loss of muscle mass over 40

[Ianc2]

University of Padua warns that just 2 days of inactivity can start muscle loss.

University of Sao Paulo recently reported that healthy adults who cut their daily step count by about75% to 1,500 steps a day lost 4% of muscle mass in 2 weeks.

If you are over 40 this loss will occur quite quickly and your muscle tone will decline. This loss will be cumulative .

University of Liverpool studies show that cardio respiratory fitness plummets amongst those who don't exercise enough for just a couple of weeks.

If you don't exercise enough your body has no option but to turn your food into fat, As a result you get less fit and put weight on. If you eat sugary foods and drink alcohol you will pick up empty calories quite quickly.

Adding just ten minutes of continuous low level exercise like walking has been linked to better health and a longer life, as documented in the British Journal of Sports Medicine (88,140 US adults).

[TheAwfulToad Ambassador]

Yup. I regularly rant on about this one. If you don't have adequate muscle mass, there is no diet in the world that will work miracles. Once you hit 40, it can feel like you're running just to stay in the same place (literally). But the alternative is to slide into decrepitude and illness.

It really irritates me that the British government's obsession with "lockdowns" is having a dampening effect on people's already low activity level - which in turn means that the rate of metabolic syndrome (one of the primary risk factors for CV19 complications) is quietly increasing behind closed doors.

[Hidden in reply to TheAwfulToad]

Have walked more during lockdown than any other time as it’s the only thing permitted!

[S11m]

¿40? That was over 30 years ago!I was fit when I was an endurance athlete - with a fat-free mass of over 90kg.

Bradycardia made me disabled for five years - but I now average over 6km walking a day, and my fat-free mass is down to 75kg, with 16% body-fat.

[Ianc2 in reply to S11m]

Sounds pretty good to me. More power to your elbow.

[Midori]

I have been commenting about this on a few threads lately, when folk stuck in with Covid Shielding are losing muscle strength/taking to their beds, etc.

[Hidden]

Although I've regularly had cause to curse it, I have probably greatly benefitted from never being able to learn to drive owing to a total phobia about it. So, I had to walk to get the bus, etc. Now, I live somewhere where there are no cars or buses, so have to walk or cycle everywhere. Most people I know with cars in the UK walk from their front door to their car and that's kind of it. I realise it's totally impractical not being able to drive for most people, but I do think it's made me far less lazy than I might have been, as someone who struggles with exercise for exercise's sake.

[Midori]

I used to drive, but my sight is failing, so I had to quit.

[Ianc2]

Not good news. Have you been able to change your ways so you can still exercise?

[Midori in reply to Ianc2]

Yep, still walking, although with a rollator.

[Ianc2]

Good to hear. Don't let the gremlins get you.

[Midori in reply to Ianc2]

They'll have to catch me first!