The Flipping 50 Show

Midlife weight gain occurs for many women during menopause and it’s compounding an already-present problem of weight gain that begins in your 30s (if you let it). But as this post will share, it’s not the 10lb problem it seems. It’s worse.

In the aging process a gradual creep of weight is not what it seems. A weight gain of 10 lbs. per decade that is the average is really a 20 lb. body composition problem.

What do I mean?

Without exercise interventions (that you know I’m going to talk about) the average adult loses 5 lbs. of muscle mass per decade and gains 15 lbs. of fat. The result is a 10 lb. change on the scale, but a 20 lb. physical appearance change and a far more devasting health problem.

[Please, I can hear a few of you say, no not me, I’m the same weight as I was. OK, girlfriend… are you wearing the same clothes, same size, as strong? Or has that mass changed so it’s more fat and less muscle? Be honest.]

The Answer?

So, exercise, right? Yes, but as all the exercise modes have emerged over the last 40 years, there doesn’t seem to be a clear message to adults how to prioritize that activity. Barre exercise and yogalates won’t keep you alive and thriving as long or as powerfully as other forms of exercise.

The one that offers the most benefits? Resistance training. Also known as strength training or weight training, to be specific.

Resistance Training or Really Weight Training?

You’ll ask, what about bands, are they good?

Me: They’re better than nothing.

What about suspension training (TRX) is that good?

Me: It’s better than nothing.

You’ll ask, what about body weight?

I’ll say, you should be able to move your own body weight… and I’ll ask:

But what’s best?

The closest thing to the dog food bag, baby in a basinet, and china on the top shelf… is weights.

It doesn’t matter what shape. Kettle bells are weight, dumbbells are weight, books in a backpack are weight. And your body doesn’t know the difference.

Why strength training?

You may not lose weight on a strength training program, right away.

But read on, and decide for yourself, would this be OK even if you didn’t lose weight?

Without changing anything else (no more or less eating, sleep, water or stress changes) the results you can expect from starting a strength training program [like STRONGER] include:

• Loss of 4-lbs fat in 4 weeks
• Gain of 3-lbs muscle in 4 weeks
• And those results are typical each of the first three months.

What’s that mean? A total loss of only about 3-lbs?

And in full disclosure… some don’t lose at all. In fact, a few gain.

And that is flipping awesome! Why?

Offset Midlife Weight Gain with Weight Training

Because MUSCLE… metabolically active muscle that burns fat … is more dense than fat. That means you’re on your way to a better metabolism for the rest of your life. Losing muscle (since age 30 unless you’ve been lifting weights and increasing protein) has a damaging cumulative effect on metabolism.

If you don’t lose weight but you lose inches, your clothes will likely fit better … or looser. You might get reacquainted with some old favorite clothes or use a notch you haven’t used on your belt recently. Or, you may have to use those three little words I used to love to hear my mom say, Let’s go shopping!

There’s more. When you improve your strength (some adults who begin strength training increase strength by 50% during 12 weeks) you can do more… of the things you love and also the things that help you be more active, use more energy, and yes, lose weight if you need to.

The Good News: Eat More and Avoid Midlife Weight Gain 

That’s not all. When you increase your lean muscle tissue you can also eat more. About 300-350 kcals more and still reap the rewards of increase metabolism and weight loss. Let’s face it, the deprivation diets you’ve tried backfire on you and literally, come back to bite you in the butt. When you eat more, you message your body to burn more. If you’re choosing high quality protein and whole foods like vegetables you’re also enhancing your health and satiety. Bye-bye cravings.

But just any weight training program isn’t a hormone balancing fitness program. The wrong exercise can be either too little or too much to be effective and may or may not allow the fitness opportunity you need.

So… you have choices.

1) do nothing and keep getting the same results you’re getting – until your metabolism slows more and you start increasing fat.

2) start lifting weights and guess that what you’re doin...

We’re diving into your protein needs on today’s episode. My guest is a well-known researcher from the UTMB. 

My Guest:

Dr. Paddon-Jones is the Sheridan Lorenz Distinguished Professor in Aging and Health in the Department of Nutrition and Metabolism at the University of Texas Medical Branch. He is a Fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and senior fellow of the Sealy Center on Aging.

Research in the Paddon-Jones Lab is supported by NIH, NASA and industry grants and focuses on the regulation of muscle mass and function in healthy and clinical populations. Recent studies have included: dietary protein distribution, the effects of physical inactivity in middle-aged and older adults and leucine metabolism.

Questions we answered in this episode: 

How did you originally become interested in muscle protein synthesis and protein intake? 

Based on your research what is the recommendation per meal? 

Muscle protein synthesis declines with age, resistance training and increased protein intake are both ways to compensate/improve that, what are your recommendations for workout and post meal timing? 

What is ideal daily dietary protein distribution?

At one point the recommendation was consume a ratio of 1:3 or 4 Carb: protein snack within about 30 minutes of a workout, what are your thoughts on that? (A lot of our listeners will remember "chocolate milk" commercials). 

Women in midlife often don't tolerate dairy - a large percent of the women I work with in fact - so although whey protein is often tested and is well-absorbed, what are your thoughts on alternate types of proteins if a woman is consuming a shake? 

What are your thoughts on collagen protein? 

What is the importance of Leucine, specifically? And the recommended amount to look for in a 30-gram protein serving? 

What are your thoughts on BCAA supplements for women in midlife, who are attempting but falling short on protein intake, or on specifically protein with adequate leucine (vegans and vegetarians)? Would this satisfy protein needs?

Discuss the benefit of exercise on muscle protein synthesis, and the difference between protein need for a sedentary/bed ridden 60-year old vs. an active (strength, intervals) 60-year old? 

With your research and a growing pool of others questioning/challenging the adequacy of RDAs for protein needs- as well as them not being user-friendly - why do RDAs still linger? What has to happen for the changes in recommendations to occur? 

Flippingfifty-dot-com/protein-needs

What about flipping 60? That’s such a frequently asked question.

The question comes up so often that I’m dedicating this short podcast to answer.

And it begs two responses.

First your body, specifically your muscle and your bone.

Second, your mindset.

I’ve worked with many women over 37 years. Privately, in group situations, on campuses, and in private gyms, as well as in their homes, my home, and across the globe from SKYPE calls to Okinawa, Trinidad, Italy, Canada, and Australia to name a few. They’ve been realtors, lawyers, physicians, accountants, faculty, business owners,

Here’s what I’ve found.

What About Flipping 60 Physically?

Physically, the biggest change you will make in your life occurs at about age 50. That’s a rough estimate because the average age of menopause is 51.3. However, some women reach it in their 40s, others not until their late 50s. The hormonal change you make causes a ripple effect in muscle, bone, body composition, metabolism, and heart health risk.

Women in the late stage of perimenopause and early post menopause are at accelerated risk of losing muscle and bone because of the dramatic change in estrogen levels, namely though other hormones are influencing factors too. By the time you’re in your 60’s, your body has adapted to lower estrogen levels (or you may be on hormone replacement) and your losses are slowed.

And Just What About Flipping 60?

So, while the question, what about flipping 60? Often comes from women thinking that maybe this information isn’t appropriate for me because I’m older and need a gentler program, the opposite is true. You are more hardy and sturdy, unless you have a history of sedentary lifestyle and habits that contribute to muscle and bone losses. You actually stand to make more gains and improvements than a woman might just beginning in her early 50s because you are not in that period of accelerated loss.

The biggest obstacle you face, may not be your physical ability, but the mindset around your aging. Thus, flipping 50. It is the flipping of the expectations, the actions, and the outcomes of women who are in the second half of your life.

Flipping 50, 60, and 70 Mindset

Women often but not always accept and settle for aging based on the conditioning and influence they’ve had on their mindset about aging.

No two 60-somethings are alike. No two 70-somethings. I knew a young-at-heart woman friend of my mother’s back in the 70s and early 80s who was a perfect example of proactive aging long before her time. She was using supplements, exercising, and living thoughtfully.

Yet, many women in the 70’s and 80s did not approach their aging proactively. She stood out because she was an anomaly. I remember her distinctly.

We Do Have More Science Than Ever Before

So, of course we can now access so much more information about the reality of what is possible as we age. Examples include Dan Buettner’s Blue Zones research, and organizations like Growing Bolder, International Council on Active Aging, and a growing number of studies showing us the effects of our epigenetics – our lifestyle – on our life and more importantly, “healthspan.” But it’s first and foremost attitude and expectations that change the way you age.

The women who expect to gain weight, who have been conditioned to serve others, and put themselves last, who don’t put exercise or eating – or researching the eating they’re doing – at a high priority gain the most weight. They have the most hot flashes. They are surrounded by people who tell them they look good “for their age” or compared to most women their age they’re doing great. And so they accept it, or at the least it makes it harder to change the way you think about yourself and the way others think about you.

Acceptance is Okay

And by the way, if that is where you are, and what you want, is to be the weight you are and to accept and find peace with it rather than changing it and your health and health risk, I think it’s important that you know, it is your decision.

In fact, I think ideal health is both. Do everything you can based not on your old beliefs and old science but on current science, and an openness to new strategies. Then also accept that there may be a boundary that you are unwilling to cross. If you won’t follow through with some changes and though you want the change, won’t do the daily and weekly changes to get there, there is either a gap between you understanding the science of how that will help, or there is just a “no...