Lean Muscle in Menopause: 7 Supplements I Use

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What are you waiting for? Good night. Last year in March, I hosted a Flipping 50 retreat, and one of the things we do during a retreat is I bring people over to my own home when we're hosting it here in Phoenix or Scottsdale, and we will spend an afternoon or a day, and usually there is cooking. We'll cook a meal and prep it together. It becomes a little bit of a game and competition. More on that later if you should attend But one of the things that I've been asked every time I've hosted this is, can we open up your cupboards and your pantry? And it's like, we just want to see what you actually have here. And I'm like, okay, sure. So if you too would be dying to do that, if you came over to my house or to any fitness or health professional's home, this episode is your chance.

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. 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 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.

These are the supplements that I use daily for lean muscle in menopause and beyond, because I am beyond. So it's made a difference for me. It's made a big difference, actually. I know when I have or have slipped, and there are all those times where I think I'm well-planned and yet I come to the night before a trip and I'm like, I can't believe I let this to the last minute where I'm planning all these things. And when you want to take certain supplements with you, sometimes that's the last thing that gets done, and I will forget them. So I know it's made a huge difference for me because I've seen when I have a gap between not using and using, it's, it's very easy to tell. I will not feel as strong, I will not see as much lean muscle mass, and I know that It's even more evident when people you haven't seen for a while, or more importantly, they see you and they'll be asking, what are you doing? Like, I'm noticing you're just like really buff, you know? And I'm like, am I? So sometimes we don't see it on the day-to-day, but other people and having those checkpoints often do. So in recent previous episodes, the solos that I've done for you answering questions, I did one on less belly fat and I pointed out that muscle loss is essentially fat gain, right? It's the winning team there. My 60th birthday prompted this mental inventory of, well, everything from major changes in my life and my business. And I also looked at my most important and happiest moments and memories, not just of this last decade but previously, like my whole life, kind of taking inventory, and my physical health. So if you don't listen as a regular, or you haven't listened to that last solo since I was 50, I gained 4 pounds in lean muscle and lost 4% body fat, plus a whole swing, by the way, to bad and good and back again in the middle of all of that. Listen to that one and How thrilling would it be to do the same thing in a decade from now, looking at what happened to me between 60 and 70? Gaining another 4 pounds of lean muscle mass, losing another 4%— I don't know that I have that actually, but not gaining any or losing a couple percent, I'd be okay with that. But I promised, in response to questions, to answer not just the carefully designed strength training programs I use and share those with you, but how I support what I'm doing, my workouts and recovery, with supplements. And I'm also going to talk to you today about eating because it's not just about supplements. It's after you're eating X, Y, and Z, and that's not alone enough, here's what I'd suggest. That's where we're going. So this is all about that. And this is really 7 supplements that I use on a regular basis. And I'll kind of go into something else at the very end that is not mentioned here in quote unquote, not going to categorize as supplement, but number 1 is protein powder. And although, you know, food first, I would say sit down to protein, eat your scallops, your shrimp, your bison, your ground venison, your elk, your wild meats first. They're going to be always the best and the least tainted, you know, and get a wide variety of them. If you don't eat beef, can you do other alternative red meats? Because it's the most micronutrient-dense food out there. But if you're committed to vegetarianism or veganism, then you're going to want to keep listening because as we work the way down, some of these supplements are appropriate for you and others you may not need. But protein powder is something I've used for 30 years now, literally. So as I was training for my first marathon, you know, I got to a point where I knew I needed to supplement with a little bit more protein, and I needed to do it fairly quickly after I came back because when you're repeatedly training heavily, you wait that, you know, 60 to 90 minutes. You actually want to have it pretty quickly because you're doing it repeatedly. You need recover right now because this is my day. Tomorrow I'm going to have another tough workout or a longer run, and you need to keep that in. And sooner is better than later. But protein powder supports muscle repair and recovery. Protein, period, supports that. But if you're not able to eat it because of time, convenience, right? You'd carry around a bundle of turkey with you. I mean, if you're willing to, you could do it. Carrying coolers, they make soft-sided coolers now that you can