
Regardless, the result is a loss of muscle mass, strength, and function….and metabolic rate. (English and Paddon-Jones 2010 Evans 2010) These changes concurrently occur with decreased physical activity levels, lower hormone excretion, nutritional deficits, and possibly chronic inflammation. As we age, there are a few metabolic changes that occur, including a decrease in muscle protein synthesis, an increase in insulin resistance, and a decrease in metabolic rate.The good news is that muscle size can be regained with the combination of proper lifestyle habits, resistance training, and diet. As most people age, they also tend to become more sedentary.
At any age, if you are not using your muscle and stop training, it will tend to decrease in size, a phenomenon called muscle atrophy. This tends to happen for a couple of reasons. (“Website” n.d.) (English and Paddon-Jones 2010) Hensrud, associate professor of preventive medicine and nutrition at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, reports that we may lose closer to 1% of our lean body mass per year as we age. According to most estimates, we lose about 3-8% of our muscle mass per decade after the age of 30, although Donald D. So why does it happen frequently? The answer is a combination of alterations in lifestyle habits and physiological changes.Īs we age, muscle loss often occurs with observable decreases in both strength and physical performance. However, it’s not like there is a fairy that is stealing your muscle and turning it into fat. Yes, we do tend to lose muscle mass, and we do tend to gain fat. Despite this belief, older people tend to exhibit resistance to advice like eating more protein, lifting weights, and gaining muscle mass. Many people still think that muscle turns to fat as you age. Does “muscle turn to fat” when you age or if you don’t use it? In this article, I hope to bring a clearer understanding of the two types of tissue, diving into some commonly held beliefs, looking at how and why your body creates or stores these tissues, answering some frequently asked questions, and overall painting a clearer picture of the relationship between muscle, fat, and your body as a whole. Both are necessary, and both are the product of what you do and what you eat. The truth is that your body needs and uses fat just as it needs and uses muscle. We compare and contrast muscle and fat more than any other tissues in the body because it seems like these tissues are in some sort of competition, as if there is a war in your body between muscle and fat and on the line are your strength, health, and fitness goals. People with more muscle are stronger than those with more fat. Muscle is more dense than fat, meaning that muscle takes up less space on the body and looks harder and less “flabby.”. One pound of muscle is equivalent to one pound of fat on the scale.
Most people understand a few basic facts and thoughts about the differences between muscle and fat: