I Gained Muscle After 50: How I Lost Fat

Real quick, before we dive into this episode, I have a little sleep secret I want to tell you about. Look, sleep is crucial for your fitness, but it's crucial for just plain old everyday life and function.

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What are you waiting for? Good night.

In this episode, I'll share how I lost fat and gained muscle after 50 and improved my body composition, of course, in the process. At the end of this decade, I'm about to celebrate a big birthday. There's a winning score, right? But listen, I was down by some major points.

Points halfway through this decade. So if yours didn't go smoothly, I get it.

If you're in the middle of it, it's not going so well.

Here's how I Caitlin Clarked the strategy and came out ahead.

I'm Debra Atkinson. You're listening to Flipping 50. I started this podcast over a decade ago to answer questions about fitness in menopause and beyond before you knew to ask them. The goal: to help accelerate your results with science and the practical application of proven protocols while living your best life. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than a midlife woman. And it's not just about you, but the 3 generations that you influence. My unique 40-year career, including being a university senior lecturer in kinesiology, an industry subject matter expert, and an international speaker, to founder of the first and the only exclusively made-for-menopause and beyond fitness membership in the world. Every week I interview experts behind the scenes and the science of optimal hormone balancing, fitness, and longevity, and share answers to our community's questions so you can have the vitality and the energy that you want, need, and deserve. Hey, this is Debra Atkinson, and there is one thing you can't do in the gym at your age, and that's get all the protein that you need. You've got to do that in the kitchen. To make it easy for myself, not only to get the protein but the fiber, the fruits and vegetables I want daily, I started drinking a smoothie. A day 30 years ago. But when I realized all the junk, the sugar, and the extras that you don't want, that I don't want, hiding in most protein powders, that's when I finally caved in after years of saying I will never ever ever sell supplements. Stop skipping, skimping, and sabotaging yourself in the morning after workouts by always being prepared Look, yep, I agree, real food first, but it's just not convenient to carry a turkey sandwich. Sometimes the protein, and don't forget the fiber, they kill cravings and they boost satiety, and you've gotta make it easy to do the right thing. You can use code PODCAST for 10% off your first order at flipping50.com today.

