Hi Friend,
8 ounces. It doesn't sound much. Yet behind this almost insignificant number lies a dark and deadly secret.
You see, during the course of one year, an average-sized adult will typically lose this same amount of muscle.
But what makes this number so deadly? Well, it just so happens this half-pound of lost lean tissue holds the secret to gaining body fat.
We have the late Gilbert Forbes, MD, to thank for these frightening figures.
The doctor researched disuse atrophy (when muscles shrink or waste away) in the 1970s, and discovered how average men and women between the ages of 20 and 50 who do not perform consistent heavy exercise (like weight training) lose half a pound of muscle per year.
These startling numbers were later backed up by scientists at the Nutrition, Exercise Physiology, and Sarcopenia Laboratory at Tufts University. Using the latest whizz-bang body-composition technology, they revealed Dr. Forbes was right: the average adult can expect to lose half a pound of muscle per year of their life.
If half-a-pound doesn't sound much, you would be correct. And these 8 ounces sound even less when you spread them out over 365 days. (In twelve months, you are left with two hundredths of an ounce per day - a truly insignificant amount.)
To help you picture what this miniscule figure looks like, imagine standing fully-clothed on your bathroom scales. In your trousers is a paperclip and you take it from your pocket and flick the clip away from you.
What do you think will happen to your bathroom scales now? Will the figure on the dial change? Of course not. Why?
Such an insignificant weight loss simply won't register...
...and yet, the amount of muscle you lose every day weighs LESS than a humble paper clip.
But that's so tiny! Right?
Yes, it is.
Yet after 10 years, those paperclips weigh 5 pounds. Now fast forward 20 years, and suddenly those paperclips weigh 10 pounds.
And here is where things get alarming:
• Lose just one pound of muscle through disuse and your ability to burn calories is lowered by 37 calories per day.
• Lose 5 pounds of muscle and your calorie burning is reduced by 185 calories per day.
• Lose 10 pounds of muscle and your calorie burning tumbles by 370 calories per day.
By traveling into the future, we see those lost 10 pounds of muscle now equal 2590 calories per week - or approximately, a full day's food for an average-sized male.
Now do you understand how such a small number can be so deadly?
When you fail to preserve your muscle mass, you run the risk of becoming a victim to creeping obesity and the perils of skinny fat. And the really frightening part? This muscle loss happens so slowly that no one seems to notice until it is too late.
So what can you do about it?
The solution is super-simple and I will share it with you next time.
Until then,
Squat for glory!
Lee
P.S. Friend, many of our readers come as referrals from other readers and we appreciate that and try to encourage it.
If you have any friends, family or co-workers who could benefit from reading this newsletter, then please introduce them to us and we'll send them a welcome pack including our 6 Seconds to Strength Formula.
Thank you so much!
You are subscribed to Ordinary Joe Muscle Building
|
