One of the best ways to improve your body composition is by increasing lean muscle tone.

Each pound of muscle burns up 50 calories per day, so by adding muscle tone- you are essentially burning fat while doing nothing!

When it comes to increasing muscle tone resistance exercise is the absolute best!

It’s well-known that people who challenge their bodies with resistance exercises have more muscle than those that do cardio alone.

And, depending on the diet and other daily activities, these people often have less body fat.

Challenging resistance exercise improves your body composition by stimulating muscle protein synthesis pathways and enhancing fat oxidation (fat burning) for several hours after your exercise session is over.

Scientific studies have shown us that certain foods can enhance the amount of fat burned for energy several hours after the weight lifting session is over, and increase the amount of muscle synthesized.

Specifically, a high protein meal has been shown in many different scientific studies to increase muscle tone when consumed after any resistance exercise.

The best time to eat a high protein meal for this effect is 30 minutes after you workout.

Recently, researchers from Michigan State University showed that when a high protein meal was taken after an exercise session, resting energy expenditure (REE) was significantly elevated for 24 hours compared to a carbohydrate-only diet.

REE is an important measure of the amount of calories you burn in one day and accounts for about 60-75% of your total daily energy expenditure.

Thus, if you have a higher REE, you will burn more calories in the day and store less of them as body fat. Enjoy a high protein meal within 30 minutes after exercise for the best effect and watch those fat cells run away in fear.

Healthy High Protein Foods and Servings

6 oz (size of deck of cards) lean chicken breast- lean fish, or turkey breast slices, 1 can of water packed tuna fish, 8 egg whites, turkey burger patty , 90% lean ground beef , 3/4 cup fat free cottage cheese, 1 scoop of whey protein powder