The Wonders of a Proper Post Recovery Meal/Shake/Beverage

I am really becoming convinced of the value of a proper post-recovery drink after a workout – especially if your workout is in the late afternoon or early evening. Now that I am taking these on a regular basis my sleep is MUCH better. I take them now even if I have a low intensity workout. Sometimes this means my shake with a quick follow of my regular dinner.

I’ve also posted here about blood labs with low hematocrit and other such markers being low in me. Once I started increasing my protein intake (a separate thing from recovery drinks) that problem has gone away.

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Thanks for the info.
I have low hematocrit too. I never thought it could be related to protein intake. I will check that more.

Yeah, I was focusing on iron and it didn’t help. Hope it works for you!

I agree about the value of a recovery drink! Moved countries recently and could not get the sane drink any more, felt if too.

Regarding hematocrit, not sure protein intake is the most important, citing:

Trained athletes, particularly in endurance sports, have a decreased hematocrit, which is sometimes called “sports anemia.” This is not anemia in a clinical sense, because athletes have in fact an increased total mass of red blood cells and hemoglobin in circulation relative to sedentary individuals. The slight decrease in hematocrit by training is brought about by an increased plasma volume (PV).

Outside of trauma hemorrhage management, what’s the value of hematocrit?

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I ran low in all in nearly every component of the red portion of my blood counts – for three years in a row. I have my annual early in the summer as my cycling is ramping up. Then I had one year with my numbers in spec which I attributed to decreased riding volume (it was the first year of the Coof) and then last year despite a return to normal cycling volume my numbers were again in spec. Yeah, there could be tons of other things going on, but on the whole I am finding the increased protein consumption is doing me good.

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I mentioned that to my Dr about “sports anemia” and she pooh-poohed it. Admittedly she is a GP and probably not very familiar with sports medicine.

I’m not a sports medicine doc myself yet it sounds like the GP knows what she’s talking about, the devil is in the detail, you had other abnormal RBC values! Also there may be much more to your story that she is aware of.

Regardless,

The recovery drink is a win! Do you find it helps also for control of portion size of other meals and random craving during the day? That’s a big plus that I’ve seen.

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I find my morning drink keeps me sated till nearly lunch time, but when I get down to eat – I find no difference – that control comes from my calorie counting and discipline. My morning shake is about 35-40 grams of protein (usually in the form a slow protein – ie casein heavy mix from GNC and collagen peptides), available fruit, and oatmeal. Per the podcast the addition of the fruit and oatmeal will also server to slow down the digestion. Obviously to keep me sated for longer and to assist in absorbing more of that protein.

Yeah, for example I took recovery after the WOTD and then gave it about an hour and made a proper (late) lunch. I do eat less and the thought to have that cookie is nearly non-existent or maybe even repulsive.

+1 to this thread …

I used to only take a recovery drink after a very hard session on the trainer or a long ride outside. Over the winter I noticed that my next workout would be remarkably better every time I took a recovery drink. Now I have one after every ride … it’s impressive how well it’s working.

If anyone is curious, I’m using chocolate milk. 8oz. of non-fat milk with a moderate squeeze of chocolate syrup.

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