Does aging really contribute to weight gain/loss of muscle?

[nrg23]

@xene19 You stated you eat intuitively, there is your problem. You’ve plateaued and now you need to track to establish your baseline calories. Reduce to lose weight or increase protein intake to build more muscle

 

[dawn16]

@xene19 32 is the prime of life

 

[predrag]

@dawn16 31 and 37 are more prime, but 32 is pretty close.

 

[matt21]

@xene19 Aging definitely can contribute to this, however 32 is not the age where this happens. If you are gaining weigh, it is because you are in a caloric surplus. You are either less active than before or are unconsciously eating more than before.

 

[leo_fender]

@xene19 Get off those HIIT classes or cut down.
Over time eyeball measurements get bigger. Go back to weighing/measuring for a little bit.

 

[howardmup]

@xene19 So they did a landmark study on this recently and "metabolism" doesn't drop until age 60. You do start losing some lean mass past 30 if you don't maintain it, however it's easy to maintain and even add muscle for a few decades more.

Source in layman language https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/surprising-findings-about-metabolism-and-age-202110082613

Actual paper in Science https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.abe5017

 

[hallartistry]

@xene19 It's not your age. I am a couple of years older than you and in the best shape of my life. Weight loss (aka fat loss) is done through a calorie deficit. There is no other way. Lifting is to gain (note the word "gain") muscle. In my experience, you should get fit in phases and the first one should be fat loss. If you want to lose fat get into a deficit and aid that along with calorie burning. I used walking, running, and cycling to aid in calorie burning. I also did bodyweight exercises (squats, lunges, push-ups). When I was within 5-10 pounds of my goal weight I added in lifting to build muscle. Short walks throughout the day and one walk/run at night worked wonders for fat loss. I also have a walking pad that was a great addition to getting up to 15k steps per day. To get off the last ten pounds I added in spinning which gave my legs and abs a very toned look. Below is what I did.

Phase 1

Deficit of 500 calories, 100 oz. of water per day

3-4 miles of walking/running (around 10k steps per day)

Phase 2

Deficit of 550-600 calories, 150 oz. of water per day

4-5 miles of walking/running (around 12k-15k steps per day)

10 miles spinning

Phase 3

Deficit of 250 calories, 150 oz. of water per day, 100-120 grams of protein

3-4 miles walking/running or 15-20 miles of spinning

Progressive lifting 3-4 days per week

 

[jacusmc18]

@xene19 Menopause and pregnancy/birth/postpartum, yes - not the simple act of aging from 20s to 30s.

Lifestyle changes is definitely a thing - more time at home and sitting at work, less time running around, more stress from real life shit - caregiving, divorce etc

 

[unbridledwild]

@xene19 The importance of metabolism is overstated because it’s what people want to believe.

 

[itjesus]

@xene19 Most studies recently have come to the conclusion weight gain is not due to age it’s to becoming more sedentary.

Example: instead of going out and doing a bunch of stuff with friends many days a week of not all you stay behind the desk and work longer. Eat same calories, but less active.

 

[aranyi_zsolt]

@xene19

Does aging really contribute to weight gain/loss of muscle?

Yes, age-related muscle loss (called sarcopenia) is real, but not at age 32! More like 50+ or 60+.

I lost a considerable amount of weight during lockdown and managed to keep it off UNTIL I turned 32 in September. Not much has changed in my daily routine. My diet has stayed the same and I exercise just as much, but I am chunkier and not as lean.

It's possible your metabolism has changed/"slowed down" and/or your hormonal cycles due to age.

I also do a ton of heated HIIT classes with weights. I hear these high intensity workouts aren’t good but I haven’t done enough research.

High-intensity interval training is great for cardio but pretty sub-optimal if your goal is building strength/muscle. I don't know where you heard that high-intensity workouts "aren't good," they're certainly not bad for you or harmful to your health.

 

[tim10001]

@xene19

I’ve heard that “muscle weighs more than fat” is a myth.

LOL. No myth, muscle is more dense than fat, so will weigh more per unit of mass. If you replace fat with muscle you will notice a weight gain, this is why you should throw the scales away and go for monitoring fat %

HIIT is great, especially for cardio gains, but don't expect to build too much muscle with it.

 

[dynamitedove]

@xene19 One pound of muscle weighs the same as one pound of fat.
But a 200lb lean person is going to have a very different metabolic profile to a 200lb obese person.

Aging matters, but not as much as people think.

When I was 30 I cut weight on 2000 calories a day and had energy to train.
Now I’m 39, I’m the same weight again as at 30, and I had to increase my calories from 2450-2850 because they were too low and I was dropping more weight per week than I should have.

Don’t let age bother you. They say people start to gain weight naturally after 30.

That’s true only because people statistically become less active after their 20s.

The last 5 years I’ve been training with mostly 30 plus year olds, some in their 40s and one 65, and they’re fitter and stronger than most 20 year olds I’ve met.

 

[kjk11861]

@xene19 To a small degree yes, but not to a significant degree until twilight years. 30s is actually pretty damn prime from a physical perspective. There's a bit of a meme that we physically peak in our late 20s, and while that likely holds some truth, the dropoff isn't as sharp as people like to pretend it is. Folks who get fat and weak in their 30s is almost exclusively a poor lifestyle beginning to catch up.

 

[cherrytamayo35]

@xene19 I’m not sure if you may have heard of the term Sarcopenia, but sometimes we can lose muscle fibres as we age. Muscles will naturally atrophy as well and the “use it or lose it” concept plays a role in maintaining muscle size and strength. The former would have to be diagnosed of course.