This is how I've added 4 pounds of lean muscle and lost 4% body fat from 50 to 60, and how you can too. Look, if you think this episode is all about me, you'd be right. I've been a fitness professional now for 40 years, but that doesn't make any fitness professional, health coach, fitness instructor immune to changes in hormones and to tragedies in life's ups and downs and midlife crises. I've had it all, and so I'm just as like you as I'm an expert. So let's do this. So literally, I've added 4 pounds of lean muscle and lost 4% body fat from 50 to 60. In between, I gained 12 to 14 pounds. So I don't know why I say it like that, but it was like fluctuating as I would weigh. I was like, are you kidding? Let's call it an average of 13 pounds of inflammation, and lost that too. And I say inflammation— she may be asking, how do you know it was that? Well, because although my weight was up, my lean muscle mass was not. It didn't go down, but it wasn't up. And my percent body fat also wasn't dramatically different. It was not as good, I will say that. But it was just like excess weight, puffiness, bloat, padding in the cushions. And that, you know, is something you want to be aware of. I would only have known that if I used a smart scale. Monitoring muscle, monitoring body composition, meaning body fat. You really need both, and you don't want simply percent of muscle. You want to know skeletal muscle absolute in pounds or kilograms depending on where you are in the world. So before I get started though, you need to know this: I've been thinner. It is no longer the goal, and I think there's always going to be a little piece of comparison among any of us, not just us to someone else, but us to the way we were. But when I was thinner, then it was all I thought about. You know, you have to get really honest with yourself and say, was that thinness due to fitness, due to me living my lifestyle, doing the things that I should do for fitness, that I should do for nutrient density and for health? And I would have to say that potentially You know, not necessarily, but it definitely— when my stress level is lower, I can go on vacation and lose 5 pounds in a week. And a lot of people will say, on vacation? I mean, like, yeah, because when stress goes away, so does a lot of what you're carrying around. So just heads up on that. Thin is no longer the goal for me. I'm really kind of sick of it. For 40 years, I've watched the number one motivator to exercise for women be weight loss, and not that it's not for a lot of men who start as well, but I've watched fitness professionals covet each other's bodies, knowing the science and intelligence of what is truly fitness, but still wishing they had somebody else's body that they perceive to be better, sexier, more iconic than their own. I'm just over it. You know, if that is your number one goal, it may happen. While you're focusing on something else like gaining lean muscle, getting in better condition and shape and feeling more energetic. But it probably will not happen if you're chasing the weight, meaning the weight loss. We still haven't gotten the fact— this is absolute fact— that we attract and we get to keep what we focus on. And in the process, I'll probably optimize my body composition, not because I'm chasing weight loss or a size, but because I'm wanting to do all the things that I should have been doing all along. Isn't that ironic? The saying goes, form follows function. You will get the form, the body shape, the changes you want generally when you do the function. Like, what are the goals that you need to do in order to be faster, be stronger, be able to hike 17 miles in a day or 25 if that's it? The other thing I realized right now is you know, we've forgotten that serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin are a part of this journey that we're on right now. And we get fleeting hits of that kind of positive hormones from exercise itself, but we get more long-lasting enjoyment of the memories and get the hit of serotonin and dopamine and oxytocin. But, you know, you don't get that kind of benefit from doing a good workout or having a great workout. You may get some stimulus for creativity later in the day or better sleep, but we forget how to help ourselves offset cortisol. The other thing I realized this week is that for way too long, I have left other things undone too. So in bullet points, this will be in the show notes if you really want to come over and I'm going to elaborate on each of these points. But I would love for you to just mentally do a match of, are you there too? Are you doing this? Because if you're struggling, this may be super helpful. And in this episode, I can't help but live the science that I have learned, have taught, and still teach to this day to everyone else. You know, I walk the talk, I truly do. And I wouldn't tell you to do anything that I'm not doing myself or haven't tested. You know, it's slightly different if you have rheumatoid arthritis or you have fibromyalgia or you have adrenal fatigue, and I'm I know the science about those things. I have not had fibromyalgia. I have not had rheumatoid arthritis, but I've worked with a lot of clients who have had each of those things. And I don't play instant expert, but what I'm sharing with you is based on science. It's also based on this is what worked for me. Now I realize I didn't know what I didn't know, and that I was doing more longer-term damage. That I was not eating enough and that was hurting my body composition and metabolism, and/or I was not eating enough and exercising a lot, and that probably set me back and I could