How Muscles Help Your Weight

There is one thing that almost all people pay some attention to which is very, very important for our lives. In fact, if you pay a lot of attention to this one very important thing, you most likely will live much longer. And what is that one thing that can help give us a longer and better life? It’s a healthy weight.

Watching our weight and keeping it at the right levels usually makes our lives much more enjoyable, healthier, and longer. Thankfully, there are a lot of things we can do that can keep our weight where it should be and, wow, that can really help make for a great life.

Most kids don’t pay a lot of attention to their weight and eat everything they want. When we get a little bit older—like in our teens—we pay more attention to how we look and try to eat the right foods in order to become more active in sports or to look better. But a healthy weight is good for us, no matter our age.  

I was quite surprised when I discovered that your muscles can actually help you lose weight or keep you at a good weight. Most of us don’t realize that doing things like working out, weightlifting, and even just plain old walking can help with our weight management, not just because these burn calories but because they build muscle.

As we age, it is very common for people to stop working on their muscles all that much, at least until they come to the understanding that building or maintaining a lot of muscle helps their health big time. One of the challenges we have as we age is a loss of muscle which can contribute to gaining more fat. We lose muscle because, as we get older, our muscles wear down and that along with often being less active in our 50s, 60s, and 70s means our muscles are getting smaller and with that comes weight gain as our calories go to fat instead of being burned by muscle.

One of the best types of food we can consume to help us build muscle, get rid of a lot of fat, and control our weight is protein. There are a lot of studies that have shown that eating plenty of protein—like 25 to 30 grams first thing in the morning and then the same amount for lunch and dinner—along with lots of moving and lifting weights–will help you keep and build your muscle and burn fat. Some great, healthy foods that are high in protein include fish, chicken, lean beef, eggs, soy, beans, lentils, pumpkin seeds, nuts, cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, cheese, and milk.

When it comes to exercise, you don’t have to run to burn fat or build muscle. A lot of walking and staying very active helps build muscle which helps you burn more fat. I usually walk 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day and it’s done wonders for my health. It makes me feel so good in addition to helping me maintain my ideal weight while sending more blood to the brain which helps our memory and thinking.

So, let’s all of us humans work out regularly and eat more protein so we can look forward to a longer life and a healthier body.

Reset for Aging

I’ve been thinking a lot about this thing they call aging recently, especially since I am moving in on that big number 80. 

Last year my son gave me a book on my birthday called Successful Aging by Daniel J. Levitin that I’ve really enjoyed. Then the other day I came across two other aging articles. One was in the March issue of the AARP Bulletin titled, “The Answer to Age Related Weight Gain” and the other was titled “100 Ways to Live to 100” found on the website HuffPost, which I had read before. Combined, they really got me thinking.  

Since I have only 11 years before I hit 90 and, even worse, just 21 years until I come up on 100, I really studied those ideas and instructions that I thought would help me make the most of my life as well as those that would help me live the longest. It’s given me a lot of great things to focus on. 

I will never forget that French lady Jeanne Calmet who lived an active 122 years and 164 days, living on her own until 110. Or the Russian woman, Nanu Shaova, who lived to a record 127 years. These ladies prove that a long, meaningful life is possible. 

A new book, The Whole Body Reset by AARP, Stephen Perrine, and Heidi Skolnik, has a lot of great advice about how to preserve muscle at age 50 and above, such as…

• Eat at least 30 grams of protein at every meal
• Eat colorful fruits and vegetables
• Try strength training

That’s just a few of the great suggestions in this book that have to do with successful aging and living a better life. 

And here are just a few of the “100 Ways to Live to 100″ from that HuffPost article I came across again recently: 

1. Find a purpose for life

2. Walk a lot

3. Be happy

4. Do unto others 

5. Practice yoga

6. Be optimistic

7, Go meatless

8. Eat your fiber

9. Make healthy changes in your life starting today

10. Don’t dread getting older

There’s a lot of food for thought here. I’ll add to that list next week as well, but in the meantime, work with some of these suggestions. You can never start too early to improve your chances of a long, meaningful life. 

