So, what to eat after a work out?

Well, Ive been around the web and ive seen answers that are long winded and not specific. I want to know, what should a person eat and what should they NOT eat after a work out/run if they want to lose weight? For example, i heard spaghetti was a bad idea to eat for dinner after a work out… is it? Or just noodles in general. People keep saying eat protein, but thats not specific enough for me!

I just want to make sure im not making a mistake with my eating, because I hear that mostly women tend to gain weight because they over eat after a work out :P