carry with you. And let me tell you that people who do figure competition or bodybuilding, that's how they roll. They bring coolers with them if they're at work or they bring their food so that they're getting enough and they have plenty with. But if you're not that or not willing to to do that, then protein powder is just a lot easier to carry a scoop or two with you. So you've got it to drop into water if nothing else is available. I will do that all the time if I'm traveling and doing 13-hour car rides. It's just so easy that I'm not going to get stuck at a truck stop or a gas station where there's nothing else. If I'm out of the things in my cooler and I'm bored with those, I still have protein. And that's going to help you avoid the big bags of popcorn, start calling if I'm driving a long ways by myself. I know I'm going to feel terrible if I do that. But making it easy to do the right thing. So you need protein also for bone density, right? So healthy bone density depends on it. So does lean muscle mass. Staving off cravings, you know, is also a big piece of what protein will do for you. Supporting your blood sugar levels so you're not going up and down where you do have cravings. It's particularly effective in stimulating muscle protein synthesis. That's crucial for combating age-related muscle loss. Protein powder just makes it easier to bump up your intake, to get it conveniently, to not use time as a default. So for that reason, I won't go into this a great deal, but dairy doesn't agree with a lot of women in midlife. You're not absorbing it potentially. If it's causing gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea, or skin issues, it's probably not working really well in your gut either. So that means whey protein is not an option. Whey and casein are both dairy products. Egg is also not something that you probably want to do. It's very expensive in terms of protein powders. But then you're looking at maybe a paleo protein or a plant-based, pea-based protein that they're going to have lower essential amino acid profiles but better than not having anything. And you can add things to that smoothie. So strategically adding, you know, hemp hearts or certain options will increase that amino acid profile and complement it so you are getting a better, richer list. So it's not just powder and water always, but you're using it as a meal. And you could put those things in your freezer that are the powders in there, the greens are in there, the fruits in there, the fiber that you want, the extras that are in there. It's in a baggie. So you dump in those things, you dump in liquid, blend it. It's 2 minutes or less. You just have a little assembly line going on, you know, once or twice during the month to put those baggies in the freezer. So you're ready to go. It makes it far more convenient. And if it's got to be just protein powder, okay, then so be it. If you want a list of 8 high protein meals that I default to, I really like, you know, I will share that with you in the show notes so you can get that by coming over to show notes. It's at flipping50.com/leanmuscleinmenopause. Number 2, so eating adequate protein and/or using protein powder as a supplement. And that might mean that you sit down at a meal where otherwise it's low in protein and you're drinking, you know, instead of just a glass of milk or almond milk, you're drinking a protein powder shake, just a simple shake to support, okay, getting adequate protein. The next step might be if you can't do protein powder, don't want to do another smoothie, you eat adequate protein is taking essential amino acid supplements. And you can take those in powders. They don't taste very good, I will tell you that. Like a quote-unquote pre or post-workout drink is gonna have a little bite to it. It's why they cover it with watermelon or berry or citrus or something, because it's just— you're not gonna reach for that, let me just tell you. Like, oh, I just have a craving for that— you're probably not gonna get there. But you might tolerate it and know, okay, this is good for me, I can do this. But you can also take supplement capsules. And that's actually, if I'm doing my essential amino acids that way, and I will take these as a default, like when I'm traveling, especially I'm looking at maybe the time of my plane. I didn't have lunch before I got on. And by the time I get off, it's late in the afternoon somewhere. So it's not like appropriate for lunch, but I'm, I've missed a meal. And even if I have a snack and then eat I've still downed the protein I should have taken in, and I might have essential amino acid caps then at night right before I go to bed to say, you know what, my assessment of today was terrible, so we got some making up to do. And some people also find that they sleep better with those essential amino acids. The brand I like, I'll put in the show notes that's on my resources page. Creatine is another one. So if you're having smoothies, this makes it really easy because the protein powder can go in there, the creatine can go in there. And creatine doesn't really have a flavor. It does have a little bit of a, I think, a chalky consistency, but no flavor, no taste. But creatine is well known for benefits increasing strength, power output, and muscle mass. And it helps generate ATP. That's short for adenosine triphosphate. That is basically, to you, energy. And I'm not talking