I’m 53 and I’m losing muscle fast. Any suggestions on how to regain muscle?

[Anonymous]

Lift weights

[Anonymous]

I'm a 63-year-old female and am gaining muscle for the first time in decades. I go to a weight loss clinic and their diet plan promotes protein--around 90 grams a day or more--for the specific purpose of gaining muscle while losing fat. They use a special scale that, among other things, measures the amount of muscle in the body so you can actually see if you're gaining (or losing) muscle vs. just guessing by looking at the mirror. I gained around 4 lbs. of muscle the first 1-2 months on the diet just by increasing the protein I eat. Protein is my least favorite food group, but I now know that I will have eat more of it than I like to gain or maintain muscle in my body as I age. About six months into my weight loss I started lifting weights with a personal trainer 2x a week and do a 3rd session at home each week--that's more than I've ever done in my life. I'll be going in to get a DEXA scan soon to get even more accurate information on the amount of fat and muscle in my body and plan to repeat it in 6 months.

In a nutshell, my advise is: 1) Measure how much muscle you are gaining or losing over time via a DEXA scan, an Inbody scale, or the like; 2) Prioritize the eating of protein--that builds muscle faster than strength training alone; and 3) Lift heavier.

P.S. I'm a pescatarian so you can indeed gain muscle without eating red meat or poultry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a 63-year-old female and am gaining muscle for the first time in decades. I go to a weight loss clinic and their diet plan promotes protein--around 90 grams a day or more--for the specific purpose of gaining muscle while losing fat. They use a special scale that, among other things, measures the amount of muscle in the body so you can actually see if you're gaining (or losing) muscle vs. just guessing by looking at the mirror. I gained around 4 lbs. of muscle the first 1-2 months on the diet just by increasing the protein I eat. Protein is my least favorite food group, but I now know that I will have eat more of it than I like to gain or maintain muscle in my body as I age. About six months into my weight loss I started lifting weights with a personal trainer 2x a week and do a 3rd session at home each week--that's more than I've ever done in my life. I'll be going in to get a DEXA scan soon to get even more accurate information on the amount of fat and muscle in my body and plan to repeat it in 6 months.

In a nutshell, my advise is: 1) Measure how much muscle you are gaining or losing over time via a DEXA scan, an Inbody scale, or the like; 2) Prioritize the eating of protein--that builds muscle faster than strength training alone; and 3) Lift heavier.

P.S. I'm a pescatarian so you can indeed gain muscle without eating red meat or poultry.

DEXA won’t tell you how much muscle you gained. It measures lean mass which is defined as everything other than fat, which it actually measures quite well. Lean will affected by water retention and whatever you have in your digestive system. If you want to get a somewhat reliable estimates, make sure to do the scans always at the same conditions, ideally first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and wearing the exact same clothes as those will be counted as part of your lean mass too. A better thing to look at with DEXA, particularly at your age, is the bone density.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a 63-year-old female and am gaining muscle for the first time in decades. I go to a weight loss clinic and their diet plan promotes protein--around 90 grams a day or more--for the specific purpose of gaining muscle while losing fat. They use a special scale that, among other things, measures the amount of muscle in the body so you can actually see if you're gaining (or losing) muscle vs. just guessing by looking at the mirror. I gained around 4 lbs. of muscle the first 1-2 months on the diet just by increasing the protein I eat. Protein is my least favorite food group, but I now know that I will have eat more of it than I like to gain or maintain muscle in my body as I age. About six months into my weight loss I started lifting weights with a personal trainer 2x a week and do a 3rd session at home each week--that's more than I've ever done in my life. I'll be going in to get a DEXA scan soon to get even more accurate information on the amount of fat and muscle in my body and plan to repeat it in 6 months.

In a nutshell, my advise is: 1) Measure how much muscle you are gaining or losing over time via a DEXA scan, an Inbody scale, or the like; 2) Prioritize the eating of protein--that builds muscle faster than strength training alone; and 3) Lift heavier.

P.S. I'm a pescatarian so you can indeed gain muscle without eating red meat or poultry.

DEXA won’t tell you how much muscle you gained. It measures lean mass which is defined as everything other than fat, which it actually measures quite well. Lean will affected by water retention and whatever you have in your digestive system. If you want to get a somewhat reliable estimates, make sure to do the scans always at the same conditions, ideally first thing in the morning on an empty stomach and wearing the exact same clothes as those will be counted as part of your lean mass too. A better thing to look at with DEXA, particularly at your age, is the bone density.

I’ll be sure to pass this in to the person administering my DEXA scan next week.

[Anonymous]

We need more protein as we age, particularly high quality protein. If you are trying to build muscle and bone, animal protein is most effective.

https://www.health.com/sarcopenia-7571535

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-12-beef-meals-result-higher-muscle.html

A relative has been able to add muscle in her 90s, after a period of bed rest. The treatment protocol was a higher protein diet with animal protein (mostly beef, fish, eggs, greek yogurt and whey), some supplements and regular resistance training several times per week, walking on the other days. Diet was optimized to hit the leucine threshold at least twice a day for best chances to build muscle. Hasn't been quick, but, with consistency, it has happened. She's still able to live independently and do the activities of daily living - climb stairs, lift grocery bags, etc.

Looked touch and go for a while and it was a challenge to shift from processed proteins, starchy foods and sugar, but the rewards started to be worth it as she made progress. Has definitely been a wake up call to me in midlife to build and protect muscle and bone. Adding whey to greek yogurt and breaking protein into what looked like smaller amounts visually, say, meatballs with a dipping sauce rather than a large patty seemed to work when there was lower appetite. Over time the increased activity started stimulating appetite too.

