Metabolic Health

Six Tips to Prevent Muscle Loss at Any Age

Growing and maintaining lean muscles at any age with healthy lifestyle habits is possible.

Muscle as a functional and longevity organ

The muscle is a precious organ that we need at all ages. Previously I wrote about muscle loss for mature people as sarcopenia is a severe health condition for an aging population.

However, some subscribers ask whether those suggestions also might apply to younger people. In this post, I focus on any age and provide practical tips to prevent muscle loss for healthy individuals without going into scientific details.

Muscle loss is not a trivial matter. Fat loss is desirable, but muscle loss is not. I provided my perspectives on fat loss in other articles, such as this one, Five Tips to Melt Visceral Fat and Have a Defined Belly.

From my experience, there are three factors to maintaining lean muscles with a desired fat percentage at any age. They are insulin sensitivity, leptin sensitivity, and anabolic sensitivity.

These three concepts explain how our bodies protect muscles while eliminating unwanted visceral fat. First, I’d like to explain these three concepts briefly so that they make sense when I use them in the following sections.

Insulin sensitivity means cells respond to insulin signals for the blood glucose to be utilized as an energy source. In an insulin-sensitive body, muscle cells can use blood sugar and grow naturally. So people with insulin sensitivity can lower visceral fat and keep lean muscles.

Leptin sensitivity means the brain recognizes leptin signals and creates a satiety feeling. If the body is leptin resistant, we don’t feel the satiety signals and consume more calories than we need. In addition, a leptin-resistant body also becomes insulin resistant affecting fat and muscle profiles.

Anabolic sensitivity refers to the cells being open to growth stimuli from amino acids and resistance workouts. The opposite of this is called anabolic resistance, which is a catabolic process for muscles.

Common symptoms of anabolic resistance are shrinking and weakening muscles, making day-to-day activities difficult, and preventing people from undertaking exercise. Aging is the most common cause of anabolic resistance. However, lack of bioavailable proteins in the diet and sedentary life is also critical causes.

In addition, underlying health conditions, especially metabolic disorders such as metabolic syndrome, fatty liver disease, type II diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and neurodegenerative disorders, might cause anabolic resistance.

In combination, insulin, leptin, and anabolic resistance cause visceral fat gain and might lead to muscle loss or weakness, leading to a health condition known as sarcopenia.

When insulin, leptin, and anabolic resistance continue for a while, we might start experiencing sarcopenia. The definition of sarcopenia is muscle wasting as we age, causing weakness and preventing us from performing daily tasks.

In the literature, two causes of sarcopenia are documented in numerous papers. They are “elevated basal-fasted rates of muscle protein breakdown” and a “reduction in basal muscle protein synthesis.” A combination of these two factors makes the situation worse.

“Skeletal muscle plays an indispensable role in metabolic health and physical function. A decrease in muscle mass and function with advancing age exacerbates the likelihood of mobility impairments, disease development, and early mortality.” Source

Muscle loss and quality can be checked via various tools such as MRI and DEXA scans. If not covered by health insurance, they can be costly. I see a yearly DEXA scan for my body composure as a health investment.

Although some elderlies consume lots of protein and perform exercises, their muscles cannot grow and maintain strength. Thus, there might be some other underlying conditions that healthcare professionals need to diagnose and treat.

Muscle is our longevity organ and is needed at any age. Maintaining lean muscle mass is crucial as we get older. Skeletal muscle is extra vital for our posture to support daily activities. Therefore, we need to gain anabolic sensitivity.

Many people desire to live long. However, longevity does not mean much unless those days are quality and enjoyable with loved ones. Our movement affects our mood and mental health. I believe no one wants to live a low-quality life with low mood, pain, and suffering at any age.

In the following sections, I summarize critical points under six broad headings. Here are the six practical approaches to prevent muscle loss based on my reviews, observations, and experiences.

