Weight loss is usually accompanied by muscle loss which often makes you look slightly saggy which can make you insecure about your looks. The best way of regaining your confidence is by building muscles. The good side is that you can easily do this using the following tips.

Raising your calorie intake

The best time to build your muscles mass is immediately after you stop eating your weight loss diet. Here you need to increase your carb intake by 150 grams per day.

To ensure that you are safe, you should get the carbs from healthy sources such as high-carb fruits. Some of the best fruits that you should take are: bananas and pineapples. Other great sources of healthy carbs are: beans, peas, whole grain breads, brown rice and sweet potatoes.

Incorporating resistance training in your exercise routine

Resistance training has been found to be very effective in increasing the body muscles. For ideal results you should include exercises that target the large muscle groups.

Some of the great exercises that you should engage in are: pushups, pull-ups, lunges and squats. If you have access to dumbbells and barbells you should engage in exercises such as: chest presses, dumbbell squats, and upright rows.

To avoid burn out, you should do the exercises in sets and repetitions. Here you should perform exercises in two or three sets of 12-15 repetitions.

You should also avoid resting for long periods of time between the sets. For ideal results you should limit the recovery periods between sets to one minute or less.

Allowing rest days

For proper physiological response you need to rest after exercising. Experts recommend that you should engage in strenuous resistance training for two or three days and then rest for one day.

Eating supplemental protein

Proteins are very important in muscle building; therefore, you should eat plenty of them. It has been found that proteins contain a number of amino acids that combine to promote muscle growth.

For you to gain muscle mass you should consume 1-1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. If you are unable to eat this number of proteins through balanced diet, you should seek assistance from supplemental protein powders.

These are tips on how to build muscle after weight loss. To ensure that you gain muscle the healthy way, it's recommended that you join a gym where you will work out under the supervision of a professional.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8567336

If you want to gain weight and build lean muscles at the same time, there are two very important things you have to do; you have to eat right regularly and exercise effectively. This means that you should eat plenty of calories, food rich in proteins as well as other essential nutrients and weight train for at least four times a week. Additionally, having realistic goals and expectations is also important when it comes to gaining weight and building lean muscles. Taking good care of your body is very important in ensuring that you get the best results as far as bodybuilding is concerned. The following are tips on how to gain weight and build muscle at the same time;

Exercise Right

In order for you to build muscles you need to exercise effectively and efficiently. It is important for you to pay attention on exercises that engage lots of muscles at the same time rather than concentrating on exercises that target a specific muscle group. It is advisable to target working out the entire body each session. During your workout sessions, you can alternate exercises that focus on the upper body as well as the lower body. For better results, it is advisable to workout at least six times a week.

Reduce Your Cardio Workout

Cardiovascular exercises are a great way of increasing stamina and also burning fat. However, your aim here is not to lose weight or burn fat but to gain weight and build muscles. Therefore instead of engaging in highly intensive training which involves too much cardio, go for less intensive cardio activities like walking, or bicycle riding for not more than one hour per week. Additionally, you can engage in interval training which will help in increasing muscle mass for instance sprinting for 2 minutes and slowing down to a comfortable slow pace for a couple of minutes. Doing these, three times a week will ensure that you build lean muscles while at the same time increase weight.

Train Hard And Go Heavy

It is true to say that no pain no gain. In order for you to gain weight and build more muscles you need to train hard. Focus on lifting heavier weights. Among the best exercises to concentrate on, are compound exercises for example dead lifts, bench press, squats, pull-ups and rows. These exercises increase testosterone hormones in the body which is responsible in boosting power and building muscles. Ensure that you stay between 10 - 20 reps per muscle group and your sets should last between 40 - 70 seconds.

Eat Right

For you to increase weight, you need to eat right. It is recommended that you eat five to six meals a day. These meals should be high in proteins, carbohydrates as well as other essential nutrients. This will give your body the required raw material to build muscles and your metabolism something to burn fat and produce more energy. Protein is the key ingredient in building muscles while carbohydrate is needed for weight gain. Therefore ensure that you eat foods rich in carbohydrates as well as foods rich in proteins.

