Is Protein Cookie Dough Good for Recovery Days? 7 Reasons Rest Days Need Protein Too

Protein is probably one of the most talked about nutrients in the gym world, even though other nutrients are also important. However, all the focus tends to be on eating as much protein as possible before and after the gym. 

Filling up on chicken breasts, steaks, eggs, and whey powder after pushing your body to its limits is what people picture when they think of protein from a fitness perspective. 

What about rest days, though? Should you eat protein on rest days? Are protein snacks good for recovery days? 

We’re going to cover 7 reasons why you might be ruining your rest days by not cracking open a bag of FUUL protein cookie dough bites. 

Do You Need Protein on Rest Days? 

When you’re trying to maintain your muscle mass or grow it, you definitely need to maintain your protein intake on rest days. Rest day is a chance for your body to recover, and protein is a major part of that. Eating protein on off days ensures your progress does not stall while you relax.

If you treat rest day like a cheat day and just pound carbs, sugar, and fat all day, you’re going to undo a lot of the hard work you put in at the gym, and you’re going to minimize your gains. You might even increase your chance of injuring yourself in the gym. 

Here are 7 more specific reasons why protein needs to be a top priority even when you’re skipping the gym. 

1. Your Body Needs Protein to Make Repairs

Protein and rest days go hand-in-hand. Throughout the week, you tear up your muscles at the gym. Rest days are meant to give your muscles a chance to repair themselves. Protein gives your body the building blocks it needs to make those repairs. 

You can take a rest day, but if you’re not giving your body protein to properly repair itself as you rest, your body can’t get the job done right. 

Not maintaining your protein intake on rest days is like being a plumber answering an emergency call on the weekend, just to find out you didn’t order any pipe fittings. You can show up to the job, but you can’t fix anything. 

2. Muscle Growth Happens at Rest

This is one thing a lot of newer gym rats get wrong. You don’t actually build muscle at the gym. Your muscles don’t grow when you’re in the middle of a heavy lifting set and feeling the pain. They grow when your body starts repairing the muscles. That happens during your sleep and when you take a rest day. 

Think of it like this. Your workout pushes your muscles to the limit and damages them. The repair process uses protein to not only repair them, but to make them stronger and bigger than before. That is why taking protein snacks post gym can support muscle growth and make your recovery much more effective.

If you want to enjoy those big gains, you have to give your muscles the material they need to make your muscles bigger. 

3. Maintained Satisfaction

If you’re working out and worrying about rest days, you’re probably watching what you eat, too. Protein snacks for recovery days, like cookie dough bites, will satisfy you with lots of protein, a small dose of sugar, and a great taste to keep you from eating junk and ruining your diet plan. 

4. Weight Management

This ties into the previous reason we listed, but it’s a little different. 

By managing your cravings and keeping your diet on track during rest days, you help manage your weight, too. 

Also, protein triggers hormones that keep you full and prevent you from overindulging. That is crucial for two types of people. 

First, if you’re experienced with fitness and eating right, you probably eat a lot on your workout days. On your rest days, you’re not burning as many calories, and you don’t need to eat quite as much. One of the protein cookie dough advantages is its ability to keep you full longer and help you avoid cravings.

If you’re new to weight management and fitness, and you have a little extra weight with some bad food habits you’re overcoming, protein cookie dough bites can keep you from slipping into negative habits like overindulging and sabotaging your hard work. 

5. Metabolism Health is Boosted

Your metabolism is crucial for your fitness. If it’s in good shape, you’ll burn lots of calories and fat even when you’re resting. This also helps with the weight management we mentioned. 

Protein helps improve your metabolism. So, even on a rest day, you can keep burning fat. 

6. Heightened Energy

We all know the feeling of spending 5 days pushing our muscles as far as they’ll go, and then rest comes around, and we feel drained. It’s rough. It can also make it hard to get back into the gym when your rest day is over. 

Protein provides energy stabilization by giving your body fuel, repairing it, and stabilizing blood sugar effectively. Using protein snacks for recovery days means you feel better instead of drained.

This also makes it a lot easier to use the extra time you have from not going to the gym to get some chores and errands done. 

7. Wellness

Protein is most often talked about in a gym bro setting. The average person isn’t running around worrying about protein all the time. However, it’s essential for everyone. It’s a core part of overall wellness. 

Protein helps balance your hormones, it stops cravings, energizes you, repairs your organs and muscles, balances blood sugar, and so much more.
Even if we ignore all the workout-related benefits we listed, you need protein every day.

Why FUUL Protein Cookie Dough is the Best Protein for Rest Days

The protein you eat on a rest day is important. There’s a big difference between eating 40 grams of protein in fried chicken tenders and eating 40 grams of protein from whey protein isolate. 

You still want to minimize the less desirable nutrients and substances while maximizing your protein intake. These are the reasons why protein snacks for recovery days should always come first on rest days.

FUUL makes this for you, in flavors like chocolate chip and birthday cake. You get 15 grams of protein per serving, which is the perfect amount for a snack. You also get 8 grams of good fats, only 6 grams of sugar, and 37 grams of total carbs. All that, it’s only 270 calories, and it tastes absolutely amazing. 

Contact us today, and enjoy a recovery that feels like a treat!