In my quest to age better I started my project with a body composition assessment. It is helpful to know where you are starting from before you make changes. How will you know if it is working if you can’t measure change?
Body composition is important because what you are made of matters, a lot. Muscle is key for healthy ageing. We lose muscle as we age, it is harder to gain and more important to maintain.
Since 2020 I have had a number of unfortunate events that have resulted in many of my workouts being of the “rehab” variety. So I compared my current body composition results to my results in 2020. I have lost two pounds of muscle and gained about 6 pounds of adipose tissue. If I had only used the scale to measure change I would only know that I was about 5 pounds heavier and that is easy to ignore.
However, I am concerned about the muscle loss. Two pounds doesn’t sound like much, but more is definitely not better and if I want to be healthier can I gain it back?
The 10 pound difference
This got me thinking, many people I talk to have more than 10 pounds to lose and often dismiss losing ten pounds as “not enough.”
Don’t.
First, even if you want to lose 50 pounds you still have to lose ten pounds first, and one pound at a time. Second, even if you lost ten pounds – not of muscle – but of adipose tissue or body fat, this has a significant effect on your health.
If you want to lose ten pounds, great, but maintaining your muscle mass while you do it is as important as reducing body fat and this is harder than simply weight loss.
In traditional dieting only methods it is estimated that 10-20% of the weight loss is muscle. With the new GLP-1s weight loss drugs muscle is an estimated that 25-40% of the weight loss.
10 pounds of adipose tissue
If you are overweight losing 5% of your body weight has significant benefits. For someone weighing 200 pounds, 5% of your body weight, is 10 lbs of adipose tissue.
This is what happens when you lose ten pounds of body fat.
Less joint pain. Every 10 extra pounds puts about 40 extra pounds of pressure on your knees. That adds up to more stress on your joints with every step.
Reduce blood pressure. Extra weight means your blood is pushing harder against your artery walls, this makes it more difficult for blood to be transported around your body. You can lower blood pressure by 5 points by trimming 5% of your weight.
Reduce inflammation. Your adipose tissue, especially around the abdomen, release chemicals that irritate and inflame tissues all over the body. This is linked to health problems like heart disease, arthritis, some types of cancer, and stroke.
Heart health. For every extra pound of weight there is an additional 8 km – 5 miles -!!! of blood vessels. If your heart beats 100,000 times a day, that’s more than 800,000 km a day for one pound of fat.
Endothelial cell dysfunction. Endothelial cells line your blood vessels and control their ability to expand and contract. Researchers found that when healthy young adults gained 9 pounds of abdominal fat they found that the regulation of blood flow was impaired due to endothelial dysfunction. This was reversed with weight loss.
Researcher, Virend Somers, M.D., Ph.D., a cardiologist at Mayo Clinic says,
Letting weight creep on as the result of aging should not be accepted as normal.
More muscle
How long does it take to gain muscle? This depends on age, sex, genetics, medications, training program, diet and recovery. But, expect to see muscle growth within 2-4 months of regular training.
Some of the benefits of gaining or maintaining muscle.
Better blood sugar control. Muscle plays an important role in blood sugar regulation. More muscle means more insulin-sensitive cells are available to take glucose from your bloodstream and help lower blood sugar levels efficiently.
Improved mobility. A recent study on resistance training and flexiblity showed that strength training alone improves your range of motion, with or without stretching!
Increased health span. Muscle mass is one of the best predictors of long-term health and independence.
Better bone health. Muscle mass is closely linked to higher bone mineral density an important component of bone health.
Reduced risk of heart disease, including reducing inflammation!
Body composition matters. Building muscle takes time, but it is critical for good health. Muscle is money in the bank when it comes to ageing well.
Change your mind, change your health,
Shayla
Eat better, live better and feel better.
Do you want to be your best at any age? Tired of feeling old and tired? You can make healthy changes at any age. It is not too late to put yourself on the "to-do list". Start looking better and feeling better right now.
Sign up to start changing how you feel about your age today!