One thing most people do not realize when dieting, is that your body naturally breaks down and burns muscle BEFORE it burns fat when you diet! On the flip side, it takes more muscle to burn more fat! Seems like a lose weight gain muscle dilemma, doesn’t it. This is why it’s crucial to learn how your body reacts to various foods and exercises.
So let’s talk a little bit about how your body reacts to food
- Eating fibrous foods will curb your hunger (and make you regular).
- Eating smaller more frequent meals such as 4-5 small meals during the day will keep your body from going into starvation mode (This is where is will hold on to every calorie it can for its own survival) and actually cause you to burn more calories.
- Breakfast truly is the most important meal of the day. Breakfast essentially wakes your body up so can start burning more calories. Not to mention you will feel better vs. skipping breakfast.
- Eating slower will give your body time to feel full. There is actually a nerve in the upper portion of your stomach that signals your brain that it’s full. It takes a little time for all that food to make down there! This is makes the Lap Band work.
- Drink lots of water! Drinking a tall glass of ice water will also increase your metabolism since it was to warm it back up.
Obviously there is much more to be said about eating the right foods that can’t fit into one small article. Eating more fruits, veggies, and staying away from that white bread will help lose weight gain muscle. See the bottom of this article for more information on dieting.
Now that we know a little more about how our body reacts to food, let’s talk about how exercise fits into the lose weight gain muscle game plan.
Muscle burns calories! The more muscle you have, the more calories you will burn.
A lot of people think they have to work their “abs”. The truth of it is, your abs are rather small muscles compared to some of the other muscles. All the fancy machines that are sold to work your abs are mostly hype. Besides, you want to shrink your belly not make it larger! Not to say you should not lose all focus on your abs, but doing a stretch of sit-ups in your exercise routine will probably suffice.
The largest muscles in your body are in your legs. This is why walking and most any exercises involving the legs burn LOTS of calories. A big plus when you want to lose weight gain muscle.
Here are some different types of leg exercises you can do without investing in any expensive equipment
- Walking
- Lunges
- Stair stepping
- Squats
- Leg lifts
- Dancing
- Jogging
Working the larger muscles of you body will burn more calories faster, even when you are at rest.
One final note about exercise. High intensity workouts such as aerobics and running are great for your heart, but low intensity, such as walking will burn more calories!
So there you have it. You can lose weight gain muscle by understanding how your body reacts to food, and what muscles you should be focusing on.
