You have just completed your work out knowing that you have just burned up a bunch of calories but it has left you in serious need of fluids. What do you reach for; sports drinks, chocolate milk or water? What you choose at this point can make or break your fitness efforts.

What you choose to drink after a work out depends on your type of work out and your goals.

Are Sports Drinks the Best Option?

Your first instinct might be to reach for a sports drink. After all there are commercials and advertisements all over the place for sports drinks. They claim to rehydrate you better than anything else and replace minerals that your body may have lost during your workout. Is it true though?

Well actually it is true; sports drinks are a great way to rehydrate if you don’t mind the calories. Sports drinks do have all the electrolytes and minerals needed to replenish what you lose in an extensive workout. The other advantage of sports drinks is that they are flavored which encourages most people to drink the amount of liquid need to replenish after working out rigorously.

However, with 50 calories and approximately 13-15 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving, you can totally sabotage your diet if you are working out to lose weight. The average person does not need the extra calories or sugar.

• Recommendation: Use sports drinks to hydrate if you are doing extensive physical activity for 60 minutes or longer. If you are an athlete or are not trying to lose weight then sports drinks are a good choice for you.

Is Chocolate Milk, The “New Sports Drink”?

We’ve all heard the ads lately about chocolate milk being the “new sports drink”. When I first heard that I had a hard time imagining being able to even think about drinking milk after a work out. It doesn’t sound very refreshing or thirst quenching to me so I pretty much counted these ads as a bunch of bunk.

After some research though, I found that chocolate milk is actually a very good beverage to drink after strength training. It has the right balance of carbs and protein to help with muscle recovery.

In studies of cyclist they found that the athletes that drank chocolate milk after expending all their energy were able to go 50% further on their next round of exercise. About the same as the athletes that consumed sports drinks.

Again, the weight conscious need to take heed. Regular chocolate milk can have up to 226 calories and 32 grams of sugar per 8 ounce serving which makes sports drinks look like a diet beverage. You can cut the calories by choosing low fat chocolate milk. Low fat chocolate milk has about 158 calories and 24 grams of sugar but that is till high.

• Recommendation: Drink low-fat chocolate milk after strength training to help muscle recovery but only if you are not watching your calorie consumption.

What About Water?

What if you are like me and working out to burn calories and lose weight? I am not a professional athlete and I rarely exercise more than 60 minutes at a time. Every calorie counts in my world and I prefer to eat rather than drink my calories.

Water is your best option for low impact activities that are less than 60 minutes long, like short runs, walking, quick cardio, yard work, swimming, etc. Yes good old fashioned water.

If you are not a plain water fan then drink enhanced water but watch for the calories. Ounce for ounce some of the enhanced waters have as many calories in them as a soda!

• Recommendation: Drink plain or enhanced water to rehydrate after low impact physical activities or if you are watching your caloric intake. Keep the calorie count to 10 calories or less per 8 ounces.

Want More?

For more nutritional and training advice call personal trainer, Zach Hunt, owner of Phyzique Personal Training in Liberty Lake, WA. He is trained and certified and can help you reach your health and fitness goals.

There are many bootcamp programs in Spokane out there that pull you out of your day-to-day life to teach you how to lose weight. While these programs do work while you are there, once you are thrust back into the real world, keeping the weight off might not be so easy. Here are some tips to keeping the weight off!

Obstacle #7 Ever since the recent headlines, you’ve been popping M&Ms like they’re Advil

What’s wrong with that? You’ve heard the news: Cocoa can lower blood pressure; reduce the risk of heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and dementia; and possibly even prevent cancer. But the research isn’t as delicious as it seems. The cocoa-bean products used in the studies are a far cry from the highly processed chocolate candy you find on the shelves of your local store. Milk chocolate contains about 150 calories and 10 grams of fat per ounce.

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The key here is small doses. Dark chocolate, which retains more of the bean during processing, generally has slightly less fat and fewer calories than milk chocolate-plus, it’s richer, so less goes a longer way. We like CocoaVia’s Crispy Chocolate Bar (90 calories, 5 g fat) or Hershey’s Special Dark Chocolate Stick (60 calories, 3.5 g fat). If dark doesn’t do it for you, opt for low-cal choices.

Obstacle #8 You think “water-rich diet” means more trips to the cooler

What’s wrong with that? Water in your glass is great, but water in your food can have serious slimming power. In a new American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study, obese women ages 20 to 60 were told to either reduce their fat intake or increase their intake of water-rich foods, such as fruits and veggies. Although they ate more, women in the water-rich group chose foods that were more filling-yet had fewer calories-so they still lost 33 percent more weight in the first 6 months than the women in the reduced-fat group.

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Fill up on food that’s high in H2O. Some good choices in addition to fruits and veggies: broth-based, low-sodium soups; oatmeal and other whole grains; and beans.

Obstacle #9 You give up junk food today but put off joining a gym until January

What’s wrong with that? Tackling one goal at a time is supposed to help you succeed. But new research published in the Archives of Internal Medicine bucks that conventional wisdom. In a study of more than 200 people who smoked, had high blood pressure, and weren’t extremely active, one group was asked to quit the butts, cut back on dietary sodium, and increase physical activity all at once. Another group addressed one bad habit at a time. The group that tackled all their problems simultaneously had the higher success rate after 18 months.

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Combining your goals may work for the same reason job negotiations do: When you ask for everything, you’re more likely to get something. Put this thinking to the test by creating a healthy eating and exercise plan and throwing all your energy into following both. Zach Hunt with Physzique Personal Fitness can help you reach your goals.

Obstacle #10 You never think about potassium

What’s wrong with that? A recent Canadian study concluded that getting more potassium might help lower your weight and blood pressure. Levels measured in study participants were proportional to their diet and weight. The richest sources of potassium are beans, vegetables, and fruit, so the person with high potassium levels is consuming a lot of these foods, which are low in calories and are the most filling.

Detour

You should aim for 4,700 milligrams of potassium each day. Spokane super supplements may help you hit that target, but doctors don’t recommend them for everyone. Try filling up on white beans (1 cup: 1,000 mg potassium), winter squash (1 cup: 494 mg), spinach (1 cup: 840 mg), baked potato with skin (926 mg), yogurt (1 cup: 600 mg), halibut (4 ounces: 566 mg), and OJ (1 cup: 473 mg).

Even with all of these great ideas, many people can’t find success on their own. Zach Hunt with Physzque Personal Fitness can help you get in the best shape of your life!