Leaning out---What can I eat?

[TheBouncingSoul]

I talked with a personal trainer in the past and I can remember him only telling me a few things I should mainly eat if I am trying to lean out.

Brown Rice
Apples
Egg Whites
Pears
Lean meat
Water
Lots of Vegetables

I need some help on this one, anything else I can eat?

Any help is appreciated!!!

[DannoXYZ]

What do you mean by "lean out"?

Get a lower body-fat %?
Or lose weight?
Or lose muscle?

I think the exercise part make a bigger difference than the diet for all of the above goals

[TheBouncingSoul]

Lower body fat %.

I would assume with this diet and workour, I won't be gaining much muscle but instead lost body fat and become more tone.

[TheBouncingSoul]

any help at all is greatly appreciated!!

[DannoXYZ]

Lower body fat %.

I would assume with this diet and workour, I won't be gaining much muscle but instead lost body fat and become more tone.Well, muscle-gain is more directly related to exertion level than diet. Unless you're extremely malnourished, diet won't affect your muscle content much. Although it's easier to lose muscle than to gain it...

Body-fat percentage on the other hand, is determined a lot by diet. That's regulated by the balance of calories-in vs. calories-out, more than by type of food really. If you eat more calories than you work off, you'll gain weight, regardless of what kind of food it is. Just that with some foods, it's A LOT easier to pile on a lot of calories than others. Conversely, as long as you eat fewer calories than you work off, you'll lose fat. Along with exercise to work the muscles and maintain lean muscle-mass, you'll lower body-fat %.

There are issues of using up muscle-mass for energy. Such as during and after the ride. Lack of carbs will cause your body to disassemble muscle-tissue for energy. Looks like your diet is fine, just be careful of the portion sizes and make sure you're eating fewer calories than you're exercising off. And be sure to get sufficient carb calories after a workout your body doesn't break down muscle to replenish its glycogen stores.


Some related posts and articles:

Losing weight but stopped losing fat... what now? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?p=1786388)
Anyone have protein shakes after a long ride? (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=152662)
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition - Maximizing postexercise muscle glycogen synthesis (http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/72/1/106)
Adiposity 101 (http://www.omen.com/adipos.html)


BTW - once you get down to 10% body-fat, losing the next step gets more and more difficult. The rates of muscle-destruction goes up so you have to exercise even harder, with more strenuous strength/weight-training just to maintain the same lean muscle-mass. Meanwhile, the remaining fat gets used up incrementally. At about 5-6%, you're running into health risks as your immune system is compromized...

[wheelin]

Once a year I go on 25 days bicycle tour, and attain slightly over 12% BF, from low 16% BF. Admittedly, I lost a lot of body weight, meaning I lost quite a bit of muscles as well. I'd do slow pace on mountain routes for at least 100 km/day. The beauty of it is that I could eat anything and every thing, even bad fats. This is way better than fasting.