Forever Strong Even In Midlife with Gabrielle Lyon
In midlife we are LOSING muscle and more commonly than not, gaining weight…and wondering what the heck is going on! Dr. Gabrielle Lyon focuses on Muscle Centric Medicine, which shifts the perspective from the pathology of fat/obesity/overweight to our full capacity and taking care of our longevity organ, skeletal muscle. Protein is SUPER important for our muscle health and there is currently a huge shortcoming/oversight in nutritional sciences right now. Labels will say “protein” but protein is made up of 20 essential amino acids, and each protein has a different composition of those 20 amino acids. So the type and quality of your protein really does matter!
Are Hormones to Blame for the Midlife Weight Gain?
In midlife the big complaint we hear is “I’m gaining weight”….”Things are falling…things are changing…my workout and diet no longer work for me” etc…and more often than not, we blame it on hormones. But here’s the thing: hormonal treatment is NOT a treatment for weight gain and change in body composition. Yes, hormones change, and people CAN gain weight, but it isn’t a definite side effect of being in midlife, AND women can go on hormone replacement therapies and still not lose weight. It’s MORE about what Dr. Gabrielle Lyons calls the Midlife Muscle Crisis!
What Happens in the Midlife Muscle Crisis?
We don’t have an obesity epidemic, we have a midlife muscle crisis! Where the way we eat and train the way we did in our 20’s just doesn’t take us through these midlife stages. Just as our hormones change, so does our muscle. Our muscle sensitivity really changes in midlife, especially in terms of sensitivity to exercise and dietary protein changes. We become anabolic resistant – we become resistant to the protein stimuli we eat.
For example, a 16 year old can eat 10 grams of protein and she may still have a very anabolic (muscle building) response because she is young and driven by hormones. But as we age, we are no longer driven by hormones, and are more driven by our nutritional choices, especially our dietary protein! We not only need more protein, we need more protein at ONE time to stimulate our tissue.
There are TWO Ways to Stimulate Muscle:
- Through Resistance Training
- Through Dietary Protein
Only 23% of adults actually meet their physical activity requirements. How many of us eat? 100% of us eat. THAT is why it is SO important to, at a bare minimum, eat right. If you are not eating enough protein, you are going to be losing muscle. You should be eating 1g of protein per 1 lb of your IDEAL body weight. There is NO upper limit of safety for protein like we have for carbohydrates (obesity, diabetes, metabolism issues, etc.)
How to Avoid Getting Skinny Fat As We Age
The average female is consuming MAYBE 70 grams of protein per day. The protein Dr. Lyon recommends is, on average, DOUBLE that. When you are continuously eating SUBthreshold of the recommended dietary protein for your body, your muscle simply cannot rebuild, and will be lost at a faster rate than if you are eating enough protein.
This, some common protein myths dispelled, and so MUCH more on this episode!
About Dr. Gabrielle Lyon
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, is the founder of the Institute for Muscle-Centric Medicine®. Dr. Lyon is a nationally recognized speaker and media contributor specializing in brain and thyroid health, lean body mass support, and longevity.
Dr. Gabrielle Lyon is board certified in Family Medicine and completed a combined research and clinical fellowship in Geriatrics and Nutritional Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. She completed her undergraduate training in Nutritional Sciences: Vitamin & Mineral Metabolism at the University of Illinois.
Dr. Lyon is a subject matter expert and educator in the practical application of protein, types, and levels to health, performance, aging, and disease prevention. She has continued to receive mentorship from Dr. Donald Layman, Ph.D. over the course of two decades to help bring protein metabolism and nutrition from the bench to the bedside.
Her clinical practice services the leaders, innovators, mavericks, and executives in their prospective fields. Dr. Lyon works closely with the Special Operations Military and has a private practice that services patients worldwide.
Get her new Best Seller, Forever Strong, HERE
In this episode, you will learn:
- How much protein you need to consume
- Why some proteins are better than others
- How and When to properly feed your body
- What’s missing for you to build and maintain muscle
- Why maintaining muscle is important, far beyond how it looks