1 — Consume Bioavailable Proteins

Amino acids are the building blocks of our cells. There are nine essential amino acids that the body cannot produce. We must get them from food or supplements. Protein is a critical macronutrient for muscles, hormones, neurons, and many other functions in the body.

I specifically highlight bioavailable proteins as some food groups do not include complete amino acid profiles and are not bioavailable due to some anti-nutrients, allergens, and toxins.

Even though some plant sources can provide adequate proteins, they are not as bioavailable as animal-based proteins such as eggs, red meat, organ meats, poultry, fish, seafood, and dairy. People on strict plant-based diets might need to supplement to get bioavailable proteins.

As diet is a personal matter depending on many variables, it can be helpful to get our protein intake to be formulated by a certified dietician. Therefore, with support from dieticians, I moved from a plant-based to an animal-based diet to meet nutritional requirements.

Protein needs differ from person to person depending on many factors, such as sex, age, and activity level. As we get older, the body needs more bioavailable protein to keep skeletal muscle which we need to monitor diligently.

2 — Refrain from Too Low-Calorie Diets.

Some diets are poorly designed, focusing only on lowering calories. They primarily reduce food and increase exercise.

When we eat less and move more, we naturally lose weight, but what we lose is not necessarily visceral fat but mainly fluids and valuable muscles. Some people even lose bone density if they use highly restrictive diets for a long time.

The body needs adequate calories for energy and nutrients for bodily functions. For example, low-fat and low-protein diets can severely damage the metabolism, making the body leptin resistant.

We need to consume sufficient calories from whole foods to have a well-functioning metabolism. Some healthy fats and amino acids are essential, but carbs are not. However, some people thrive on complex carbs, using them as their primary energy source.

3 — Perform Resistance Workouts

After food, the next critical item to keep anabolism is stimulating our muscles with resistance workouts. Weightlifting and calisthenics, from my experience, are the best options.

Some people, especially women and the elderly, do not like weightlifting or performing calisthenics. However, they don’t need to do it in the same amount or intensity as younger people, especially young males. I documented a case study of a woman to highlight the importance of weight training for females. Resistance training is not exclusive to men.

As documented in this paper, “the level of habitual physical activity may be fundamental to maintain the anabolic responsiveness to protein intake with aging.”

As I mentioned in a case study, older adults prevented muscle loss with resistance training. For example, the trainer started the man with five kilos of dumbbells and the woman with 2 kilos. After a year, the man could lift 30 kilos and the woman 10 kilos in 20 minutes every third day. In addition, they do around 50 pushups, ten squats, 20 steps lunge walk, and ten minutes of planks daily.

4 — Get restorative sleep and recover timely.

Bioavailable protein intake and resistance workouts can initiate muscle synthesis by activating mTOR. However, the actual growth and maintenance of muscles happen during sleep time, especially in a deep sleep. All phases of sleep contribute to anabolism.

Sleep deprivation is a root cause of muscle loss. It is due to hormonal imbalance. For example, when we don’t get enough sleep, our cortisol hormone rises in the bloodstream and has catabolic effects on the muscles. Elevated cortisol might also cause insulin resistance.

In addition to restorative sleep, we also need to take breaks from work and exercise to reduce our stress and keep our cortisol hormone at an optimal rate. We shouldn’t exercise before fully recovering from the previous sessions’ effects. Slowing down is necessary to prevent muscle loss.

Cortisol is a catabolic hormone causing muscle loss at elevated levels and for a prolonged time. Therefore, we need to optimize this hormone by lowering stress and recovering timely. I will explain the importance of hormones in the next section.

5 — Optimize and balance hormones.

Our metabolism is managed by hormones. The most critical hormone contributing to muscle and fat gain is insulin which is an anabolic hormone. Insulin plays multiple roles in muscle growth. For example, it signals muscle cells to get blood glucose. Insulin also contributes to the activation of mTOR.

