🏆 How do you REWARD yourself? 🏆
Should I shower immediately after exercising?
How about take a nap, grab a coffee or juice?
Our conversations this past week have been amazing, and at times surprising! I’ve had lots of questions about last week’s newsletter, how to get active and what the research is saying; plus good questions came up at our cooking class on Monday 🍽
So today I’d like to focus in on how you reward yourself after exercising. Many of us are starting to get active, the dopamine is flowing, and are feeling fantastic 🤩
How do you reward yourself after exercising and keep yourself inspired?
Do you treat yourself with a coffee? Take a nap? Eat a sweet? Watch TV?
Today, I’ll cover some Do’s and Don't’s of post-workout rewards. I want you to enjoy your efforts, you deserve it 🏆 It’s all about positive actions and the REWARDS 💝
If you didn’t get a chance to glance at last week’s newsletter “Do you really need to walk 10,000 steps a day?”, you can use this link, Here.
Okay, ready to feel good about your efforts?
🤩 ✅ 🤩
When you’re trying to make a lifestyle change for weight-loss or even for overall health, it’s difficult to keep going even when you have a powerful why or reason. But, on a day to day basis when you’re in the thick of it all, rewarding yourself in simple ways for small accomplishments can go a long way.
Why? It’s all about dopamine. Dopamine spikes in your brain when something important is about to happen and gives you a surge of pleasure as you accomplish the task. This in turn increases motivation and productivity. Use this piece of science to your advantage by giving yourself small rewards along the way to a bigger goal. Your brain latches on to the physical evidence that your workout or healthy eating habits are worth it, and increases your chances at making the routine a habit.
Here’s an example of creating positively associated habits in your mind:
Have a cue to trigger the behavior. This can be as simple as putting your clothes in your gym bag, or setting an alarm. If you have a smart home device, have music play at a set time to remind you to work out.
Go through the routine. Go walking for an hour. Do squats. Attend that yoga class you’ve been meaning to go to.
Reward yourself. Watch an episode of your favorite show after or even during your workout. Talk to a friend. Lie in a hammock.
If you’re worried about becoming dependent on the rewards, don’t be. Over time, your motivation will become intrinsic, and your brain will associate your hard work with a surge of dopamine. From there, just working out or eating healthy will be its own reward.
Need some more examples of small rewards? I’ve compiled a list below:
Buy yourself flowers
Read a book you enjoy for 15–30 minutes
Get a haircut
Buy yourself a new workout song
Watch one or two episodes of a show guilt-free
Enjoy an at-home spa day
Turn off all screens for an hour and enjoy the peace
Host a game night with friends
Get crafty by painting, knitting, sewing—whatever appeals to you most
Enjoy a bubble bath or long shower
Get a manicure or pedicure
Diffuse your absolute favorite essential oil
Take your car to get detailed
Write in your journal
Buy a new water bottle
Watch the sunrise or sunset
Add a check-mark to your calendar âś…
Purchase some new fitness gear (shoes, outfit, equipment)
Not all of these will appeal to you, and that’s where you get to be creative. Reward yourself with the things that motivate and appeal to you. This will ensure that even the small rewards are enough to get you off the couch and moving.
Do’s and Don’ts
Post-workout nutrition is a topic that tends to be overlooked, and it is important to know the benefits of giving your body what it needs to recover. After an intense workout, your body needs to be refueled. When you don’t replenish your body, it can leave you feeling fatigued and stall the recovery process. When you don’t restore what you have lost, it will put your body at risk of further damage during your next workout.
That being said, here are the do’s and don’ts when it comes to consumption after workouts.
Post-Workout Nutrition: The Do’s
1. Fuel Your Body with Protein
Protein fuels your body with amino acids to repair muscle proteins that are broken down during your workout. Stick with lean proteins such as antibiotic-free chicken, wild-caught fish, and occasionally a lean cut of grass-fed beef. If you don’t have a lot of time to refuel after your workout, quick fixes like eggs, almonds, and cottage cheese are great options.