PP attending the weight loss clinic, thanks for the inspo. I was a vegetarian for many years and had a pretty low protein intake with a lot of highly processed and not all that bioavailable food. Lots of ground to make up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you figure out your vitamin deficiency? Which vitamins?

It was a B1 (thiamine) deficiency. It was the third neurologist I saw who sent me for the lab work almost as an afterthought, having told me I was probably just suffering bad perimenopause. Essentially I think she thought I was malingering, because multiple MRIs and other tests had ruled out all the zebras they were looking for - initially suspected to be rrMS but MRIs were clear then I was tested for every kind of autoimmune disorder they have tests for all negative. The whole experience was a huge revelation about how middle aged women are treated in our healthcare system, even by many women doctors - I got a lot of condescending and dismissive attitude.

Thiamine deficiency is called beri beri, and comes in wet version which damages the cardiac system not infrequently resulting in death, and dry version which damages the neurological system and can also eventually result in death. It is considered rare in western countries, or at least that is what they tell medical students and the info online says the same - that in the west it is typically a disease of alcoholics who drink their calories and have very poor nutrition. Since this happened to me I did a boatload of research and found medical journal articles on recent research that establishes around 20% of very well nourished - e.g., obese - are presenting with thiamine deficiencies, so it is quite clearly not so rare.

I was obese and only drink 4-6 glasses of wine per year, 2 each at Thanksgiving, Xmas and Easter. I had suffered digestive issues for years following gallbladder removal and had developed an absorption disorder- thiamine is water soluble so it washes out quickly and even if you get enough from thiamine rich foods if your body cannot absorb you will quickly become deficient. Because I would sometimes have better absorption I experienced the symptoms on and off, which is why rrMS was first suspected. I am grateful that it wasn’t worse because I had the deficiency for half a decade before it was diagnosed and had my gut been even worse I probably would have died from it.

Vitamin deficiencies in middle age and beyond are actually fairly common, not because we don’t have access to good foods but because unhealthy guts don’t function as well at absorbing nutrients and many standard American diet consumers have very unhealthy guts by middle age.

You should write and pitch an article about this, so more women are informed.

[Anonymous]

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon has a book and podcast focused on strength but she also has quite a lot of useful information on her website re: her protocol, protein, even strength workouts. I've definitely benefitted. It's such a key factor as we age.

https://drgabriellelyon.com/forever-strong/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How did you figure out your vitamin deficiency? Which vitamins?

It was a B1 (thiamine) deficiency. It was the third neurologist I saw who sent me for the lab work almost as an afterthought, having told me I was probably just suffering bad perimenopause. Essentially I think she thought I was malingering, because multiple MRIs and other tests had ruled out all the zebras they were looking for - initially suspected to be rrMS but MRIs were clear then I was tested for every kind of autoimmune disorder they have tests for all negative. The whole experience was a huge revelation about how middle aged women are treated in our healthcare system, even by many women doctors - I got a lot of condescending and dismissive attitude.

Thiamine deficiency is called beri beri, and comes in wet version which damages the cardiac system not infrequently resulting in death, and dry version which damages the neurological system and can also eventually result in death. It is considered rare in western countries, or at least that is what they tell medical students and the info online says the same - that in the west it is typically a disease of alcoholics who drink their calories and have very poor nutrition. Since this happened to me I did a boatload of research and found medical journal articles on recent research that establishes around 20% of very well nourished - e.g., obese - are presenting with thiamine deficiencies, so it is quite clearly not so rare.

I was obese and only drink 4-6 glasses of wine per year, 2 each at Thanksgiving, Xmas and Easter. I had suffered digestive issues for years following gallbladder removal and had developed an absorption disorder- thiamine is water soluble so it washes out quickly and even if you get enough from thiamine rich foods if your body cannot absorb you will quickly become deficient. Because I would sometimes have better absorption I experienced the symptoms on and off, which is why rrMS was first suspected. I am grateful that it wasn’t worse because I had the deficiency for half a decade before it was diagnosed and had my gut been even worse I probably would have died from it.

Vitamin deficiencies in middle age and beyond are actually fairly common, not because we don’t have access to good foods but because unhealthy guts don’t function as well at absorbing nutrients and many standard American diet consumers have very unhealthy guts by middle age.

You should write and pitch an article about this, so more women are informed.

+1 Such an article could save lives.

I had never heard of this until recently when an acquaintance was diagnosed with another absorption disorder.

Glad you are doing better PP.

[Anonymous]

No 'suggestions' other than lift heavy weights, eat a lot of protein, and take creatine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How are you sleeping and how are your stress levels? Chronically elevated cortisol from insomnia and stress will prevent your body from building muscle no matter what you eat or how much you lift. If you are a female, other hormonal changes at this time of life could also be a factor/obstacle.

My sleep is awful. I’m trying everything I can. I eat enough protein. 90g a day at 125 lbs.

90g is not enough. We need more protein as we age. Bring it up to at least 125. Fix your sleep, get into a slight calories surplus (100 calories a day over maintenance is enough) and make sure you have a good lifting program.

90g is likely enough protein for someone that is 125 lbs. OP is probably not weight training hard enough and frequently enough to see gain though (or eating enough calories).

Here’s a Mayo article on protein intake. You can’t build muscle or prevent muscle loss by eating more protein, you MUST lift AND be in calorie surplus. The average adult needs 0.8g protein/kg, once muscle loss starts to happen after 40, increase protein intake to 1-1.2g/kg. If you exercising and lifting regularly and trying to gain, aim for 1.2-1.7.
Anything over 2g/kg is considered excessive protein intake and not recommended

https://www.mayoclinichealthsystem.org/hometown-health/speaking-of-health/are-you-getting-too-much-protein