Hormones are highly complex and involved. However, the critical point is that we need to optimize and balance our hormones with quality nutrition, bioavailable proteins, resistance workouts, restorative sleep, and timely recovery. We need to consume some healthy fats for our hormones to function.

From a hormonal aspect, we must prevent insulin resistance and elevated cortisol to maintain a healthy muscle profile. Making our body leptin sensitive can contribute to insulin sensitivity. An insulin-sensitive body can melt visceral fat and maintain lean muscles.

Some people might need bioavailable hormone replacement therapy. Therefore, getting our hormones checked by endocrinologists is necessary. These qualified health professionals might diagnose and treat hormonal issues. For example, testosterone is required for muscle synthesis in men.

Stress and unpleasant emotions adversely affect the hormones causing hormonal imbalance. Our thoughts and emotions have a significant effect on our biology. The key mechanism is stress production by unpleasant emotions and anxious thoughts.

As I documented in an article, our anxiety increases as we age. Reducing anxiety, preventing chronic stress, and lowering chronic inflammation can help us balance our hormones. Cognitive flexibility and emotional regulation are necessary as we age.

From my experience, mindfulness practices such as daily meditation, self-talk, and expressive writing can help us regulate our emotions, increase our emotional intelligence, and make us more mature and resilient to emotional stress.

6 — Leverage the self-healing mechanisms of the body.

When our self-defense cannot manage the toxins and pathogens, the viable solution is to activate our self-healing capability to eliminate them naturally. These natural processes are called autophagy and mitophagy.

The autophagy process can allow the body to consume pathogens, biological toxins, and damaged proteins to create cellular energy when it senses energy deficiency in cells. We can activate autophagy using various lifestyle adjustments.

Time-restricted eating can increase growth hormone. Therefore, some professionals consider it for their clients. However, long-term fasting as a catabolic event can be risky for some people. Nevertheless, skipping a meal and increasing bioavailable protein intake in the other two main meals can be an option for some.

It is possible to initiate mild autophagy and mitophagy by skipping meals occasionally. Time-restricted eating and fasting require medical support and supervision for the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Older adults must be careful as activating autophagy is a catabolic process that might cause muscle loss. Therefore, we need to do it with medical supervision and diligently.

As our muscle cells and mitochondria are affected by toxins, pathogens, and damaged proteins, refraining from these harmful substances is essential.

However, we cannot get rid of all toxins and pathogens. One of the options is to use detoxifying supplements such as n-acetyl-cysteine and activated charcoal. Nevertheless, supplements cannot entirely get rid of them either; therefore, initiating autophagy and mitophagy might be necessary.

Conclusions and Takeaways

Muscle loss can happen at any age due to inadequate proteins, sedentary life, and sleep deprivation, increasing stress hormones.

Even though mainly the elderly suffer from sarcopenia, it can occur at any age, especially after 30, when our growth hormones and sex hormones start declining.

To prevent muscle loss, we need to increase insulin, leptin, and anabolic sensitivity using the six steps I covered in this article.

The typical lifestyle factors are consuming bioavailable proteins and nutrient-dense food, undertaking personalized resistance training, recovering timely, and getting high-quality sleep.

These fundamental lifestyle choices can reduce stress and inflammation and balance our hormones supporting anabolic sensitivity to prevent sarcopenia as we age. I also documented Seven Mistakes to Avoid When Losing Fat.

In addition to getting regular checks to stay healthy and fit, we might also try alternative therapies such as physiotherapy, osteopathy, and kinesiology to improve muscle health.

These therapies can improve posture and enable us to exercise better. I documented my findings in an article titled Here’s How to Defeat Back Pain with Three Postural Tips by a Physiotherapist.

Learning from the experiences of others might be priceless. Therefore, I document stories of healthy and wise people in my circles and compile them in a collection titled Insightful Life Lessons from Personal Stories. I believe you might find some inspiring stories from this collection.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

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