What to eat post match late night?

[achokshi99]

I am really struggling with my Thurs night ladder. It's a 4.0+ ladder from 930-midnight and most of the guys I play are 4.5+. I'm still tweaking my game around some recovering TE so I'm basically playing a lot of retrieving tennis - great/insane cardio for me - but I am usually dead by the time I crash and struggling the next morning.

I currently wake up at 515AM M-Thurs, do 45min-1 hr cardio, breakfast, gym, post workout shake/banana/nat peanut butter, work, lunch which is moderate (400 cals), snack in the afternoon, then dinner around 6pm and try to limit any food after that period just to give you a sense of what I am eating.

On Fri I will sleep in til 630am cause of the tennis but I need to eat something after my tennis that re fuels me in a way that lets me absorb the food fast so I can crash by 1230am or so. Would something like rice cakes w/peanut butter make sense or is that too high GI? I think high GI w/a little protein would be a good idea? i have tried almonds and some fruit after the tennis but i wake up in the morning starving and also just w/an acidic feeling in the stomach.

Thanks for any recommendations.

 

[r2473]

When I used to run long distance, I can recall times when I ate several large spoonfuls of mayonaise right out of the jar

My point is, you are using a lot of energy. You need a lot of fuel. Personally, I wouldn't worry too much about what that is. You should burn it up the instant it hits your body anyway. Personally I'd opt for high energy, fast burning carbs (and lots of 'em).

Rice cakes? PEOPLE actually eat those? Why not just eat the shipping material out of your next FedEx delivery?

 

[chollyred]

Rice cakes? PEOPLE actually eat those? Why not just eat the shipping material out of your next FedEx delivery?

+1...

Just try about 8-12 oz of lowfat chocolate milk. The sugar will help replenish the lost energy and the protein will be quickly absorbed.

 

[Andreas1965]

After long and hard bicycle races we ate some cake (not creamcake or something like that) within the first hour (sometimes minutes) after.

After shower/massage we usually had dinner with lots of carbs, e.g. noodles and some low-fat meat, like steaks or chicken/turkey.

Always accompanied with a bottle of fine italian wine and of course lots of water.

I adopted this form of food to my tennis and had good results.

 

[charliefedererer]

You are right that you need to replenish your energy stores after such long/hard play. Studies also show that some protein soon after you finish will halt any muscle breakdown, and help your muscles to recover faster. You also must replace any liquids and electolytes (mainly sodium) you lost.

Reference: USTA Recovery in Tennis http://assets.usta.com/assets/1/dps...ence/RECOVERY PROJECT 22410 EMAIL VERSION.pdf
- this is a simple, free, easy to read 28 page booklet that covers all aspects of recovery - I highly recommend downloading and reading it.

The main stored energy source in your muscles is glycogen.

Glycogen is just simple sugar + simple sugar + simple sugar ...

The last sugar in the glycogen molecule is cleaved off the end to be used as muscle fuel within your muscles. But there is limited amount of
glycogen present - you will run out long before your session is over.

Slowly drinking a Gatorade-like sports drink during play will never keep up with all your energy needs, but it can keep you from "running out of gas", and being so energy depleted at the end of play. [Gatorade-like sports drinks also will help keep you hydrated and supply electrolytes.]

Many can't tolerate full strength Gatorade, so they either dilute it with water, or drink water in addition.

Some can tolerate a banana or high energy snack bar during a break in play. Others find it causes stomach distress.

Getting some simple sugar or complex carbohydrate [complex carbohydrate is very similar to glycogen = sugar + sugar + sugar ...]
plus protein intake within 20 minutes of completing play has been shown to promote recovery. Chocolate milk was mentioned above, and has been shown to be a good recovery drink.

Your idea of rice cakes and peanut butter is not bad. It's just that there is only about 35 calories in a plain rice cake, and it has a limited amount of protein. http://www.livestrong.com/article/162653-rice-cake-nutrition/ You will have to eat a fair amount of peanut butter as there is just 4 gm of protein and 90 calories in 1 tablespoon of peanut butter. http://www.livestrong.com/article/265211-peanut-butter-nutrition/
Still, in its favor is that you can bring it to have immediately on hand.


