{"id":594,"date":"2013-03-06T03:36:33","date_gmt":"2013-03-06T08:36:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/beyondgorgeous\/?p=594"},"modified":"2012-12-14T05:33:00","modified_gmt":"2012-12-14T10:33:00","slug":"lose-the-fat-save-the-muscle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/lose-the-fat-save-the-muscle.html","title":{"rendered":"Lose the Fat — Save the Muscle!"},"content":{"rendered":"

We don\u2019t really want to lose weight<\/em>. We want to lose fat<\/em>.\u00a0 Other things, like bones and muscles, we want to save.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, when the pounds leave, blubber isn\u2019t the only thing to go.\u00a0 You lose muscle, too.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a really\u00a0 close look inside our bodies to see why — and what we can do about it.<\/p>\n

You think of yourself as a single being, but you are made up of trillions of microscopic cells, all going about their business of keeping you alive and functioning without any direction from you.\u00a0 Inside the cells are mitochondria.\u00a0 These are like little engines that keep the cell running.\u00a0 The engines need fuel to run, and the mitochondria runs on fuel from the food you\u2019ve eaten.\u00a0 Extra fuel gets stored up as fat so you always have plenty on hand.\u00a0 We have decided that we have too much in reserve — it has made us look lumpy and it is dangerous for our health and we don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 So we decide to cut down on our fuel supply.<\/p>\n

The mitochondria are okay with that.\u00a0 When they run out of the fresh fuel, they are able to gas up with the reserves.\u00a0 But to get the reserves into the gas tank, they have to have a specific protein, or amino acid.\u00a0 If that protein isn\u2019t there in your diet, it will pull it from your muscle.\u00a0 Your body will \u201ceat\u201d its own muscle tissue in order to burn the fat.\u00a0That\u2019s why when you lose weight, you \u00a0lose muscle, too.\u00a0 When you gain weight back, this process doesn\u2019t work in reverse.\u00a0 Everything you gain is fat.<\/p>\n

Losing muscle is serious business.\u00a0 After the age of 35, people lose about 5 lbs. of muscle a year, anyway. \u00a0Muscle burns more calories than fat — although not 50\u00a0 resting calories an hour per pound like the popular myth says.\u00a0 More like six instead of the 1 or 2 that fat uses. \u00a0 Which is still three to six times as many!<\/p>\n

So if you have less calorie burning muscle, you will have a slower metabolism and will gain more fat. \u00a0 Besides that, you will get weaker.\u00a0 A study showed that 40% of the women in the 55-64 year age range were not strong enough to lift a measly ten pounds.\u00a0 That means they can\u2019t pick up their grandbabies!\u00a0 The numbers increase with age.\u00a0 By the ages of 75 – 84, 65% of women can\u2019t lift more than ten pounds.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a downward spiral. Less strength means fewer activities. Fewer activities means less calories burned.\u00a0 Less calories burned = more weight gain = less strength = fewer activities….. And soon you have a serious weight issue.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s far worse than just not looking as gorgeous as you did in your younger years.\u00a0 Your life is compromised. You can\u2019t do all you want to do.\u00a0 Issues of poor health set in.\u00a0 You have joint pain from carrying around too much weight.\u00a0 Your liver is overworked and you are in danger of diabetes, which brings with it a whole range of debilitating conditions.<\/p>\n

So how do you stop this downward cycle?\u00a0 Pick up your feet and keep adding those steps!\u00a0 You may also want to add strength training to rebuild some of your lost muscles.\u00a0 You don\u2019t have to join a gym unless you enjoy it. (I do!)\u00a0 You can get an inexpensive set of stretch bands and start a muscle building program at home.\u00a0 Make sure you buy a set with an explanatory dvd.\u00a0 I didn\u2019t and couldn\u2019t figure out how to use mine effectively until I took a\u00a0 Boot Camp fitness class.<\/p>\n

Another important thing to do is add protein to your diet so your body doesn\u2019t have to cannibalize its own muscle to burn fat.\u00a0 I use a whey protein powder which has the specific proteins the mitochondria needs with the other stuff removed. That way I don\u2019t have the unnecessary calories and I have the exact ready-to-use amino acids my cells are looking for.\u00a0 Be aware, though, that not all protein powders are the same. Be sure to check them out.<\/p>\n

I know, you don\u2019t want to look like a female Arnold Schwarzenegger.\u00a0 Don\u2019t worry about that. You won\u2019t.\u00a0 But, it is important to have and keep those muscles!\u00a0 You need them to keep you going in that fulfilling, active life beyond gorgeous.<\/p>\n

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We don\u2019t really want to lose weight. We want to lose fat.\u00a0 Other things, like bones and muscles, we want to save. Unfortunately, when the pounds leave, blubber isn\u2019t the only thing to go.\u00a0 You lose muscle, too.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a really\u00a0 close look inside our bodies to see why — and what we can…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":423,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[75,128,127,15],"class_list":["post-594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exercise-2","tag-fat","tag-mitochondria","tag-muscle","tag-weight-loss"],"yoast_head":"\nLose the Fat - Save the Muscle! - Beyond Gorgeous<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/lose-the-fat-save-the-muscle.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lose the Fat - Save the Muscle! - Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We don\u2019t really want to lose weight. We want to lose fat.\u00a0 Other things, like bones and muscles, we want to save. Unfortunately, when the pounds leave, blubber isn\u2019t the only thing to go.\u00a0 You lose muscle, too.\u00a0 Let\u2019s take a really\u00a0 close look inside our bodies to see why — and what we can…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/lose-the-fat-save-the-muscle.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beyond Gorgeous\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-03-06T08:36:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-14T10:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"sbrown\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lose the Fat - Save the Muscle! - Beyond Gorgeous","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beyondgorgeous\/2013\/03\/lose-the-fat-save-the-muscle.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lose the Fat - Save the Muscle! - Beyond Gorgeous","og_description":"We don\u2019t really want to lose weight. 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