Eat less and you'll lose weight. Exercise more and you'll gain muscle. These are basic truisms, but the types of food you eat and the types of exercise you perform make a difference. If you want to lose fat and gain muscle the healthy way, proper food choices will aid your efforts.
Complex Carbohydrates Fuel Exercise
Carbohydrates will give you the energy to exercise, protein will help build muscles and fluids will keep you hydrated, says Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietitian who appears regularly on Canadian television and writes a weekly column for the "Globe and Mail." She advises eating carbohydrate-rich foods such as cereal, rice, fruit, legumes, whole grains and dairy products at every meal and as snacks. Good choices during exercise include energy bars, bananas and figs, she says.
Protein Builds and Repairs Muscles
Protein helps you repair and build muscles and build up your immune system, Beck says. If you're training for endurance, you also need to eat about a half ounce of protein for every pound of your current weight, or about half that for moderate resistance training. If you weigh 130 pounds, you would need between 30 and 65 ounces of protein daily. Beck recommends lean meat, poultry and fish for omnivores. Egg whites, milk, tofu and whey protein can also satisfy your protein needs.
Building Muscle Especially Important After Age 50
Tom Valeo, who writes about health, science and aging for prominent publications, says building muscle is important for long-term weight loss and vital for anyone older than 50. He says older people who simply cut calories from their diet will lose much more muscle than fat while dieting and regain nothing but fat when they resume normal eating. People lose muscle as they age, about 10 percent by age 50 and 40 percent by age 80. Valeo says a diet that includes lean protein and complex carbohydrates, coupled with resistant training, will help people of any age build muscle, speed metabolism and offset the yo-yo effect of many diets.
Healthy Snacks Are Important
Dr. Liam Hennessy says that when trying to lose fat and increase muscle, it's important to keep the body refueled. He says balanced meals and snacks are important to keep muscles from breaking down. When muscles are not properly nourished, you will lose muscle weight instead of fat during dieting. He advises against taking supplements and eating power snacks instead. A glass of milk, for instance, can help promote muscle mass gain and also provides hydration. Dr. Hennessy says other good choices include yogurt, a banana with a nut cereal bar or a roll with tuna, chicken or turkey.
Don't Overdo the Protein
Sebely Pal, an associate professor at Curtin University in Australia, says that adding lean protein to your diet will help build lean muscle and burn fat, but cautions against going on a high-protein diet. Dr. Pal advocates cutting back, but not severely restricting carbohydrates and eating moderate amounts of protein-rich foods such as nuts, legumes, dairy products, lean red meat, poultry and fish. He believes dairy products may be especially effective in burning fat while building muscle, and has launched a study to test the theory.
References
- "St. Petersburg Times"; Put some muscle behind your diet; Tom Valeo, April 17, 2007
- "The West Australian"; 'Healthy' protein key to weight loss; Cathy O'Leary, April 26, 2008
- "The Irish Times"; Milk proves perfect power snack to help build muscle mass; Dr. Liam Hennessy and Jim Kilty; April 23, 2008
- "The Globe and Mail"; High-octane foods to fuel your performance; Leslie Beck, Oct. 8, 2009
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