like so that you'll feel energetic. It's so that you won't get breathless going up the stairs. You will be able to generate more energy expenditure during an exercise session because you have energy created, and that firing happens because of something called mitochondria. That's where energy is created. It's energy central. The primary energy carrier in the cells is ATP, which is crucial for those short bursts of power, the jumping, the agility that we need to be doing, or lifting weights. For women over 40, creatine can help increase muscle mass, cognitive function— so that's for both sexes, by the way, but women struggle with this in midlife menopause— and potentially your bone density also is going to benefit. So it's great for everything. Higher doses for cognitive function are found to be more impressive and having better results. But for muscle mass, generally it's about 5 grams per day. If you're a small person, might be 3 to 4 as opposed to 5. Vitamin D. So vitamin D plays a crucial role in bone health, definitely, but it's also crucial for lean muscle mass, especially that fast-twitch muscle fiber, the explosive anaerobic kind of power. And again, power, agility, reaction skills. But your metabolism depends on vitamin D to help you gain lean muscle tissue, and it supports muscle function, been linked to improved immune system health as well. And we all know that's important for the last, last few years anyway. Omega-3 fatty acids. Now, even if you eat fatty fishes a couple times a week, this is true for you. Omega-3 fatty acids are known for anti-inflammatory properties. And this is where I suspect that the link to higher levels of omega-3 are tied to better results with gaining lean muscle mass and potentially bone density. But the reason I think is not that it's directly tied to lean muscle mass as much as it's tied to reducing inflammation, which can prevent the gain of lean muscle mass and/or the results that you see, the visible, tangible results that we all want to see. Omega-3 play a crucial role in cardiovascular health and cognitive function as well. So again, with omega-3s, you know, very similar to what we've just said about creatine, muscle, bone, and brain health benefit from omega-3s. And even with really fairly significantly higher doses than just on the bottle, there are no negative side effects. So I know when I am purposefully inflicting inflammation, when I'm training and doing longer distance, but even if I were going to go say it's overcast here and getting warm, but this means it's Perfect. It's not hot. So my plan is to go for a long hike today and knowing if I do 10 miles, I'm self-inflicting wounds, right? I'm causing inflammation and it's okay to do that once or twice a week, as long as you're ready for it going in and you recover from it afterward. And so knowing that I would probably take higher dose of omega-3 later tonight than I typically do. So just to give you an idea, 1,000 milligrams is the dosage. But what I would do if I were training for an Ironman, for instance, is I've taken 3,000 daily. So, and I take them 3 different times just to allow the absorption to happen and kind of drip it out during the course of a day. Which brings me to my next micronutrient, and this one may surprise you: magnesium. Magnesium is related closely to muscle function, and magnesium is a vital piece of that, and it supports relaxation, reducing muscle cramps, but it also plays a key role in energy production, bone health, and maintaining a healthy nervous system. It does about anywhere between 400 and 600 enzyme actions in the body, and I know that's a wide range, depends on which expert source you consult, but a lot of things, right? Many of them related to metabolism. So if you're struggling and/or you're not sleeping, or you're not regular, or you're getting headaches— those are big ones for women in our community— look to your magnesium. It's fairly difficult to test and get a good and accurate reading. And I have a guest coming up, we're going to do a podcast on this in a month or so. Be ready looking for that because it's very good. She is excellent in really diving into all the nuances of each and some of Debra, maybe this isn't quite so true what you've been hearing. So reasons to question what you've been learning and use— tap into her expertise. But we really talked about some of the things that are— how do you introduce magnesium? How do you know what the level is? Which type should you choose? And for women over 40, magnesium can really help improve sleep quality. It's a common challenge, and you're not going to get get the muscle that you deserve if you're not getting the sleep that you need. Because during deep cycles of sleep, your cortisol gets into balance that it should be, or gets wonky if you don't sleep. Your estrogen— I'm sorry, your testosterone and growth hormone are two keys for lean muscle production. They're released in deep cycles of sleep, and if you're not getting it, you're waking up frequently or not really getting into deep cycle sleep at all, waking up too early, all common problems. Your chance of releasing those things that'll help you seal the deal is minimal. So sleep may be the lowest-hanging fruit for you to work on, fire that away at right after eating more protein, right? Next up is collagen. So this may come as less of a surprise, but I want to be sure that you understand this