I want to build muscle and lose belly fat. A nutritionist said to eat more food.

• A 60-year-old man submitted an average day of eating to be reviewed for Insider's Nutrition Clinic.

• A nutritionist said to eat more carbs, fats, and food overall.

• If you'd like to have your diet reviewed by an expert, fill out this form.

Victor, 60, submitted his eating routine to Insider's Nutrition Clinic, where qualified dietitians and registered nutritionists offer advice on readers' eating habits.

He told Insider his goals were to build muscle and lose fat around his waist. He said he had a sedentary desk job but was lifting weights and doing cardio twice a week.

While he previously lost some weight on the keto diet, he said, he found it too restrictive. Victor said he had started counting his calories and was trying to eat a low-fat diet to keep them down.

Jamie Wright, a registered nutritionist, told Insider that Victor might benefit from changing his focus from aesthetics to athletics.

"If you chase a 'look,' you're much more likely to hamper your exercise performance and possibly get into a situation whereby you're risking inadequate nutrient, micronutrient, and mineral intake," Wright said. "If you want to look and feel like an athlete, then you have to perform and fuel like one."

It's also not possible to "spot train" and purposefully lose fat in one area of the body, such as the belly.

Wright advised Victor to increase his calorie intake to a maintenance level, which may require some trial and error to find and often leads to a small initial weight gain because of the water weight that comes with eating more.

A slightly higher calorie intake is likely to reduce Victor's risk of malnutrition, give him the energy to be more active, and help him retain his hard-earned muscle mass, which dwindles with age.

"While physical activity is a critical factor in combating this, under-fueling can accelerate loss of lean mass," Wright said. "The more lean muscle mass we have, the leaner we will typically look anyway."

If possible, Wright said, Victor should try to fit in one or two more strength sessions each week.

"The difference this will make to your health (never mind your physique) in the short and long term will be drastic and do a lot more for achieving your leaner body composition and developing more muscle mass than under-fuelling ever will," Wright said.

Eat less processed meat

For breakfast, Victor said he aimed to eat no more than 400 calories and typically had Special K cereal or oatmeal with two turkey sausages or two slices of bacon.

Wright said it was great that Victor was getting protein in at breakfast, but to ensure he wasn't consuming too much processed meat he could consider swapping them for egg whites or whole eggs some of the time.

Regularly eating processed meat, such as sausages, ham, bacon, and jerky, has been linked with an increased risk of developing major cardiovascular illness, as well as conditions such as bowel and stomach cancer and high blood pressure.

Eat fruit and vegetables at lunch

For lunch, Victor said he was eating a turkey burger or a frozen low-fat meal, plus a protein bar.

Wright said given that preparing a nutritious lunch could be hard on a busy workday, Victor's lunch wasn't bad by any means and it was great to be getting another protein hit. But adding some fruit or vegetables at lunch would provide more micronutrients and fiber, he said.

Add carbs to dinner for more energy

For dinner, Victor said he was eating chicken, lean beef, or pork with vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower rice, or carrots.

Wright said this was a great, nutritious dinner, and it was good to have a variety of foods, but if Victor bumped up his calories, he could add some carbs to his meal, which would give him more energy and benefit his workouts.

Protein is important

Victor said that twice a day he was snacking on a piece of fruit (such as a banana, an apple, or some cantaloupe melon) and some nuts (such as cashews or walnuts).

Fruit and nuts are nutritious, and nuts do contain some protein, but Wright said that they didn't contain as much as most people thought and that Victor might benefit from having more protein in his snacks. He suggested a protein shake, jerky, boiled eggs, cottage cheese, or Greek yogurt with berries.

Regularly consuming protein throughout the day helps build and maintain muscle and also helps keep you feeling full. Wright said that overall, Victor was spacing out his protein well, so it wasn't a huge cause for concern, but adding some more in snacks might help.

Read the original article on Insider