Our World in Perspective

One of my good, long-term friends, Richard Biasetti, sent me the following. I thought it was super great info, so I wanted to share it with you. I hope you like it as much as I did! Richard is a great guy I met many, many years ago when we both lived in Ankara, Turkey!

Earth’s Population Statistics in Perspective

The population of Earth is around 7.8 billion. For most people, this is a large figure. However, if you condensed 7.8 billion into 100 persons and then converted that into various statistics about where and how people live, the resulting analysis is much easier to comprehend. So, out of 100 people:

11 are in Europe
5 are in North America
9 are in South America
15 are in Africa
60 are in Asia

49 live in the countryside
51 live in cities

75 have mobile phones
25 do not

30 have internet access
70 do not have the availability to go online

7 received a university education
93 did not attend college

83 can read
17 are illiterate

33 are Christians
22 are Muslims
14 are Hindus
7 are Buddhists
12 are other religions
12 have no religious beliefs

26 will live less than 14 years
66 will die between 15 – 64 years of age
8 are over 65 years old

What do these statistics tell us?

Well, if you can read, have a mobile phone, can surf the internet, and have gone to college, you are in a minuscule privileged lot — in that less than 7% category. Those privileges are something to be truly grateful for.

Of our 100 persons in the world, only 8 will live or exceed the age of 65. If you are over 65 years old, if you did not leave this world before the age of 64 like 92 other people will, this knowledge this should help you be content & grateful. It tells us to cherish life, grasp the moment, for you are immensely blessed amongst mankind.

It often helps to look at our life from a relative perspective compared to what other people have and endure. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t all work to build the best life we can, but we also should take time to appreciate what we have.

We All Age but We Don’t Have to Get Old

On January 8th I launched what I call my “90 Day Super Quest”. That quest is my ambitious goal to get myself into the best possible physical and mental shape of my entire life!  My birthday lands on the 90th day of this quest–and I turn the big 70 this year!

I am a week into my “super quest” and I’m right on schedule with my workouts which include tennis, weight lifting, sit-ups, push-ups and stretching.  As for the mental side of my quest, I’ve been doing pretty good keeping up with reading, writing, making new friends and spending lots of time with old friends as well as my family, of course.  But, I’ve noticed a problem.  It’s that old demon … that negative inner self-talk.  Since I’ve set the 90 day goal I’ve been way too focused on my age and the fact that I am getting older. That number 70 has dominated the chatterbox inside my head and not in a positive way.

However, today, I just happened to pick up a book that I’ve read and written about many times and it flopped open to page 55 where the word “aging” jumped out at me.  It’s the book that Susan Jeffers wrote entitled Feel the Fear and Beyond. This is the follow up book to Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway. Here’s what she says about aging and what your inner voice should NOT be saying about the subject:

“I am getting older now.  Aging is horrible. I wish my body were young again.  Look at those wrinkles.  Who could love a face that’s old? I hate it. Pretty soon no one will want to be around me.  When I was young, I could dance all night.  Now I don’t have the energy.  Why do people have to age?  I wish I could be young forever.”

And here is what she says we should be saying to ourselves:

“I love aging.  My children are grown and now I’m free to do the thing I put off doing.  I’m glad I joined the gym.  I don’t think I’ve ever been in such great shape.  I’m going to learn all I can about keeping myself in the best of health.  I have so much to look forward to.  I learn and grow every day of my life.  I wouldn’t want to go back one day.  Why would I want to go back?”

With all my focus on hitting 70, that number became set in my head, like a heavy, unmovable, concrete block.  I have now realized that I need to get rid of that and ask myself the question that I used to ask so often, something we all should probably ask ourselves whenever we think about aging: “How old would I say I am if I didn’t know?”.  When I ask myself this question I can honestly say I come up with the answer of 44.  So I guess on April 8th I will be in the best physical and mental shape of my life as a 45 year old. That sounds pretty good to me!