be far better off than I was or than I am right now. And so I think we have to leave that door open that right now we think it's working, but we also have to plug in the science of, you know, don't forget this. And testing is so much easier now to test the things to know what are your levels right now. Let's really look at them to see if you're getting the results under the hood, as I call it. So lab testing is really at our fingertips and we can learn so much more and adapt before anything becomes a problem. So the exercise and lifestyle changes that happened to me in this last decade and looking at where am I now, And some of these things were major changes. Some of these were just small tweaks. And I stayed this course because it was working, but here they all are. I prioritize protein and non-starchy vegetables. And I would say over something low fat where that might've been at one point the priority. And I love, love, love vegetables. I used to think I didn't like, and so many great ways to make them now that I highly encourage you to do one thing. To avoid this mistake: repeatedly eating the same thing over and over again all year. Not a good idea. If it's in season, it's fresh, and you're pulling it from your garden and you're eating that for a few weeks, it's totally different. But if you're just going to the grocery store and notoriously this is it— cauliflower, broccoli, carrots— you're not getting good gut diversity. So rotate. Throw in green beans instead sometimes. Throw in asparagus. Throw in beets, roast beets. So many things in ways that you can get better gut diversity and micronutrient diversity. Okay. So that's number 1. Number 2 is I will eat dessert if I want it. And knowing that, not saying can't have that, not going to have that, makes it— there's no power in it. But if it's not that good, I can skip it. And I'll give you a case in point. So we had a birthday celebration with a group of girlfriends who get together. We all kind of work in the digital health and wellness fitness space, and 3 of us celebrated March birthdays. So we got together and one of them was in charge of— she's like, I know a great place to go. I'll get a cake. It's gluten-free and just covers all the things, but it had no flavor. And that just, you know, in a former world, I would've ate it if it was theirs. If I don't like it, not going to eat it. No worries. Next up is I make sure I'm eating enough. If I'm not gaining lean muscle, if I don't have energy, I potentially am not eating enough. I think some of you, and I just projecting this, I think some of you are constipated because you're not eating enough. Constipation is a big thing in our community. And you may not know it because we don't talk about this to very many people. Many of us don't share this with our OB-GYNs or our general practitioners. And We just tolerate it and we just don't say anything, but we need to because you need to poop on a regular basis. Number one, it makes you feel better. You feel totally empty, you feel more energetic, and you'll have a better appetite. Things are moving through you. But some of you are not pooping, and, and this is way outside of the GLP-1 and the Ozempic and all of that story. You're just not eating enough bulk. So the vegetables, yes, but you need some carbohydrates. Most women do in order to have a healthy poop. So, you know, some sweet potatoes, some brown rice, quinoa, looking at ways that you can include those kinds of foods could be very helpful for you. So think about, you know, are you eating enough and not just trying and focusing on eating less? So I also, prioritize walking and weight training over everything. So even over HIIT. And I know some of you think HIIT is supposed to be the holy grail of fat burning, but let me tell you, it will put you into fat storage if you are already in adrenal fatigue, your stress bucket is tipped because of emotions and finances and caregiving and job and work stress, or just an overwhelm in life. You go and do HIIT, you know, when you're already highly stressed, that doesn't help, right? It's just more stress, and that puts you in fat storage. When you've got more cortisol, you're in fat storage. You can't both be fat storing and fat burning. So you've got to bring the stress level down. Going for a walk, doing yoga may actually help you open the gate again to fat burning. And you may find yoga is fat burning, right? Even though it's not calorie, calorie burning, You know, calorie burning in HIIT, calorie burning in yoga, you're going to burn more calories, but you may just burn yourself out. We have to watch out for that. So I prioritize walking. Every time in my life I have walked as the core foundation, something I've done every day, my fitness level improves naturally and easily. Now I like a little more movement than most people. And here's the biggest point here. It's as slow as you could possibly be. It's walk, walk, walk, sit down, wait. On the tee box or on the green for somebody to finish so that you can go. I mean, it was just tedious and sometimes very slow. So the point is, it was just the moving all day helped so much more. And that was a game changer for me. I was in the best shape of my life, no matter what else I was or wasn't doing. It was walking. Every time that I've come back to you, that's been the chain. So simplify what you're doing if it's not working. I implemented recovery strategies daily. So no longer waiting until I need them. And, you know, I have to say, I did start with great coaching for my very first marathon training when I was a new mom, was with Team in