Post-exercise Eating

[Squishy]

How do you keep yourself from eating everything in the house after you exercise? I just got back from the gym, and I think I could eat a horse. I had a reasonable meal and am running to stuff a piece of gum in my face real quick before I got crazy. lol

[Angie All The Way]

Hmmmm I would think that it also depends on how often and how much you are eating for the rest of the day too, before you exercise and what time of the day you are getting your exercise in. Protein seems to be one of the big important things to make sure you're getting enough of post-workout and enough good carbs too. Make sure that you're getting in the kinds of foods that fill you up. Extra calories are sometimes needed on those days too to keep your metabolism revving, so don't be "afraid" to respond to that in a reasonable way

[Squishy]

I eat pretty often, lots of small meals. I stop eating about 1-2 hours before exercising, depending on how heavy my last "meal" was. I'll hit the gym for about 1-1/2 to 2 hours around 8pm or so. I can't get there any earlier. However, it means that I am too wound up to sleep until pretty late at night, somewhere around midnight or so. There is that scary time between when I cool down and start feeling hunger, and when I can physically go to sleep. It's a constant battle to not gnaw my own arm off, since I am never "full" during the day- and it seems to contribute to the feeling of ravenous hunger after having exerted myself so much at the gym. I could probably have a small snack after my workout, but I don't know what to have, being that I'll be heading to bed soon thereafter.

[angielosingit]

I have a similar problem (hunger after gym). I save my dinner for when I come home. Usually that means I get to the gym around 6 (after work) and home at 7:30. I eat by 8 and go to bed around 10:30.