Build Muscles to Loose Weight

My friend joins Weight Watchers and starts running every spring in order to lose 10 lbs that she gained over the winter.  She is an active women who is very diligent with her weight loss program but she still struggles to lose weight.

I suspect that my friend's metabolism is decreasing which is why it is hard for her to lose weight.  

Metabolism is the complex biological process our bodies perform to turn the calories we eat and drink into energy.  

Even when we are just sitting around doing nothing, our bodies need energy for basic things like breathing.  The amount of calories we burn at rest is called basal metabolic rate (BMR).  While the calories you burn each day can vary drastically depending on how active you are, your BMR stays pretty consistent.  It is regulated by hormones.  

However, as we age there are hormonal changes that take place in our body that impacts the way we store and lose fat.  Our metabolic rate actually decreases because of these differences in hormones.  

We also lose muscle mass as we age, which alters how much energy our bodies burn.  

There is an interesting Calorie Chart, page 76 that gives calorie requirements for a moderately active 21 year old to a 76 year old.  A 21 yr old male requires 2800 calories per day but a 76 male only needs 2200 calorie per day.  A female requires 2200 calories per day at 21 years but only 1800 calories per day at 76 years old.  

This is a big difference!  Calories needed in our bodies decrease as we age due to our metabolism.  

Further details indicate that:

• An active 20 year old women who weighs 130 lbs needs 2400 calories per day.  As a point of reference a five mile run burns 492 calories.

• An active 40 year old woman who weighs 145 lbs needs 2200 calories per day.  That is 200 calories less than a younger women which is equivalent to adding two miles to her running program or eating 200 calories per day less.  

A good way to counteract slowing metabolism is to increase lean muscle mass.  This can be done by a weight lifting program.

I found further confirmation of this in the May 2018 Health Magazine.  There was an article that stated "In general, the more lean muscle mass you carry, the faster your resting metabolism is - and you don't build muscle by only focusing on cardio" (Michelle Lovitt, page 56.)

My friend should try a weight lifting program a couple days a week to increase lean muscle mass in an effort to increase her metabolism.  An increased metabolism will allow her body to burn more calories which in turn would result in increased weight loss (assuming diet and other activities do not change).

References:
 https://www.self.com/story/how-metabolism-changes-as-you-age

https://www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/2315/is-it-true-that-metabolism-decreases-with-age