What should you be drinking during and after exercise?

What would you say if I told you that drinking a glass of chocolate milk after exercise will help your muscles to recover more efficiently and promote maximum weight loss?? Let me explain....

So what should you be drinking during and after exercise to help your muscles recover and to promote weight loss?

Studies have showed that performance in harder workouts and races is enhanced by the consumption of water, carbohydrates and, to a lesser extent protein or amino acids. Water stops your blood volume decreasing and thus keeps the optimum flow of oxygen to your muscles. The carbohydrates provide an extra source of energy to the muscles and protein provides yet more energy and further delays fatigue by reducing exercise-induced muscle damage. This is an underappreciated cause of performance decline during prolonged exercise.

The more typical brands of sports drink available in the shops like Lucozade, PowerAde and Gatorade are Carbohydrate based drinks. So these brands give you the water and carbohydrate needed but are missing protein. There are a few sports drinks that do a 4:1 carbohydrate:protein mix mainly Accelerade.

The benefits of drinking a carbohydrate:protein mixed sports drink are that firstly it increases the blood’s amino acid levels, which signals the brain to reduce the release of cortisol. This is a hormone that breaks down the muscle protein to create fuel. Secondly it can promote muscle protein synthesis during a workout thus preserving muscle mass more effectively and promote a slightly leaner body composition.

After exercise again it is the 4:1 ratio of carbohydrate to protein which is considered ideal for muscle recovery. Do you have to buy an expensive but normally tasteless and grainy recovery drink? Well, no you don’t. It’s tasty and you probably have it your fridge already, it’s chocolate milk. I make my own using skimmed milk and drinking chocolate powder bought from the supermarket. I am wary of how much chocolate powder I put in and it is normally below the recommended amount. This really helps with the chocolate cravings I have and it has been known that I will go on a run just so I can have some!

Research from a small study at McMaster University in Canada shows that Women who drink skimmed milk after resistance training benefit from greater fat loss and muscle gain compared with those who consumed a carbohydrate-based energy drink.

Normally people are wary of drinking milk because of the high calories and when you are looking to cut back on calories, liquid calories are normally the first to go. They are replaced by nutrient-void beverages. So adding low-fat diary products like skimmed milk into the diet can boast nutrients, vitamins and minerals like Protein, carbohydrate, calcium, potassium and Vitamin A and D.

It looks like a 4:1 is the magic number and skimmed chocolate milk after exercise is the way forward!