Weight Loss & Body Composition

It would be nice if losing weight meant only shedding fat but when you do you’ll also lose some lean muscle and even bone. That’s a huge problem if you’re dieting and older. Consider:

• Muscle loss (sarcopenia) begins gradually around age 30 and accelerates after age 60.
• Bone Density Loss also begins gradually around age 30 and accelerates after age 50 but women also see a dramatic spike in bone loss after menopause where they can lose up to 20% of their bone density within 5-7 years! Yikes!

This means that dieting after age 45 can be a double whammy for your lean muscle mass and particularly bad for women’s bone density. This is critical because research shows a strong link between muscle strength and longevity—the stronger you are, the better your chances of living a longer, healthier life.

Fortunately, resistance training can significantly reduce the loss of both muscle and bone during dieting and aging. So if you’re going to go on a big diet, including one using weight loss drugs, I’d highly advise you to look into a resistance training routine to go along with it. Your 75-year-old self will thank you.