I realize that buying a meal at the late hour probably means fast food, and most fast food is not good for you.

A friend and I played late at night for a couple of winters at an indoor facility about 20 minutes away. There was a Chinese restaurant open late very close by. We settled into a routine of eating containers of fried rice on the way home - hardly ideal, but hey, we were hungry and at least it wasn't bacon double cheeseburgers. There are 329 calories with 42 gm carbohydrate, 12 gm of protein, and 12 gm of fat in 1 cup of Chicken Fried Rice. http://fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/rice-fried-with-chicken
Our less frequent alternative was a couple of slices of cheese pizza at 270 calories with 12 gm protein and 33 gm carbohydrate per slice. http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/average-cheese-pizza-slice/

Hopefully others will have better solutions.

 

[maggmaster]

I like the macro breakdown of reduced fat peanut butter. The fat is a tad high. Calories 94 Fat 6 gram Carb 6 grams Protein 4 grams. This is per tablespoon, recommend two or three depending upon weight and body composition.

 

[Robbnc]

You're just not eating enough and possibly overtraining. Take a day off during the week and see if recovery improves.

 

[T1000]

eat more during the day, you need more cals if you're going to train like that

 

[Ducker]

you are staying up until 12midnight and only sleeping in until 5am? Thats your problem right there.

Get more sleep. Try to shoot for a min of 8hours a night.

Another thing, Eat before you do your cardio Cardio and gym shouldnt be seperated from each other by breakfast. Your after workout food is just fine. Lunch is way too small. You need much more than 400cals at lunch. You are starving your body. Scale up your calories at lunch depending upon your body size and how hard your actually working in morning workout (I dont know how intense you train). Remember calories are just a measure of energy, they are the fuel for your body and you should not be limiting them to 400 at lunch. Once you have raised your calorie intake at lunch you might be able to scale back dinner until 8pm that way your not waking up hungry in the morning AND fit some kind of snack in between lunch and dinner.

 

[14OuncesStrung]

On Fri I will sleep in til 630am cause of the tennis but I need to eat something after my tennis that re fuels me in a way that lets me absorb the food fast so I can crash by 1230am or so. Would something like rice cakes w/peanut butter make sense or is that too high GI? I think high GI w/a little protein would be a good idea? i have tried almonds and some fruit after the tennis but i wake up in the morning starving and also just w/an acidic feeling in the stomach.

Thanks for any recommendations.

Post match recommendations? Eat whatever the hell you want.
And quit starving yourself. You need more protein and fat.

 

[achokshi99]

No I did not specifiy. I wake up at 515 or so for 1 hr cardio but Sun night through Weds night i am trying to get to sleep by 1030-11pm so i am getting enough sleep that works for me. Friday i get to bed by 1230 or so cause of the tennis and wake up at 630, that is a drag but no way around it.

My cals for now are working. The 400 cals or so I get for lunch, by 3-4pm i have a snack which might be 25 almonds which is 200 cals right there and a piece of fruit. and then 6-7pm or so dinner which will be high protein/low carbs. But what you said prob will work for tennis days, I will try to keep everything the same except add carbs to it, like whole wheat pasta or something like that to my lunch and then some carbs for dinner w/y normal type of dinner.

you are staying up until 12midnight and only sleeping in until 5am? Thats your problem right there.

Get more sleep. Try to shoot for a min of 8hours a night.

Another thing, Eat before you do your cardio Cardio and gym shouldnt be seperated from each other by breakfast. Your after workout food is just fine. Lunch is way too small. You need much more than 400cals at lunch. You are starving your body. Scale up your calories at lunch depending upon your body size and how hard your actually working in morning workout (I dont know how intense you train). Remember calories are just a measure of energy, they are the fuel for your body and you should not be limiting them to 400 at lunch. Once you have raised your calorie intake at lunch you might be able to scale back dinner until 8pm that way your not waking up hungry in the morning AND fit some kind of snack in between lunch and dinner.