Training, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. And there was a volunteer coach who was very good.. And I learned my strategy and everything that I took on as coach when I took over and had a group of my own. I used it ever since. And that was, you know, you have hard days, you have easy days, you have moderate days. And hard might be high intensity, but it also just might be it's your long distance day. Hard is relevant, but intensity can be gained by either really high, getting breathless, or by long distance, your body perceives cortisol is cortisol, stress is stress. And learning that you take days off, you don't do it every day. So some of the strategies that I use, one is really easy. Anybody can do this, Epsom salt baths, you know, and I will do that whenever I'm doing a tough workout. If I go on a long hike, I'm definitely going to do an Epsom salt bath and/or might also get in my sauna. I know sometimes I'll do both back to back and it is just like, sleep that night is amazing. But Epsom salt baths first and foremost. Those are two really big things that I'll do along with the sauna. That's the other one. I lift heavy at a minimum once a week, but almost always it's twice. And I say once a week because sometimes the other one has to be, you know, in a way or in a place or location where I just can't lift as heavy. And maybe I'm doing much more functional work where I'm traveling and it pulled me away from doing the heavy work that I can, but at minimum once a week. And let me tell you why once though, as a rule is probably injurious and be careful not to do it because we are playing with this fine line right now. We have to juggle the, I need enough stimulus, but if I'm just going for heavy, for heavy sake, and I'm doing more and heavier and harder, we're going to suffer some degeneration of the bone. And putting that extra stress on whether it's your lumbar spine and you're going heavy in those deadlifts. If you are loading your spine, you're somebody who still uses a barbell on your back, whether— I don't care if it's a Smith machine or what it is, but loading that smaller vertebra in the top of your spine, although that may sound like a good idea because that's going to give you bone density, that is not the way that I would apply that pressure. That's not the way that I would apply it. I would Try a weighted vest. You can put on, you know, 10% of your body weight, which might be 10 or 15 pounds to start, maybe 30 or 20 later. I'm sorry, that depends on how much weight you have and whether or not you're at high risk. If you've already had a fracture, you are at high risk. So I would not ever load upstairs if that's true for you. If you have osteoporosis, that doesn't disqualify you from wearing a weighted vest. Just wanna check in with you on that. If you've had a fracture, then yes, it does. Just having osteoporosis does not mean you're at high risk for a fracture. Yes, it's a qualification, and we know you have low bone density, but we may also want to strategically progressively increase that load and reverse the loss. So next, I cycle training very consciously. Now, don't run away with this. So I'm not talking about cycling around a period because I don't have one anymore. I'm not talking about bicycling and cycling, but I'm talking about periodization, and that means I rotate. So every month there may be 3 weeks where it's okay, it's hard, challenging, harder, hardest, and then I'm going to come back down and I'm going to have a recovery week where both those workouts are a little bit lighter. They still get me to muscle fatigue, but I'm doing higher repetitions, low weights. I'm doing more functional movement, keeping it balanced so that I'm staying fresh and resilient. But I cycle that training so that I'm working a little bit heavier in a season. And then as I start to play more golf, get outside hiking more, start swimming more, I dial it back a little bit because you don't want stress and stress, right? So I'm going to dial it back. And yes, I want to maintain that strength. Next step is I do explosive power and fast twitch agility movements 2 to 3 times a week each.. And sometimes those are one and the same, but they're not always the same. So there's a little confusion even in our community because some of these terms are fairly new. You can do explosive power with weights by putting the speed with a lift, the weight component, the strength component, and we still control the end place. So we decelerate in control, we lower it down completely under control. You can also do explosive power by not jumping rope. So is that more explosive than walking? Yes, but we're not getting to explosive power that way. So explosive power is measured by hopping on one leg, like pushing, how high can you get? Or hopping from point A to point B, or even jumping like a long jump or sideways jumping. That's explosive power. Fast twitch agility movements are moving your feet quickly in response to something else ideally. So even if say it's me on a video doing ladder drills and telling you what to do, you are responding to it and you're in somewhat responding to this object that's not moving and you're going in and out and in and out of the holes, or you're going, I'm gonna jump in and out and in and out all the way through and quickly moving your feet and letting your brain send those signals that hit it inside, inside, don't touch any lines, right? Dancing. Doing the tango with somebody and reacting to it, but you've got quick, quick, you know, movements sometimes can be fast twitch agility. So playing ball and having someone throw it here, here, here, not necessarily