This could be especially beneficial for men because they may be at a higher risk of developing heart problems 6 , 7 , 8. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension DASH diet is a heart-healthy eating plan originally developed by the National Institutes of Health.

The diet promotes nutrient-dense whole foods like fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, whole grains, and low fat dairy. Not only is the DASH diet well rounded and rich in important nutrients, but it may also be especially beneficial for female athletes, who are typically at a higher risk of developing bone disorders like osteopenia and osteoporosis 9.

In fact, the DASH diet encourages followers to eat foods high in calcium, such as low fat dairy, to promote bone health. Studies have shown the DASH diet may help increase bone density 10 , The paleo diet is based on the presumed eating patterns of ancient hunter-gatherers during the Paleolithic era.

The diet is rich in animal proteins, fruits, veggies, and healthy fats but eliminates processed foods, grains, legumes, sugar, and most dairy products.

Because the diet is typically high in protein , it may be a good option to help increase muscle growth when combined with strength training Multiple studies have even shown that eating high amounts of protein may reduce fat mass and improve body composition 13 , 14 , If you find that the paleo diet is too strict or difficult to follow, there are also several variations available, including modified versions of the paleo diet, which allow gluten-free grains and grass-fed butter.

Noom is a mobile app diet program that is designed to help you achieve long-lasting, sustainable weight loss by promoting behavioral changes. When you sign up, it asks a series of questions to collect details about your current diet and lifestyle.

This may make it a good option for athletes looking for a more personalized approach that takes their training into account. Membership also includes access to your virtual coaching team, which provides extra social support and motivation.

Instead of omitting certain foods altogether, Noom encourages followers to eat nutrient-dense ingredients like fruits, veggies, whole grains, and lean proteins. Because the program is completely virtual and requires only a smartphone, it could also be a great choice for athletes with a busy schedule.

Get started with Noom here. The Nordic diet is an eating pattern based on the traditional diets of Nordic countries like Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. It emphasizes local, sustainably sourced foods like fruits, veggies, whole grains, seafood, low fat dairy, and legumes and restricts foods that are processed, refined, or high in added sugar.

Because the diet permits many foods that are rich in carbohydrates, it can provide plenty of long-lasting energy for endurance athletes In fact, experts often recommend high carbohydrate foods that are easy to digest, such as fruit or yogurt, for endurance athletes to help fuel the muscles during exercise Not only does the Nordic diet encourage these foods, but it also promotes foods rich in protein and healthy fats to help round out your diet.

This meal delivery service company is specifically designed for athletes and offers entrees that include lean proteins, complex carbs, and nutritious veggies. The company uses high quality ingredients, including organic produce, wild-caught seafood, grass-fed meat, and free-range chicken.

The service also caters to several diet patterns. It offers paleo, keto , vegan, and vegetarian plans with flexible subscription options.

For a simple way to squeeze more protein into your diet during training, you can order individual items à la carte, including protein packs that contain prepared meat, fish, or poultry. Get started with Trifecta here. Green Chef is a great option for athletes hoping to improve both their cooking skills and physical performance by enjoying more healthy, homemade meals.

Each meal includes a list of ingredients and detailed nutrition information, which may be useful for athletes who are keeping tabs on their macronutrient intake.

You can also select your meals each week to create your menu, allowing you to choose options higher in protein, carbs, or healthy fats, depending on your fitness goals. Get started with Green Chef here. With so many different diet plans and programs out there, finding an option that works for you can be challenging.

For example, endurance athletes may benefit from consuming more carbohydrates, whereas eating more protein may help build muscle mass when coupled with resistance training Finally, be sure to avoid any overly restrictive programs.

In addition to making it more challenging to meet your nutritional needs, they can also be more difficult to follow and unsustainable in the long run.

When selecting a plan that works for you, be sure to consider your goals, preferences, and dietary restrictions. Try to steer clear of diets that are overly restrictive or unsustainable.

Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. When it comes to eating foods to fuel your exercise performance, it's not as simple as choosing vegetables over doughnuts. Learn how to choose foods…. Learn about the best pre-workout nutrition strategies.

Eating the right foods before a workout can maximize performance and speed up recovery. Nutrition is viewed as the foundation of CrossFit training and critical to performance.

Here is a closer look at the CrossFit diet, including foods to…. Here are 9 weight loss tips specifically aimed at athletes. These science-based recommendations help you lose fat while maintaining performance.

When you do it properly it can reduce body fat and maintain lean mass while your recovery accelerates. While a short period after exercising, your cells are able to use nutrients as fuel instead of storing them. It is much easier to control consumption for your next meal when you are not famished after a difficult workout.

Try to control the weight loss. Losing too much weight at once is not a good idea. To lose around one lb per week, you will need to reduce your calorie intake per day by approximately six hundred calories.