2. Eat the Right Kind of Carbohydrates
Not all carbohydrates are created equal…
Whole carbs are in their natural form and contain fiber that helps the body regulate its use of sugar. An example of these would be sweet potatoes, fruits, vegetables, and beans.
Refined carbs are processed and stripped of fiber. Examples of these are white bread, white pasta, fruit juices, and white rice. Refined carbs cause major spikes to blood sugar levels in our bodies, which initially give energy but then cause us to crash shortly and crave more sugar. Fill up on whole carbs.
3. Satisfy Your Meal with Healthy Fats
Good sources of fat in small amounts are also an important factor after workouts. A small amount of fat will help you feel satisfied with your meal and stay full for longer periods of time. There are good fats and bad fats, so it is important to make sure you are getting it from the right source.
Bad fats are called saturated and trans fats, and when eaten in excess, they have been shown to increase blood cholesterol levels and LDL levels. Saturated fats should be eaten sparingly. Examples of saturated fats are processed meats like salami and bacon, as well as dairy products like milk and cheese.
Trans fats should be avoided at all costs. Trans fats are in foods that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils. Some examples of these are fried foods, like doughnuts, French fries and most fast foods, vegetable shortenings, cookies, and processed snack foods.
Good fats are monounsaturated or polyunsaturated. They are shown to lower cholesterol levels and reduce the risk of heart disease. Some examples of healthy fats are avocados, nuts, chia seeds, and fish.
Post-Workout Nutrition: The Don’ts
1. Stay Away from Unknown Ingredients
When it comes to the foods you do not want to eat after workouts, it can get confusing. Here is a rule to consider: If you don’t know what the ingredients are, you shouldn’t eat it. Most things that you buy and come in a package are usually processed and full of sugar, along with other preservatives. Eating a whole food is ALWAYs the best option. Grab a banana, apple, nuts, celery, egg, meat, vegetable, fruit (something that is in its original state).
2. Don’t Eat Spicy Food
Spicy foods are also best to avoid after workouts. Foods that are prepared with hot spices like chili peppers or cayenne contain a potent ingredient known as capsaicin, which is an irritant to our bodies. Spicy food stimulates the digestive system and can cause heartburn and digestion issues, especially after your body has used up energy during a workout. Your body is trying to repair itself, which is why it’s important to choose foods that are easy to digest.
3. Avoid Unnecessary Sugars
Stick to real, whole foods like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and clean, antibiotic- and hormone-free meats. MOST sport drinks, energy bars, and protein shakes have hidden ingredients that aren’t helpful in the recovery process. They can be very deceiving since they are marketed toward athletes, yet most of them are loaded with unnecessary sugars, making them a poor option post-workout.
4. Pass on the Coffee and Tea
You just took the time to exercise and open up those blood vessels. Coffee and Tea constrict your blood vessels. Coffee and tea are a diuretic, so when you are already dehydrated after a workout, this will only delay the recovery process even more. If you must, have coffee or tea only after an hour has passed after your workout.
5. Skip the Alcohol
Alcohol is a big NO after workouts. It might sound fun to grab a celebratory drink after crushing it at the gym, but alcohol slows down the repair process of exercise-induced muscle damage by inhibiting the production of certain hormones that are used to help, like testosterone. Alcohol is also a diuretic, so when you are already dehydrated after a workout, this will only delay the recovery process more.
Should you shower after exercising?
Sweating from the body is essential for hygiene, and massaging the muscles with gentle jets of water can help keep lactic acid from getting trapped in sore muscles. But just showering after a workout isn't a quick fix for post-workout recovery. And especially don't take a shower after a workout, there should be a period of time to cool down before you take a shower.
After a regular workout, it's important to cool down before leaving the gym. Cool down is the opposite of warm-up. Low-intensity stretches and cool-downs are important because you want your body to return to its resting state. More importantly, it helps to normalize your heart rate and body temperature.