right to you, is some agility reaction skills, not necessarily for your feet. And feet are the most important because that's gonna right us if we're sliding. Catching ourselves when we fall will happen because of The feet, ability to move them quickly. So all of those are very important. Power and agility. We sometimes forget when we're just, I'm strength training and I'm walking, but there's, let's do these little nuances too, because as we age, we lose those fibers. I rest consciously between sets of exercise for the same muscle group. So in all of our Stronger programs, this is how we plan it. And many of you who are members of the Flipping 50, membership and/or are in a 12 Weeks Stronger program, you know this even just after a few weeks. So I use time efficiently, but the sequence of those exercises will have you rest at least 1 and oftentimes at least 2 minutes before you come back to that. So there is a sweet spot for rest and recovery so that you may be working the muscles opposing it, like the back, so you're working still upper body, Or you may do upper body and a lower body exercise where you're going to get a little bit more recovery, but we're still using that time. We're not sitting around. And it's important because we have obstacles. Time for many of us is a challenge. I don't have time, but yes, I want lean muscle and I want better body composition and I want bone density. You know, you need to probably do a 30 to 45 minute workout. Doing 15 minutes every day is not really going to help you. There's no study ever. Showing that it has. And we've got to look at what kind of stimulus do you really need. Establishing that habit might be what you're doing because you don't have a habit at all, but also coming back from adrenal fatigue. But for most of us, we've got to have a little bit more stimulus, a little more volume. The number of sets and the number of exercises for those major muscle groups is pretty well written in stone. So 8 to 10 muscle groups, and you're doing at least somewhere between 4 and 8 sets at least every week. And so that's a minimum of 2 sets, which I would never say we want the minimum, but at least it's 2 days per week doing 4 sets of exercises for the same muscle group. That is where we really probably dig in and get some really good results. But that rest is important. If you're just breaking down, breaking down, breaking down, you don't let it recover in between, You're not actually going to get the full benefit of the strength training. And I recover like it's my job after challenging workouts. I mentioned there are certain things that I do consciously, but I also pull in— I do the food timed at the right time. I rest and I sleep consciously. I make sure the rest of my day is not overly stressful or that I'm not putting a really hard workout right before a really tough week. That is just what you need to deplete your immune system. That's when people get sick. And so it's food at the right time, rest and sleep at the right time, hydrating. And I have 5 tools that I use. I'll talk a little bit more about those 4. I mentioned 2 of them already, but also want to give you this last one, and that is gut health. My gut health over this past decade has become my top priority. Any sign that my gut health is not optimal, I fix it right now for several reasons. I mean, we're at a cumulative effect. We have to look at everything that's going on. You know, if you're still a dieter, still trying to cut back, avoid foods, and you know, you didn't hit where your caloric intake should have been today, or your protein or your veggies, we're not getting the micronutrients we need. So you can supplement with a multi, but food first, right? Get the food in there because that's going to help it work. And if you're eating whatever you're eating, you have to absorb it. It's not just what you eat, but it's what you absorb of the things that you eat that goes into your bones and your muscles and makes the rest of you very healthy. So if we've got an issue with constipation, diarrhea, gas, or bloating, we have obvious signs and symptoms. Sometimes it's skin issues. That tells you the liver or the gut, something isn't quite right. Unless you can point to you're eating dairy and you know you shouldn't be eating dairy. Often it is dairy that will trigger skin issues. That's, you know, for those of you not eating dairy with skin issues, you know, there you go. So skin and gut, but usually you can see it or feel it, or migraines, headaches can also be a sign something you're eating isn't agreeing with you. But your gut health is really top priority for helping you seal the deal with everything else. So 4 tools that I use to enhance recovery religiously or boost my performance. And I would say this, Epsom salt baths, but make sure there's nothing added. Like if there's lavender essential oil, that's one thing. But if it says fragrance on, I don't use it. I don't use perfume anymore. I will use essential oils, but I avoid things with fragrance in them because they're hormone disruptors. So every little bit helps. So then sunlight and sauna, I've mentioned, I'll put the link to mine. Power Plate. So I've been using it, yes, for stimulating lean muscle, for stimulating bone density benefits. And my test had been targeted— what's happened because I had a little osteopenia in my non-dominant left arm. So want to know what lifting heavy plus Power Plate have been able to do. And since that last test, I've ramped up my weight significantly. So I'm really doing a bone protocol. But I will put the link to it. We can save you 20% off of it on any given day.

