Post-Workout Snacks for Weight Loss: 9 Meals After Exercise

The right training plan is important if you want to lose weight, but you shouldn’t forget about what to eat after a workout. After exercise, make sure to eat a good mix of macronutrients. Carbohydrates provide you with energy while protein is essential for strong muscles. And don’t forget about high-quality fats (in moderation).

If you want to lose weight, try one of the nine post-workout snacks below after your next workout.

9 Tasty Post-Workout Snacks

If you are hungry after your workout, try eating a banana with one or two spoonfuls of peanut butter. But make sure to use pure peanut butter – without additives like sugar or palm fat. The bananas provide you with carbohydrates, potassium and magnesium. These are important for recovering from your workout. The peanut butter contains essential proteins and fat.

1. Bananas with peanut butter

If you aren’t too hungry after your workout, try eating a banana with one or two spoonfuls of peanut butter. But make sure to use pure peanut butter – without additives like sugar or palm fat. The bananas provide you with carbohydrates, potassium, and magnesium. These are important for recovering from your workout. Peanut butter contains essential proteins and fat.

2. Baked sweet potato and egg

The loaded sweet potato skins take some time to prepare, but they are well worth it: (Sweet) potato and egg are the perfect combination when you want a snack with a high biological value. This value specifies how many grams of the body’s own protein can be produced from 100 grams of dietary protein. Just because you eat something with 20 g of protein, for example, doesn’t mean your body is able to absorb it all – that’s why the biological value is important. Plus, sweet potatoes are high in antioxidants and fiber.^(1,2) These are important for everyone to stay healthy.

3. Post-workout smoothie with raspberries and mango

Sometimes you just need something quick after a workout. This refreshing post-workout smoothie is the perfect post-workout snack. Fruit and veggies give you fiber, chia seeds provide fatty acids, and Greek yogurt is loaded with protein. Coconut water is especially high in electrolytes, which is great for recovery after intense training.⁽³⁾

Ingredients for 2 servings: 

• 1 mango
• 125 g raspberries (fresh or frozen) 
• ½ cucumber
• 1 ½ TL chia seeds 
• 250 ml coconut water
• 200 g Greek yogurt
• fresh mint

Preparation:

1. Wash fruit, vegetables, and mint 
2. Chop mango and cucumber into small chunks 
3. Toss all ingredients into a blender and purée the smoothie until creamy 

4. Edamame

Edamame is the ideal post-workout snack when you’re on the go. The green soybeans are very low in calories: 100 g of edamame has a mere 125 calories but gives you about 15 g of vegetable protein. In comparison, 100 g of chips contain about 500 calories. 

5. Mixed Salad with Steak and Avocado 

This colorful salad is a complete meal that you should definitely try. The creamy avocado-lime dressing is simply irresistible. One serving has 30 g of protein. 

Ingredients for 2 servings:

The salad:

• 250 g rib-eye steak
• 1 T vegetable oil (e.g., sunflower or canola oil) 
• 100 g lettuce
• 1 onion (sliced into rings) 
• 150 g corn (canned) 
• 200 g kidney beans (canned) 
• 1 bell pepper (diced)
• 100 g cherry tomatoes (halved)
• ½ avocado (sliced in strips) 
• salt and pepper (to taste) 

The dressing:

• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 avocado
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 T of red wine vinegar
• 1 T olive oil
• Chili flakes (to taste) 
• salt and pepper (to taste)

Preparation:

1. Blend the ingredients for the dressing in a blender until creamy. 
2. Mix the lettuce, onion, corn, kidney beans, bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and dressing in a bowl. 
3. Heat the oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add the stake. Season the beef with salt and pepper. Sauté it at a high temperature for about 2 minutes on each side. 
4. Place the strips of steak and avocado on top of the salad. 

6. Cottage cheese with vegetable sticks

Cottage cheese is very high in protein. Try eating it with some carrot or cucumber sticks. Or are you in the mood for a sweet post-workout snack? Sprinkle some freshly grated vanilla or cinnamon over it, and enjoy it with some fresh berries.

Did you know that cottage cheese contains lots of leucine? This amino acid promotes muscle protein synthesis after your workout.⁽⁴⁾ The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn when resting. If you burn more than you consume, you’ll lose weight.

7. Overnight oats 

Overnight oats have tons of benefits. They are the ideal post-workout snack, easy to prepare, you can take them with you, and they are incredibly delicious (not only for breakfast). There are endless variations, and you can pep them up with a wide variety of toppings. Our favorite recipe is with quark, nuts, and grated apples. 

Ingredients for 1 serving:

• 80 g oats
• 1 T flax seeds
• 150 g quark
• 50 ml milk (cow milk or plant-based)  
• 1 tsp honey 
• 1 apple 
• Topping: 1 handful of chopped walnuts 

Preparation:

1. Wash and grate the apple. 
2. Mix all ingredients well and fill the mixture into a closable jar or Tupperware container. Place it in the refrigerator overnight.  
3. Stir the mixture again in the morning. Add milk if necessary. Top the overnight oats with the chopped walnuts. 

8. Creamy Post-workout shake

Peanut butter and bananas go great together, especially as a shake. This post-workout shake has no protein powder and is vegan, but it still gives you 12 g of protein.

Ingredients for 1 serving:

• 1 large or 2 small, ripe bananas 
• 200 ml almond milk (unsweetened)
• 2 T peanut butter (100% peanuts)
• 2 tsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• grated vanilla 
• cinnamon

Preparation:

Peel the bananas and blend them with the rest of the ingredients until you get a creamy shake consistency. 

8. Savory muffins

Two or three savory vegetable muffins provide you with plenty of protein. And the best thing about this recipe is that you can make a large quantity of your post-workout snacks ahead of time. Not enough carbohydrates for you? Then just eat them with a slice of whole grain bread.

Ingredients for 12 muffins:

• 12 eggs
• 1 paprika
• 1 spring onion
• 8 cherry tomatoes
• 1 handful of baby spinach 
• grated pizza cheese
• salt and pepper to taste 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 200°C using top and bottom heat. 
2. Wash vegetables and dice them. 
3. Grease the muffin tin with vegetable oil or butter. 
4. Place the vegetables and cheese in the muffin tin. 
5. Beat the eggs in a bowl with a fork and season to taste. 
6. Pour the beaten eggs over the vegetable & cheese mixture. 
7. Back the muffins for 15 minutes. 

Summary

After exercise, you should focus on getting enough protein, but don’t forget carbohydrates and high-quality fat. Be sure to try some of our tasty recipes for post-workout snacks and enjoy!

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