Finish your high-intensity exercise and switch to a lighter form of exercise for the cool-down part of the workout. This will begin to lower your heart rate and will take 5 to 10 minutes.
Once your heart rate has started to drop, start stretching. This will help remove lactic acid and prevent soreness during exercise.
Although it can feel really frustrating to wait to jump in the shower, you can use this time to rehydrate your body by drinking plenty of water. Ideally, when you stop sweating profusely (in about 20-30 minutes) you can then take a shower.
Start bathing at a warm temperature so you don't shock your body with temperature changes. When your body temperature starts to drop, you can adjust the water to be colder.
During the last 90 seconds of your shower, lower the water temperature so it's as cold as you can stand it. Make sure you splash cold water on your major muscle groups to refresh and re-energize your tired muscles.
Showering after a workout will help your muscles recover and boost your body's ability to recover and be ready for the next workout. That's because showering can flush lactic acid, a natural pain-causing chemical, out of your muscles.
Soaking in cold water (such as an ice bath) enhances recovery and helps you build muscle and recover faster. Cold showers help reduce heart rate and reduce cardiac stress quickly after exercising in a high-temperature environment. When you take a quick shower with cool water, you can give your immune system a quick boost if done regularly.
Taking a hot, steamy shower can help you relax better after a workout, but a cold shower can actually be the way to help you sweat away.
So next time you feel the urge to jump right in the shower, remember to give yourself time to dry off your sweat and cool down, stretch those muscles, then take a shower and try to see if you can turn the water temperature down at the very end for 30-90 seconds 🧊🚿
Studies have shown that a daily shower that started warm and ended cold significantly reduced the number of employee sick days.
THE BOTTOM LINE
“I'm healthier, stronger, and leaner than ever before. Realizing what my body is capable of is amazing. I'll never go back to being mediocre. Fitness changed my entire outlook on life.”
“When you focus on your health, you awaken your creativity. By creativity I don’t mean painting or drawing, I mean the ability to conceive your life exactly the way you most want it.”
“You will always be challenged in this life. How you go about the conversations in your head is the only thing that will save you. The conversation is always more difficult than the challenge itself.”
Regular physical activity is one of the most important things people can do to maintain, and improve their health; yet for many, it’s one of our least favorite things to do.
Moving more and sitting less have tremendous benefits for everyone, regardless of age, sex, race, ethnicity, or current fitness level. The scientific evidence continues to build - physical activity is linked with even more positive health outcomes than we previously thought. Benefits can start accumulating with even small amounts of physical activity 🤩
Rewarding yourself for exercising can help you feel even better about prioritizing your health while motivating you to stick with your new routine.
The human brain has a dopamine reward system that creates a natural high when we reward ourselves. Once we continue the reward system, it helps create a sustainable healthy relationship with working out and makes us feel good.
Remember: As few as about 2,800 steps per day yield significant mortality and Cardiovascular benefits, with increased risk reductions up to about 8,800 steps per day. Additional benefits were found as the rate of steps increased from low to moderate, and then up to high speed steps. You can read more on this research, HERE.
Taking 10,000 steps a day can sound daunting. But studies find that even a modest increase in steps taken is tied to significantly lower mortality. Stepping more each day (even a little more) is extremely helpful in promoting your health 🤩
Keep up the great routines, and if you haven’t started…. get moving !
Make an appointment and come talk with us if you are having doubts or questions about your family’s health. We will give you the honest truth, and the clinical research that supports it.
To make an appointment with me use this link: HERE.
Or, you can always give me a call at (973) 210-3838
I want to hear from you! How do you reward yourself for sticking with your exercise program? Did you find this newsletter helpful?
Share your thoughts in the comments on our
We bring tools such as these to you, our patients, by using proven cutting-edge therapies to extend the health-span, life-span and years of health for everyone (no matter their age)!
* * * * * *