The American Heart Association links excess body weight to higher incidences of serious cardiopulmonary conditions. One of the most reliable ways to lose weight is to reduce the number of calories you ingest through a well-balanced diet. Including a nutrient-rich diet is also an important component to increasing muscle mass, which contributes to more effective calorie burning for maintenance or loss of weight.
Significance
A healthy percentage of body fat is around 30 percent for women and 20 to 25 percent for men, according to the AHA. Excess body fat and obesity are linked to several health risks that range in seriousness. An excess of body fat increases your risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, stroke, heart attack and breathing problems like sleep apnea. A reduction of just 10 percent of your body weight yields significant health and wellness benefits. Yale University researcher and author David Katz, MD, states that a 10 percent reduction in body weight results in lower blood pressure, lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol, high tolerance for glucose and a reduced risk for developing cardiovascular disease in his book "The Way to Eat: A Six-Step Path to Lifelong Weight Control." A diet plan which reduces caloric intake and supports the building of lean muscle mass is an effective way to reduce excess body fat and lose weight.
Function
Both the quantity and quality of your daily caloric intake impact both your overall weight and your percentage of body fat. Some forms of calories like proteins support muscle growth while other types of calories like simple carbohydrates are more commonly stored in fat cells if they are not burned for energy. A diet which promotes an overall caloric reduction as well as a preference for protein-based caloric intake support the production of lean muscle mass. An increase in lean muscle mass supports a healthy metabolism by increasing the efficiency of your body's ability to burn calories even while you are at rest.
Types
Your personal daily caloric needs to support simple body functions are determined by your age, gender, current weight, level of activity and current weight (See Resources). An effective meal plan for losing weight and supporting muscle growth reduces the amount of calories your receive from sugars, saturated fats and simple carbohydrates and replaces them with calories from lean proteins, complex carbohydrates and small quantities of monounsaturated fats. A sample meal plan might swap out sugary breakfast cereals for bran cereal served with skim milk and two egg whites; lunch might include a spinach or kale salad with lean chicken breast, a tablespoon of almonds and a side of fresh fruit.
Effects
A high-protein meal plan supports muscle synthesis to build more lean muscle mass while avoiding storing unused calories as fat. High protein diets also support the recovery of muscles after strength-building exercises, according to a 2001 report issued by the "International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism." An increase in lean muscle mass raises your resting metabolic rate to increase the efficiency at which your body burns excess calories rather than storing them as fat to further promote weight loss. A high protein diet typically yields a large initial loss of water weight due to a reduction in simple carbohydrates, but sustainable long-term weight loss is approximately 1 to 2 lbs. per week.
Misconceptions
Muscle cells cannot replace fat cells; both muscle and fat are their own biological entities and they cannot turn into one another. Even when you burn fat, what you are really doing is decrease the size of your fat cells to lose weight rather than eliminating your fat cells entirely. Muscle also does not weigh more than fat; a pound of fat weighs the same a pound of muscle, but muscle tissue is denser than fat tissue and therefore provides more mass in a smaller amount of space.
Considerations
A reduced calorie diet may cause weight loss, but building lean muscle mass requires strength training exercises. During exercise, muscles burn protein and then synthesize new protein to increase the mass of the muscle. A meal-plan alone will not dramatically increase the size of your muscles. Also consider that weight loss plans not only burn fat; your body also burns muscle mass for energy when fat or carbohydrate energy is unavailable or scarce. Avoid burning muscle mass by maintaining a diet that provides sufficient nutrients including protein, complex carbohydrates and healthy fats.
References
- American Heart Association: Obesity-Stroke Connection
- "Chest"; Long-term Outcome for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome Patients; M. Partinen; 1994
- "The Way to Eat: A Six-Step Path to Lifelong Weight Control"; David Katz; 2002
- "International Journal of Sports Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism"; Exercise, Protein Metabolism and Muscle Growth; K.D. Tipton and R. R. Wolfe; 2001
- American Heart Association: High Protein Diets
- Feminist Women's Health Center: High Protein Diets: Are You Losing More Than Weight?
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