To help you lose weight and go strong as you stride, work these healthy, expert-recommended eats into a 1,500-calorie-a-day plan.
Homemade trail mix
The complex carbs in this snack may keep energy up and weight down: A study from England found that women who ate muesli and fruit before exercising burned twice as much fat during a workout as those who ate cornflakes, white bread and jam. Mix 1/2 cup Kashi GoLean cereal, 1 large whole-grain pretzel broken into pieces, 3 Genisoy crisps and 1/4 cup walnuts (344 calories, 39 grams carbs).
Eggs
A 78-calorie egg contains all the amino acids your muscles need to recover post-walk. It will also help ward off hunger: Women in a study from Saint Louis University who chose eggs rather than a bagel for breakfast ate 264 fewer calories throughout the day.
Cherries
A substance in tart cherries (52 calories per cup) may reduce inflammation. Exercisers who drank 12 ounces of cherry juice, such as Eden Organic Montmorency Tart Cherry juice, twice a day for eight days were less sore after strength-training than those who didn’t have the juice, according to a University of Vermont study.
Salmon
Eating this fish may help keep you from getting winded: A two-year Japanese study found that the omega-3 fatty acids in salmon improve lung function. The fish contains more than the daily recommended 1.1 grams of omega-3s per 181-calorie, 3½-ounce serving. Try two or more servings a week.
Dry-roasted edamame
The protein in soybeans helps regulate blood sugar “to give you a consistently high level of energy on longer walks,” says Meridan Zerner, R.D., of the Cooper Aerobics Center in Dallas. Plus, edamame has 4 grams of feel-full fiber per 127-calorie lh-cup serving.
Low-fat plain yogurt
“Studies show that we lose calcium when we sweat,” says FITNESS advisory board member Leslie Bonci, R.D. One 120-calorie cup of plain, low-fat yogurt provides 40 percent of your RDA.
Spinach
All dark leafy greens contain bone-strengthening vitamin K, but raw spinach packs a whopping 161 percent of the RDA in one 7-calorie cup. Eat it in a salad to supplement each skeleton-boosting stroll.