Can You Eat Too Much Post Workout?

Photo: always say yes

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I recently received a question from a member on one of the forums I frequent.  For sake of anonymity, we will call him Marcus.

Marcus Aurelius Wrote:

When you say that PWO (while bulking) you eat a lot of carbs and very big PWO meals, would you go as high as say 1000-1200 calorie PWO meal (almost all carbs and very little fat, maybe like a box of cereal) while bulking or only on EOD type setups? I am wondering because while bulking, glycogen stores are mostly full so maybe eating this amount of carbs post-training may be overkill and definitely spill over to fat storage? But maybe it wouldn’t if overall calories for the day are still only +500-600 over maintenance?

Lastly, when you have huge PWO meals when bulking do you still have a small liquid shake right after training and then come home and eat a big meal, or do you just skip the liquid drink? Thank you so much!!

My Original Response:

I just had my entire reply typed out and accidentally closed the window.

I eat 1200-1500kcals post workout regardless of bulking or EODing it.

even when bulking its not going to matter. meal frequency is over rated and even if you did spill over, it will even out.

when I get home I drink a shake, have some cereal, make some potatoes/rice whatever

Now For A Little Explanation

Marcus has a bit of a reputation on the forums for asking a lot of obsessive questions. I find that he tends to get lost in the minutiae quite frequently but his intentions are pure as he is very eager to learn. I can dig that.

I typically will consume a very large post workout meal depending on my goals at the time. It will usually end up being around 200-250g of carbs, 70-80g of protein and 10-15g of fat. So that is anywhere from 1170 calories to 1455 calories(much heavier than the standard 300-500 calorie meals). I do this for a few reasons; one reason being that I am ravenous after my workouts and also because I feel it’s beneficial in terms of recovery and anabolism.

Marcus specifically asked about the whole spillover phenomenon. I am not too worried about it due to digestion rates. The smaller the meal the faster digestion will be and vice versa. Of course there are some variables to consider regarding energy balance. When dieting(being in a negative calorie balance) anything that is stored will be burnt off later anyhow as the body has to pull its energy from the reserves and then some(body fat). While in a caloric surplus the body will use the calories a bit differently as some of the excess energy is going towards glycogen replenishment, recovery, building lean body tissue and of course some of it is being stored as fat. A good rule to stick by when bulking is to make sure you stay within your caloric limits. If you are eating 400-500 over maintenance, make sure thats all you eat. It’s not going to make a difference whether you meet your caloric requirements with 3 meals or 6 meals. People only run into problems when they take the GFH(get f***ing huge) approach and eat everything in sight.

Now many make their post workout shake purely carbs and protein with minimal fat added due to the fear of it being stored as fat and/or slowing digestion. While there is some sense to this, its not that big of a deal. Turns out that digestion is a lot more complex than we tend to think and our meals are overlapping anyway. So much for the popular myth of only being able to use 30-35g protein in one sitting. Alan Aragon touched on digestion and mixing macros(carbs and fats) a bit in his interview with Josh Beaty.  The only time I can see some serious spillover happening is during certain situations like a massive carb load(1000+ carbs) when fat is supposed to be kept really low(less than 40-50g). People run into issues when they overeat on fatty foods during the carb load. Lyle McDonald discusses this carb loading approach with great detail in his book, UD2.

Finally, EOD means Every Other Day.  I have dieted in the past by having low calorie off days coupled with high calorie training days where I placed a lot of carbs and nutrients around my workouts.

As for Marcus’ Second Question

I typically train for about an hour, then come home and start cooking. While I am waiting on my main starch to cook, I will usually have whey shake plus a large bowl of cereal, pudding, bagels or something similar. Then once my potatoes, rice or whatever else I want is done cooking, I sit down and stuff my fat face.

I have been doing this for more than a year with no negative effects to date. What does your typical post workout meal look like?

Tagged as: Diet, Fitness Myths, Readers Questions