As we previously mentioned, do not lose weight during the season, and also do not lose a lot at once. Slower is healthier, lasts longer and changes in your meal plan stay permanent.

Give yourself time to adjust to changes. Sometimes it is not easy to stay on track. However, here are some ideas to help you if needed.

Firstly, you can try to join a challenge for motivation or social support. There are groups that get together for a nutrition or weight loss challenge, and a weight loss meal plan is a huge part of that.

You can share goals, excitement, and recipes with friends or colleagues and that can make going toward your goal fun. Reading, finding information, and researching your goal can also make it easier to go down the right path.

Secondly, set realistic and small goals and give yourself rewards for reaching them. They can be anything from running an extra mile to lifting extra weight, sticking to a weight loss meal plan — anything connected to your daily activities.

Furthermore, it will help you if you throw out all junk food from your fridge or pantry. Lastly, use smaller plates to help you with portion control. If you are unsure how big your meal portion should be, or you are eating bigger portions than you should — use smaller plates to help you reduce them.

It can be tough to lose weight for athletes. They are already more active than other people, so increasing physical activity usually is not an option for losing weight.

Consequently, they need to lose weight by changing what they eat. This, on the other hand, might be easier, because, as we mentioned before, they already know a lot about discipline. A weight loss meal plan that helps athletes lose weight should have food that will help reduce fat and include high-fiber carbohydrates.

You should talk to a medical professional or sports scientist so they can help you figure out a calorie intake that will lead to weight loss.

Also, it needs to meet your calorie needs with healthful foods to support your training program. As previously mentioned, when an athlete wants to lose weight, they should cut some fat from their diet as instructed in their weight loss meal plan.

Athletes who eat a lower-fat diet will experience more weight loss. That is why, for breakfast, you should consume low-fat milk and high-fiber, low-fat cereal covered with fresh fruit.

Avoid granola cereals because they contain too high-fat content. You can eat toasted whole grain bread with fruit juice-sweetened jam.

Because athletes want to perform well and rebuild their muscles in between training sessions, they need to eat more protein than most people. As a part of your meal plan to lose weight, your lunches should include lean protein.

Also, plenty of complex carbohydrates so you can have energy for your training. Eat a large salad with chopped tomatoes, lettuce, radishes, and peppers. Add some smoked chicken breast and a little bit of olive oil. Whole wheat roll can provide some additional carbs and fiber , just skip the butter.

On the other hand, you can enjoy a hearty turkey sandwich with tomato and lettuce on whole grain bread on a side with some sliced carrots and apples.

If needed, add mustard instead of mayo for less fat. For an athletic meal plan for losing weight dinner should include some additional protein.

Athletes who eat a little more protein will probably lose more weight. However, the protein you intake should still have a little fat. Try fish broiled with pepper and lemon.

Tilapia or cod represent low-fat and healthy choices. You can steam some broccoli or asparagus and add brown rice on a side for additional whole-grain carbs and fiber.

You can choose a lean chicken breast baked with fresh herbs, sweet potato, and carrots on the side. If you want a dessert too, just keep it fat-free and light.

Enjoy a small scoop of fat-free sorbet or a bowl of fresh fruit. Never skip meals to lose weight. Instead, you can eat smaller amounts at every meal and snack on some high-carbohydrate, low-calorie foods frequently during the day so you can fuel your workouts and prevent yourself from getting hungry.

Eat your meals slowly. That will help you feel full by eating fewer calories. For athletes to lose weight nutrition plays a more important role than exercising.

Focus your exercise habits on performance development, not on burning more calories. If you burn more calories or train more you will eat more calories, too and that is why it is all about food.

Before you decide to make changes in your meal plan , consult with your teammates, coach, and sports dietitian so you can be sure that the change will lead to achieving your goal.

Eat this low-carb diet for two days, then insert one higher-carb day g. Think of your nutritional plan as the anchor to stabilize all of your other efforts. Eating right will help you shed fat, increase your energy, and definitely look the way you want to.

In a pinch, you can even rip open a packet of instant oatmeal plain flavor only —just add hot water and stir.

They contain many valuable vitamins, phytochemicals, and antioxidants for better health. Quick tip: To quickly steam veggies, put an inch or two of water in a bowl, add veggies, cover bowl, and microwave for minutes. Your 28 days are up; you look great and want to keep it that way.

Juge has an easy plan to maintain your body, yet enjoy greater flexibility with your diet. Eat dinner at home, again a healthy, clean meal consisting of a lean protein source, green vegetable, and whole grains. Then, bring a protein shake or bar with you to work for a midday meal.

Just keep the rest of your meals pretty strict, without added sugars and fats. Olympic gold medal cyclist Laura Kenny teamed up with Whole Earth Peanut Butter. As Valentine's Day approaches, here are all the delicious reasons you should be eating more chocolate.