Rest

Ensure that you get adequate rest each and every day. Additionally you should have a resting period between sets and exercises as you work out. Getting adequate sleep at night is essential in ensuring that the muscles recover and grow as expected. You should rest for at least eight hours every night.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=John_L_Michaels

Feeling bombarded by the onslaught of healthy new ingredients and products that seem to crop up daily, jockeying for your shelf space? Yep, us too. The thing is, some aren't nearly as good for you—or your waistline—as their packaging would have you believe. So we turned to Jaclyn London, M.S., R.D., senior clinical dietician at Mount Sinai Hospital, to shed some much-needed light on which ingredients you should skip if you're trying to drop pounds. Here are the ones she says you should put on your do-not-buy list:

Coconut Oil
Coconut oil has recently become the hottest trend in everything from cooking to beauty treatments, but London cautions that two tablespoons of coconut oil contain about 200 calories and 16 grams of heart-clogging saturated fat (about 80 percent of our recommended daily value!). So if you start using this product regularly without otherwise adjusting your diet, you'll likely start to see weight creep.

Gluten-Free Products
First it was "fat-free." Then, it was "low-carb." Now, "gluten-free" is showing up on all sorts of food products. "There's nothing necessarily healthier about gluten-free pasta when compared to regular pasta," says London. "In fact, it's likely lower in protein and fiber than its whole-wheat alternative." The same goes for breads, cookies, and other products with gluten-free versions. The calorie counts of similar products usually remain the same, but you may eat more of them since gluten-free products typically have a health halo. So unless you're suffering from celiac disease, you're not doing yourself any favors opting for a gluten-free product.

Vegan Cheese
This is another example where you might assume the alternative version has fewer calories than the original—but it doesn’t. "It sounds like a healthier choice, but it still has about 100 calories per ounce, just like regular cheese, and is loaded with fake ingredients such as starch, xanthan gum, and protein isolates," says London. Additionally, you're losing the protein-rich benefit of the real deal: String cheese has eight grams of protein, whereas a serving of vegan cheese contains about one gram of protein—so you won’t even fill as full from each serving.

Agave Nectar
This sweetener is often touted as natural and organic, but pure agave nectar is virtually unheard of. Instead, the bottles you'll find on store shelves are filled with chemically produced syrups that contain more man-made sugar than the dreaded high fructose corn syrup. "The issue is, once it's labeled a healthy food, people use it like it's calorie-free and pour it on everything," says London. "In fact, it has 45 calories per teaspoon." Want something sweet (and waistline-friendly) in tomorrow’s coffee? Try a dash of cinnamon instead.

Tomato Sauce
"Tomato sauce can be a healthy, low-calorie cooking addition, but it's another one where label reading is key," says London. Many tomato sauce brands contain added sugar and tons of sodium—which basically adds up to unnecessary calories and bloating.

Brown Sugar
"Brown, white, liquid—doesn't matter," says London. Sugar is sugar is sugar, and it packs 16 calories per teaspoon. So make sure to be just as mindful when you're adding brown sugar to your coffee as when you’re adding table sugar; otherwise, you could end up taking in an excessive number of calories.


Carob
Carob is often touted as a more healthful alternative to chocolate, but in reality, it contains the same number of calories (150 per one-ounce serving)—and it lacks the health benefits linked to modest chocolate intake (including lowering your risk of obesity and heart disease). "The only difference is that they are derived from different plants, so carob is caffeine-free, which can be beneficial to people who are sensitive to the stimulant effects of caffeine," says London. But if you're trying to lose weight, you'll want to limit your intake of both carob and chocolate.

source:http://www.womenshealthmag.com/weight-loss/healthy-food-that-makes-you-gain-weight