Why is everyone putting such great emphasis on exercising? Isn't it just worthier and easier to become a couch potato and lift your dear beverage? Anytime you exercise, you do so in order to try and maintain agreeable health. You also know that you have to eat enought fruits and vegetables as well, so your body will have the energy it needs to exercise and maintain for the everyday tasks of life. What you eat before and after you workout is very necessary. It really does not matter if you are going to be doing a cardio workout or a resistance workout, you should always make it a point to eat a balanced mix of protein and carbohydrates. What really makes that determining percentage of carbs and protein you consume? Whether or not you are doing cardio or resistance exercise and the intensity level that you plan to work for your workout.

The ideal time for you to eat your pre workout meal is an hour before you start. If you plan to work at a low intensity level, you should keep your pre workout meal down to 200 calories or so. If you plan to exercise at a stiff level of intensity, you will probably need your meal to be between 4,000 and 5,000 calories.

If you are considering doing a cardio session you will need to consume a mix of 2/3 carbs and 1/3 protein. Doing so will give you longer sustained energy from the extraneous carbs with enough protein to keep your muscle from breaking down while you exercise.

For resistance exercise, you'll need to eat a mix of 1/3 carbs and 2/3 protein, as this will help you get plenty of energy from the carbs to perform each set you do and the extraneous protein will relief keep muscle breakdown to a minimum while you exercise.

Eating after you exercise is just as imperative as your pre workout meal. Anytime you exercise, whether its cardio or resistance, you deplete energy in the form of glycogen. The brain and central nervous system rely on glycogen as their chief source of fuel, so if you don't redeem it after you exercise, your body will begin to break down muscle tissue into amino acids, and then convert them into usable fuel for the brain and the central nervous system.

Keep in mind that mostly during resistance exercise, you'll break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears. What this means, is that after a workout, your muscles will instantly go into repair mode. Protein is the key here for muscle repair, as you don't prefer muscle breaking down even further to imagine fuel instead of lost glycogen.

Once you have finished a cardio session, you'll need to consume mainly carbohydrates, preferably those with high fiber. Rice, oatmeal, whole wheat pasta, and northern fruits are excellent sources. Also, try to consume 30 - 50 grams of there types of carbs after you exercise. After your cardio workout, it is fine to eat within 5 - 10 minutes.

Once you've finished a resistance workout, you will need to consume a combination of carbs and protein. Unlike cardio workouts, resistance workouts will break down muscle tissue by creating micro tears.

You'll need protein as this happens to build up and repair these tears so that the muscle can increase in size and fortitude. The carbs will not only retrieve the lost muscle glycogen, but will also help the protein get into muscle cells so it can synthesize into structural protein, or the muscle itself.

After your resistance exercise, you should wait up to 30 minutes before you eat, so that you won't take blood away from your muscles too fast. The blood in your muscles will a remedy the repair process by removing the metabolic waste products.