Chef Dom Ruggiero shows you how to leave the junk food on the sidelines. Close Ad ×. I want content for: Both Men Women. Facebook Twitter Youtube Pinterest. Open menu button. Open search bar button. Featured Articles. Healthy Eating Days-to-Lean Meal Plan With the right plan and the right discipline, you can get seriously shredded in just 28 days.

Read article. Women The 20 Hottest Female Celebrities Talented stars, killer physiques. Girls The 50 Best Fitness Influencers on Instagram Follow these fit women we're crushing on for inspiration, workout ideas, and motivation.

Click to share on Facebook Opens in new window Click to share on Twitter Opens in new window Click to share on Pinterest Opens in new window. Your Get-Lean Principles Strict. Eat at least 1g of protein per pound of bodyweight, daily. A high-protein intake will help you preserve lean mass during your dieting phase.

Choose lean, high-quality proteins like egg whites, poultry, lean red meat, and protein supplements. The diet provided here contains about g of protein daily, fine for a male weighing lbs. Juge suggests an additional protein shake for an easy quick fix.

Keep your carbohydrates low to moderate when trying to lose weight. Good, clean, fiber-rich carbs include oats, potatoes, rice, and whole-grain bread.

Drink at least a gallon of water per day. Water should be your primary beverage during dieting. Though many rely on diet sodas, Crystal Light, and other low-calorie sweetened drinks, plain old water is really your best bet.

How to Stay on Track Habits and cravings are the devil when it comes to dieting. What to Expect Some men can lose up to 5 lbs. Maintain Your Gains Your 28 days are up; you look great and want to keep it that way.

chicken breast Meal 3 Tuna sandwich made with 6-oz. can tuna in spring water , 2 slices whole-wheat bread, 1 Tbsp. chicken breast, 2 Tbsp. Day Two Meal 1 1 medium bagel with 2 tbsp. reduced-fat peanut butter 6 egg whites cooked with 1 yolk Meal 2 1 cup brown long-grain rice cooked amount 1 cup green veggies 6 oz.

chicken breast Meal 3 1 cup green veggies 6 oz. red snapper or halibut 1 cup broccoli 1, calories, g protein, g carbohydrate, 39 g fat, 17 g fiber. can tuna in spring water made with 1 Tbsp. fat-free mayo stalks asparagus 1, calories, g protein, g carbohydrate, 29 g fat, 28 g fiber.

SHOP NOW. com only through February 29, Buy one Ultimate Hydration, get one Ultimate Hydration free! Must add a second item to cart for discount. Excludes bundles.

Cannot be combined with other promos. com only through January 31, Limited time only! The best professional athletes in the world know this, which is why they usually have their own personal chefs who are responsible for helping them achieve peak performance through what they eat and drink.

That said, athletes often require more calories and macronutrients in order to maintain strength and energy to compete at a high level.

Therefore, the first component to optimize training and performance through nutrition is to ensure that athletes are consuming enough calories to offset energy expenditure. So, in order to balance food and activity , athletes should consume the proper amount of macronutrients — carbohydrates, proteins , and fats — in their diet.

However, athletes involved in moderate and high volume training need greater amounts of carbohydrates and proteins in their diet to meet macronutrient needs. Then depending upon the type of sport that athletes play, the amount of training that they do, and the amount of time that they spend training, athletes may need to eat more or less of certain foods.

For example, strength athletes tend to increase their protein intake, while endurance athletes usually increase the amount of carbohydrates that they eat. For athletes, the majority of dietary carbohydrates should come from complex carbohydrates with a low to moderate glycemic index.

That said, athletes should not exclude simple carbs from their diets since they provide quick bursts of energy. In terms of timing, athletes should have a complex carbohydrate-rich meal approximately an hour to two hours prior to training.

And since simple carbs are important for faster glycogen replenishment after overnight fasting and intensive exercise, athletes should consume simple carbs shortly after waking up and within two hours after training. Protein plays an essential role in sports nutrition since it provides the body with the necessary amounts of amino acids to help build and repair muscles and tissues.

Research has indicated that athletes engaged in intense training need to ingest about two times the usual recommended daily allowance RDA of protein in their diet to maintain protein balance.

These types of athletes should ideally consume protein every 2½ to 3 hours in portions of 30 to 40 grams for six to eight meals per day. Casein vs Whey Protein. Ingesting protein drinks following exercise may also lead to greater training adaptations and protein synthesis.

The best post-workout protein source is whey protein. However, prior to sleep, casein protein drinks are recommended because casein is slowly digested. Therefore, it provides steady nutrition to your body while you sleep.

And for the record, building muscle on a budget most definitely can include supplements. At three cents per gram of protein, Six Star offers one of the best protein values in America. However, to reap the benefits of fat, athletes should eat mainly healthy fats. In fact, intake of mainly healthy fats is very important for good physiological functioning of every organism.