Stop Focusing on Weight Loss, and Start Focusing on Muscle Gain
If you are sincerely interested in achieving good health and living a long life, you will ditch the weight loss plans and hone in on building muscle. For that matter, if you are interested in getting some positive reinforcement from your mirror, you will also stop the efforts made towards fat loss and begin training your muscles. Here’s why:
Skeletal muscle mass is one of the best metrics for health promotion, disease prevention and longevity. The more of it you have, the greater your chances of living a long, disease-free life. In fact, gaining and maintaining muscle mass is one of the best weight management strategies available, and it’s one that is entirely within our control.
Unfortunately, we live in a diet culture, where whittling down the number on the scale and the calories consumed is the main objective for many people. While body weight is one metric of health and fitness, it is certainly not the best. The hyper-focus on overfatness being a health concern (which it is!) is being addressed in an unhelpful way. Rather than eating less and becoming lighter, it is arguably better to eat more and become stronger.
The majority of our daily energy expenditure comes from our basal metabolic rate (BMR). Yes, exercising and engaging in daily activities certainly contributes to “burning calories”, but the fact of the matter is that the biggest portion of your daily calorie expenditure comes from you just being you – breathing, digesting, regulating your temperature, circulating blood, building new cells, and other life-sustaining functions. While some factors of BMR are not within our control (i.e., age, sex, height), a few of them are, including our skeletal muscle mass.
Muscle requires more energy to be maintained at rest than fat. This means that muscle burns calories while you are just sitting still.
What’s more, calorie restriction can have the opposite effect. You can’t trick the body. Limiting calorie intake might mean some fat mass loss, but it will also mean muscle mass loss. It’s estimated that for every pound of weight that is shed, ⅓ of it is muscle mass. And long-term calorie restriction teaches the body to reduce energy distribution to those life-sustaining functions mentioned earlier. This is why individuals who have engaged in calorie restriction for a longer period of time may get sick more often, feel cold all the time, have digestive problems, have difficulty sleeping, and, if they are female, may lose their period and have trouble conceiving. Essentially, long-term calorie restriction will lower one’s BMR.
On the other hand, gaining muscle comes with numerous benefits! More muscle not only means an increased BMR, which is protective against excess weight gain, but it also means a greater protection against disease. Muscle takes-up glucose as fuel and increases insulin sensitivity in the body, protecting against diabetes. Muscle produces myokines, which act against inflammation and protect the cardiovascular system. More muscle also protects against frailty as we age, which decreases risks of falls and increases long-term independence.
Of course, gaining muscle comes from training and physically doing hard things. Interestingly, the process of gaining muscle can actually improve mental health and increase resilience, since accomplishing a challenging task imparts confidence. Exercising and building muscle has both long-term health benefits as well as short-term rewards, since endorphins and stress-mediating factors are released immediately after a workout.
Where does diet come into play?
In order to build muscle, you need to be able to physically train your body, and in order to physically train your body, you need fuel in the tank.
It’s estimated that less than half of Americans exercise regularly, and less than a quarter of Americans engage in both aerobic and strength training exercises. Many people simply endure exercise rather than enjoy it, and this is arguably because many people exercise in an under-fueled state. Exercise will feel miserable if muscles are working off of fumes, which is one reason why many people don’t stick with an exercise routine for long.
This is where eating more, not less, becomes helpful. Stop exercising to burn calories, and start fueling-up to build muscle. What should we eat more of?
For starters, protein. Protein is the only macronutrient where the requirements change as we age. Older adults require more protein than younger adults. And protein is not a single nutrient, but rather a variety of nutrients – called amino acids – grouped together. Each amino acid plays an important role in the body and in our health, and eating an adequate amount of them is required for muscle growth. Space protein intake evenly throughout the day in 20 - 40 gram increments for the greatest benefit. Aim for 1.2 - 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram body weight per day.
Protein-rich foods are packaged with a number of other important nutrients for muscle growth and overall health, including creatine, carnitine, taurine, anserine, vitamin B12 and iron. Here are some benefits of these nutrients:
Creatine: found in animal proteins, such as red meat, seafood and dairy. Supports energy production in muscle cells, promotes muscle mass, and benefits neurological function and the brain.
Carnitine: found in animal proteins, such as meat and dairy. Supports energy production in the mitochondria, improves muscle recovery after exercise, increases oxygen supply to muscles, and supports brain function.
Taurine: found in animal proteins, such as meat, seafood and dairy. Supports hydration and electrolyte balance, and aids digestion through bile salt formation.
Anserine: found in animal proteins, such as red meat. Acts as an antioxidant, improves muscle strength, supports the cardiovascular system, benefits neurological health, and strengthens the immune system.
Vitamin B12: found in animal proteins, such as beef, chicken, salmon, milk, eggs and clams. Supports energy production by turning carbohydrates into glucose, promotes healthy red blood cell production, helps with brain function, memory and mood, and improves heart health.
Iron: found in animal proteins, such as red meat, and dark leafy greens, such as spinach. Supports energy production through healthy red blood cells, improved physical performance through increased oxygen delivery to muscles, and enhances the immune system.
As discussed previously, foods rich in quality carbohydrates are also important for overall health and necessary for fueling-up for exercise. A diet skimpy in carbohydrates will only mean that the protein you do eat will be burned for fuel instead of used for muscle building and other key functions within the body. Incorporate whole grains, colorful fruits and a variety of vegetables daily.
The bottom line: weighing less simply means there is less of you to love! Instead of focusing on weight loss, start making strides towards muscle gain. Eat a nutrient-dense diet filled with quality proteins. The short-term and long-term rewards are great.
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