Muscle loss can be caused by a number of factors. Some people may lose muscle due to aging, while others may lose it due to injury, disease or malnutrition. Regardless of the cause, when muscle atrophy becomes significant it can impact one’s day-to-day life and quality of life. This is why it is important to know how to prevent muscle loss and how to reverse it when it occurs.
Eat To Maintain Muscle Mass
When nutritionists say to maintain muscle mass, they mean that you should eat the right foods in the right amounts to ensure that your body keeps the equipment it needs to function properly. In other words, you should aim to eat in a way that prevents your health from deteriorating and boosts your overall well-being. Maintaining a healthy weight is a good start. However, it is more than that; it is about maintaining the right muscle mass that can help you perform at your best and feel happier and healthier. So, what type of food should you be eating to maintain muscle mass?
The answer is both simple and complex. First, make sure that you are getting all the nutrients your body needs. You can start by eating plenty of vegetables and fruits. These foods are essential as they provide your body with essential nutrients which it cannot make . Second, make sure that you are consuming sufficient amounts of protein. Your body needs protein to function properly and to build and maintain muscle. Therefore, if you are not consuming enough protein, you are likely to start losing muscle mass which can have a severe impact on your day-to-day life. Third, you should be avoiding foods with added sugars and artificial sweeteners. These are both simple carbs that your body turns into sugar which causes weight gain. Additionally, excess sugar causes inflammatory responses which may lead to muscle loss as well. Fourth, you should be watching your portion size. When you eat a healthy diet, you will gradually reduce your portion size which will help you maintain the right muscle mass. This, in turn, will reduce your desire to eat foods with lots of carbs and fats which, again, will help you maintain your muscle mass.
Reduce Stress
A major factor that contributes to muscle loss is stress. That is why it is important to reduce stress in your life. Few things are more detrimental to your health and well-being than stress and anxiety. When you are under a lot of stress and anxiety, your cortisol levels rise which has a harmful impact on your muscle mass. Cortisol raises lipid storage which, again, is bad for your health and leads to weight gain. This is why it is important to relax and take a break sometimes.
Consume More Water
Another important factor that can help you maintain a good body weight and prevent muscle loss is water consumption. As humans, we need plenty of water to stay hydrated and avoid dehydration. When you are dehydrated, your body’s levels of testosterone decline which, in turn, causes your muscle mass to shrink.
To maintain healthy levels of testosterone, you need to drink at least eight glasses of water each day. If you get thirsty, you might be dehydrated and thus causing your muscle mass to decline. If this happens frequently, you may want to consider drinking more water or look for dehydration signs which include dark urine and a dull complexion. These may indicate that you are not drinking enough water or are dehydrated which could potentially cause muscle loss.
Eat More Protein
When you start losing a lot of weight, you may experience muscle loss and feel weak and shaky. To maintain strength, you need to consume more protein. That is because protein is one of the building blocks of muscle mass. When the body starts losing muscle mass, it has to decrease its protein consumption to compensate. However, if you do not replace the protein loss, you will end up with weaker muscles and may end up in serious trouble. That is why it is essential to eat more protein when you start losing weight.
The best way to increase your protein intake is to eat more vegetables. These foods are good for your health because they contain nutrients which the body needs to function properly. Eating more protein and vegetables will help you feel full and thus reduce your desire to eat foods with lots of carbs and fats which cause you to gain weight. Moreover, protein and vegetables contain fiber which helps move food through your digestive system and prevents constipation.
Do Not Skip Meals
It is common for people who have lost a lot of weight to gradually start feeling hungry all the time. This is despite the fact that they may have eaten less than usual prior to weight loss. When this happens, it usually indicates that the body’s natural hormone levels have been altered and it is no longer regulating food intake properly. To make matters worse, when this happens, you may experience an extreme increase in appetite which can lead you to consume much more than usual. This, in turn, can cause you to put on more weight than you lose which defeats the purpose of weight loss in the first place!
To stop this vicious cycle from occurring, make sure that you never, ever skip meals. Snacking is essential for maintaining a healthy body weight and preventing muscle loss. This is because constant snacking raises your metabolism which makes it easier to burn calories even when you are at rest. So, if you are starving yourself or skipping meals in an attempt to lose weight, you are doing more harm than good! Besides, when you eat regularly, you will experience a reduction in your appetite which will make it easier for you to stay within your healthy weight range.
These are simple tips on how to maintain a healthy weight and how to prevent muscle loss. Naturally, this does not mean that all will be easy. Life often brings challenges which require you to deal with stress, anxiety, and other mental and emotional issues. However, with a little effort, you can prevent many unpleasant situations related to weight loss and ensure that your body functions at its best.