congratulating yourself should provide motivation. Avoid finding excuses to put off a workout, while surrendering to a dish of ice cream thinking that you deserve it.
If you think that one tiring workout a week is good enough, while allowing yourself to “go” the rest of the week, you’re only fooling yourself while packing on the fat and poundage.