caveat: collagen alone is not enough protein. The essential amino acid profile of collagen does not rival that of the kind of essential amino acids in a hamburger, ground bison or venison or other red meat. It's not even close. So collagen may come to you and say on the bottle, it has all the essential amino acids. It's true, but not all collagen does, however. And the level of each of those 9 essential amino acids is far below what you would match if you saw it on a bar graph. For instance, say here's meat, here's bison. Here's collagen. Yes, you've got all 9, but not at the same level, and you're going to need that boost. You got to get up over the hill. Muscle protein synthesis, meaning when you actually have enough protein to benefit the muscle, has to have that additional stimulus, and the volume has to be there. So collagen, however, is critical. It's crucial for skin elasticity, for joint health, and so we come back to this and the integrity of your connective tissue. So the joint is the bone, right, where they come together, and the connective tissue is the ligaments, the tendons, surrounding tissues that bring that in together and hold it together. Supplementing with collagen can support skin hydration, reduce the appearance of wrinkles, which can be more pronounced post-menopause, but it also plays a role in bone and muscle health, potentially aiding prevention of age-related muscle loss and bone density reduction. And many women supplementing with collagen report reduced stiffness in joints and increased healing time in the event of injury. And I have a good friend who broke an ankle. It was a fluke. They were out playing football informally in the yard, like a little hole in the yard or a little bump in the yard. I'm sure you understand how easily that could happen. And it broke the ankle, not sprained it, but broke it. And she healed pretty readily. And she said, you know, knock on wood, I'm glad I'd been taking collagen because I'm pretty sure that helped me heal pretty quickly, get back my strength. It's like right now I don't even notice the difference between one and the other. So collagen can be very supportive. And if it helps the integrity of your connective tissue and the joint health, it keeps you active and doing the things you need to do in order to gain the lean muscle. And so we've got to think of it that way as well. And this one may surprise you. This is calcium. And I don't know that I've ever put this in a list of supplements. Now, I will tell you this, I don't use calcium, but I wanted to mention it here. So calcium is essential for bone health. That's the one we relate it to, right? Calcium supports the development and maintenance of strong bones, reduces the risk of osteoporosis. It's also vital though for muscle muscle function, nerve signaling that has to happen, and for your heart health. So for that reason, if you're taking calcium, just— it's good to know I need adequate calcium not just for my bones, but I need it potentially for the function of the muscle to be optimal. I'm going to add this one that's kind of an extra for you, and this really falls outside of this scope. So these are the supplements for lean muscle in menopause and beyond, and indirectly there are others, as this one I'm going to mention to you today. You've heard me speak about C60 or Mitopure, and these are indirectly related to recovery, mitochondrial function, which boosts capacity for exercise, allowing you to do the right exercise to boost mitochondria even more. But other things like matcha, and that's the one I was gonna share with you, even clean coffee, those are in my arsenal too, because having those strategically before Going into a workout helps you burn more fat, has a little ergogenic aid, which both means burn more fat but also gives you this push of, got a little bit more, I can push a little harder. Your energy expenditure will probably be better. You might go faster, lift more, but without it feeling like you're going faster or lifting more. So not necessarily harder, it's just you've got that little extra thing Here's the bad news. If you drink coffee regularly, you're already highly caffeinated. This is not probably something that's helping you because your body is already adapted. And so that's the bad news. Strategically putting it before a workout is probably better than not having it before a workout or having it at a different time of day. But just so you know that the daily habits, you know, that contribute to accelerated fat burning, elevated performance during workouts, that's the matcha and/or coffee depending on how you like your caffeine. And as you weave through all of your habits, knowing sleep and your gut health are crucial to lean muscle and body composition, you might find that betaine HCL or melatonin or 5-HTP is also key for you. And I won't say a lot about those, but if there are questions about the additional, the ancillary supplements that I sometimes I'm happy to do a podcast episode for you on that too. So coming up later this month, I'm going to be talking about pelvic health, how for the longest time pelvic health has been something nobody talked about enough, let alone even people working with women in menopause. So we're going to tackle that one, and you can get everything in the show notes today at flipping50.com/leanmuscles. In menopause.

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