I went to my Boot Camp last night, which I just love. The instructor is great. It's a mix of cardio intervals on a Bosu and then free weights for chest/back/biceps/triceps. A tough round of abdominals with a lot of focus on obliques. Today I'm not sore--I hope this means I am stronger.

The downside: I haven't figured out how to eat after class (I get home at 8 p.m.) and stop myself at a reasonable amount of food. To be honest, I don't do any of the check-in to see if I'm still hungry. I'm sure part of it is dehydration and I respond to thirst as if it were hunger. I ate 2 rounds of guacamole chips (worth 6 points) with nf cottage cheese and 1 serving of grapefruit wedges. I realize these weren't bad choices, but I probably should have stopped at 1 bowl of chips. It could have been worse, I know.

Any suggestions on what to eat, how to stop and how to plan this out so I'm not stuck with an empty bag of chips staring at me.

Thanks.

I'm no expert, but the first thing I would do is respond to my thirst. When I exercise in the evenings, I throw down a couple of bottles of water during and after, so keeping water bottles in the fridge (as near freezing as possible) is essential for me.

Beyond that, I'm not sure from your post why you chose chips for dinner. Was it convenience, i.e. they were there? Or something else like no food in the house, food but required too much preparation, chips were the only thing that spoke to you?

There are different answers depending on how you would answer that question.

Maybe try thinking of yourself as NOT eating after your workout. As Kateful mentioned, drink LOTS of water. Eat your evening meal sometime before your workout, then finish the day foodwise with just a small snack after the workout. Something like a protein bar, some veggies and dip, a piece (or two) of fruit, a yogurt, some cottage cheese. This may/may not work with your lifestyle, but I try to think of myself as a person who does not eat after the evening meal (which I have fairly early). I just brush my teeth and am DONE for the night. Even with a workout, if you're plenty hydrated a small snack should carry you til breakfast. Just an idea!

Well, my trainer always says to eat a protein, carb, and a good fat so that's what I do. Usually it's ff cottage cheese, fruit, and a few olives, or egg whites, hummus and a few olives (nuts are good, too, but nuts are a trigger food for me). I recently read an article that said the most important meal of the day is the one you eat after you work out.

I always eat 1/2 cup of NF yogurt after working out (I'm not much of a cottage cheese fan) with 1/2 cup raspberries. When fresh raspberries aren't available anymore, I'll probably just add a tablespoon of wheat germ to the yogurt or maybe some mango. I measure everything out so I don't overeat. I also include this snack when I am planning out my meals for the day so that I know it will fit in my calorie limit. If I am still hungry and I have the calories available, I might also have some nuts, fruit, or dried fruit.

I've found that the best way to keep myself from overeating (after working out or any other time) is to plan in advance what I am going to eat. If I get home and just open the fridge looking for anything, I'm far more likely to eat something I shouldn't (and more of it than I should) than if I already know what I'm going to eat. So my advice would be to plan in advance what you will eat after working out; make sure it is something you like, so you'll actually eat it.

My trainer also thinks it's good idea to eat after working out. I've read that your metabolism is slightly higher after exercising, so your body processes the food more efficiently. Plus, I don't know about you, but I'm usually hungry. I try not to eat within an hour or two before I workout, then with an hour to workout, that's three hours since I've last eaten. Time for food!

Thanks to everyone for the helpful advice.

I like the yogurt/fruit idea, and I could definitely focus on more water. I don't think I'm drinking enough overall and then an hour of intense sweating can only intensify that need.

I'll let you know if I do better next week!