Five Simple Steps for Preventing Loss of Muscle Mass During Aging

Everyone knows that eating less and exercising more is important for preventing loss of muscle mass during aging. However, eating less and exercising more in the right way is essential for muscle maintenance programs to be successful. Here are five simple steps for preventing loss of muscle mass during aging.

 

 

 

1. Don't eat all the time.

It is counterintuitive but true that eating too much protein, fat, and carb can actually cause loss of muscle mass. The reason it helps actually to skip one or two meals a week has to do with growth hormone.

The brain makes growth hormone to protect muscle during starvation. The body makes proteins from amino acids. It has to have all the amino acids it needs to make a protein in the right amounts and in the right order or it cannot make the protein. If there is not enough of a particular amino acid from the diet on any given day, then it will take the amino acid it needs out of its own tissues.

Growth hormone makes sure that the body uses saliva and digestive juices for amino acids before it breaks down muscle. The body makes growth hormone when no food at all (protein, fat, or carbohydrate) is eaten for at least 12 to 18 hours. Skipping either breakfast or dinner once or twice a week boosts growth hormone production and actually protects muscle mass. And because the body spends extra energy digesting larger amounts of food, even making up the missed meal later does not result in weight gain.

 

 

2. Get enough six to eight hours of uninterrupted sleep every night.

Treating insomnia or sleep apnea can have the unexpected side benefit of decreased fat mass and increased muscle mass. The brain makes growth hormone when we sleep, and the body needs six to eight hours to respond.

 

 

3. Work your muscles, but don't work the same muscle group every day.

When muscles exert maximal effort, they rebuild themselves to become stronger. For a few hours after exercise, the muscles are very sensitive to insulin, allowing them to restore their supplies of sugar and water to make glycogen (which, along with creatine, "pumps them up") and amino acids to make new muscle fibers, which makes them stronger. A muscle can only create new muscle fiber about once every 48 to 96 hours, so it's important to rest the muscles after working them out to give them an opportunity to continue growing.

 

 

4. Get 50 or 60 grams (about two ounces) of complete protein every day.

Every adult needs at least 2 or 3 servings of protein foods every day. It is not necessary to eat "complete protein" every three hours or even at every meal, but everyone needs all the essential amino acids every day. If you are following a vegan diet, either eat buckwheat or quinoa, which provide complete protein, or eat both grains and legumes at some time during the day. Protein powders and protein supplements usually are not necessary except for competitive athletes.

 

 

5. Preserve muscle by losing fat.

Testosterone, especially in men, helps build muscle. Fat cells destroy testosterone. Losing weight the hard way, by working it off, helps conserve testosterone and save muscle mass.