New study finds seniors stay slim with weights over walking.
Are you having trouble staying slim as you age. New study says walking is not enough. I’ve told clients for years that as you age you need exercise that will maximize fat loss while sparing muscle. Many people diet and do not realize that each pound we lose can be as much as 1/3 muscle.This is not what we want as we age! We want to keep muscle and lose fat.
This new study adds to the growing evidence that weight training is vital for seniors.
The study focused on 249 men and women over 60, who were overweight or obese and sedentary. (Links below). They were all on a restricted diet to lose weight. 3 groups dieted, while one remained sedentary, one group walked and one group weight trained with trainers. They all lost weight. They measured what type of weight was lost in each group and the group that weight trained lost the least muscle. The walking group lost more muscle than the sedentary group, which surprised researchers.
In conclusion walking did not seem to spare muscle mass during weight loss in older adults. Weight training while dieting was more effective in holding on to muscle, as they lost weight.
I always suggest walking as a healthy form of exercise for my seniors, but I also explain to them that weight training is paramount. This is going to keep you strong, help your balance and keep you independent as you age.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/15/well/move/to-maintain-muscle-and-lose-fat-as-you-age-add-weights.html
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29086504
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