And they are gold.

I think to amplify the results that you already are getting, or if you're somebody who can't lift heavy for whatever reasons, is a game changer. But it's not just for the stimulus. It's also for supporting recovery. It acts like a massage and circulation, lymphatic flow, all good things. And to enhance performance weighted vest. You can see the top picks. I think I have 4 of them chosen for 2024, all different price ranges for you. And those are if you go to flipping50.com/resources, you'll see how to get to my Amazon page from there. See all kinds of goodies actually that I like and recommend. I wanna give you one more thing about gaining muscle after 50. It's very possible. We've had a couple testimonials recently, so shout out to Joan if you're listening., you know, of women gaining lean muscle late in their 60s, approaching 70, very close, right? It is possible. You've got to be doing the right things. You got to be helping yourself in every possible way. So I have no intention of letting my goals get smaller as I get older. And I encourage you to take that on yourself. Potentially my goals are getting bigger and I hope that yours are too. And I hope you're not putting them off. It's not gonna get convenient to do it. And if we put them off for too long, the choices that we have may be more limited. We'll disclose this publicly, but I'm registered for doing Cozumel Ironman in November of this year, and I have not really started seriously training yet, but in April I can't put it off anymore. But what I decided is it didn't go well last time, you know, I gained inflammation. 14 pounds, 13. And you know, that was also the year I hit menopause. I'm post-menopause now. It may work better. And I had already modified training schedule, so I had less volume than most. And I have always been strategic about doing that for the last 8 years, but it didn't work. And yet this time, you know, I can start training and I can pull back and I will call that a success. I can stop. But, you know, I will regret not doing it more than I regret doing it. So when it's something that you love, I've called this always the joy factor. And there will be a time, I think, if those of you who love endurance events want to come back to something that just isn't working in this moment, I think, yeah, we're all going to get back to that. So I'm going to leave you with that, you know, but I think we have to put these things on our calendars now. And get them in there. We can't wait because if we wait, we may not have the option. It changes something in you about the way you think about yourself. And it also changes the way you're training and gives your training a reason. You're training for a purpose and your fitness level will increase because of that. And someone told me this once about doing something else, but you'll get more attractive. And that's in all possible ways. Yes, the look in the mirror, but also you're just more attractive and magnetic because you're doing things for yourself and it doesn't really matter what anybody else thinks. And that is so attractive. All right, in the next episode, I'm going to share supplements that I use to support that lean muscle mass, and I think you'll find they're not all that overwhelming. There's a few critical pieces that if you're not doing and you're struggling to gain lean muscle, you may want to do, but that's in the next solo episode. And for now, thanks so much for tuning in.

Thank you for listening. To listen to a decade of episodes and to get the show notes, visit flipping50.com where you'll be able to find all the previous episodes. And I made it super easy to make the most of your listening time and get exactly what you want to listen to as top priority by getting the top 10 episodes in the areas you most care about, like how much protein do you need, weight loss, and other 3 ultra-important topics we've identified as our community's top 5. There's no more powerful health influencer in the world than you, midlife women. So go and listen right now. Do you have a question for a podcast, a question you'd love to ask or maybe a story you want to tell. Did you know we have a special group just for podcast question roundups and the answers? My community coaches and I provide answers daily inside of this group, but it's also where I go when I occasionally say, okay, open call for podcast questions or tell your story. Would you like to be a guest? So if you're looking for a community of women who are also interested in optimizing their health, strengthening their mindset, and looking forward to every new year, join the Flipping 50 Insiders group. That's Flipping 5-0 Insiders on Facebook.