For post menopausal women, shedding pounds is often a bad deal. That’s because, as researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have learned, weight-losing women of a certain age often lose pounds in muscle and regain them in fat. A Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center news release reports that when researchers studied the muscle to fat ratios of 78 postmenopausal women (average age 58) who lost an average of 12 percent of their body weight by dieting, they found that 67 percent of the weight lost was fat and 33 percent was muscle. So far so good. But 12 months later, when the researchers looked at the weight regained, they found that 81 percent was fat and 19 percent was muscle. On average, by 12 months after the drop in weight, 26 percent of fat lost was regained, whereas only six percent of muscle lost was regained. The researchers point out that the study subjects were sedentary and abdominally obese, and the results of the research may not apply to more active people or to men. Read more from the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
This is why the constant emphasis on weight and BMI is wrong, wrong, wrong. The emphasis should be on conditioning and consistant exercise. Weight is relative to body shape and the muscle needed to accomplish your task for the day. A computer operator, while thin, may be in much worse condition than the carpenter who carries much more weight. the carpenter needs muscle, which is heavier than fat. He, in fact, risks injury if weight loss is too great. Muscle supports knees, ankles and shoulder joints necessary for every day work. JUST Exercise PEOPLE!
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