Meal Plans To Lose Weight And Gain Muscle

Generally speaking, to gain muscle you have to eat more calories than you need for metabolism and your daily activities. To lose weight, you have to eat fewer calories than you need for metabolism and your daily activities. It seems you cannot gain muscle and lose weight at the same time. However, subtle manipulation of a diet replete with nutrient dense foods and planning your meals around your workout times can help you gain muscle and lose weight simultaneously.

Considerations

Eat four to six meals day. Certified nutritionist and fitness trainer Mike Geary believes that eating multiple small meals a day will help you lose weight. Your body uses energy to assimilate each meal, thus revving up your metabolism. Fitness trainer Randy Herring, writing in Bodybuilding.com believes that eating every two or three hours, which equates to about six meals a day, ensures a constant stream of muscle building nutrients.

Timing

The timing and make-up of your meals should be in conjunction with an exercise program designed to help you lose weight and gain muscle. The program should include resistance training for muscle growth and cardiovascular exercise to burn fat and calories.

Protein

Eat protein with each meal. Lean cuts of meat, poultry, whole eggs, dairy products, beans, nuts, lentils, and legumes provide protein to help maintain and increase lean muscle tissue. Increase your intake on the days you work out, particularly before and after your workouts. A study by Chad M Kerksick and Brian Leutholtz of the Exercise and Sports Nutrition Laboratory, Baylor University, published in June 2005 by the "Journal of the International Society of Sports Medicine" suggests taking protein before and after resistance training may help increase lean muscle tissue.

Carbohydrates

Unrefined complex carbohydrates like whole grains, oatmeal, yams and sweet potatoes provide sustained energy with less risk of unused energy increasing your fat stores. Eat fewer complex carbs on the days you do not work out, but include complex carbs with more meals on workout days.You need the energy to power your workout. Include vegetables with each meal. They provide fiber which assists waste elimination, phytonutrients to scavenge disease causing free radicals, and health enhancing vitamins and minerals. Eat fruits as mid-meal snacks. Nutritionist Mike Geary suggests two snack ideas: avocado slices wrapped in deli turkey breast or a bowl of blueberries mixed with raw almonds.

Fats

Keep your meals low in fat to control your calorie intake. However, ensure you get enough omega-3 and omega-6 essential fatty acids or EFAs in your diet by using hemp seed oil, flax seed oil or pumpkin seed oil as condiments in your meals. Personal trainer David Robson, writing in Bodybuilding.com, believes muscle recovery after exercise is dependent on restoration of hormones,oxygen regulation and a properly functioning immune system. EFAs play a vital role in these processes. Do not cook with these oils; their chemical structure causes a release of harmful free radicals when subject to high heat. Alternatively, you can add hemp seeds, flax seeds or pumpkin seeds to a smoothie.