Muscle and Protein: Investing in Your Future Health

Some say wait till you are over thirty-five to start thinking about your muscles.  But really the earlier you start the better.  What ever muscle you have developed by that point is your starting point for life.  After around that age, we start to lose muscle unless we actively work to retain it.  Up to 8% a decade. 

This is not about looking better on the beach. Not because I think everyone should join a gym. And certainly not because I think we should all become bodybuilders.

I want you to think about muscle because it is an important part of staying healthy and eventually, about staying independent.

And the encouraging thing is that doing something about it doesn't have to be complicated.

Muscle is about much more than strength

We tend to think of muscle as something that helps us lift things. Of course it does.

But muscle is also metabolically active tissue. It helps us handle glucose, supports metabolic health, protects our bones and joints, and helps with balance and physical function.

Ultimately, it helps determine whether, as we get older, we can get out of a chair easily, climb stairs, carry our shopping, get our suitcase into the overhead locker and continue doing the things we enjoy.

That is why maintaining muscle is part of preventive medicine.

The problem is that we gradually lose it

That doesn't mean that everyone suddenly starts wasting away at 35. Far from it. But if we do nothing to challenge our muscles, the direction of travel is generally downwards.

Long hours sitting at a desk do not help. Neither does a generally sedentary lifestyle. Periods of illness and inactivity can accelerate the process, and losing weight can mean losing some muscle as well as fat.

By the time we are older, the difference between someone who has maintained their strength and someone who hasn't can become very significant.

But this is where I want to depart from some of the health advice you may read.

There is no need to panic, and nothing here is non-negotiable.

You simply need to start somewhere.

Walking is brilliant — but add something else

I love walking.

It gets us outside, raises our heart rate, improves cardiovascular fitness and mental health, and is one of the easiest forms of exercise to incorporate into everyday life.

Keep walking.

But walking doesn't provide much resistance for many of our major muscle groups.

The updated UK physical activity guidance reinforces the importance of activities that maintain strength. For adults, muscle-strengthening activity involving the major muscle groups should ideally be incorporated on at least two days each week.

When people hear "strength training", they often picture a gym full of weights.

It doesn't have to look like that.

Standing up repeatedly from a chair is resistance exercise.

Squats are resistance exercise.

Press-ups against a kitchen worktop are resistance exercise.

Carrying things, climbing stairs and using your own body weight all make muscles work.

If you enjoy the gym, fantastic. Weights and resistance machines are excellent ways of doing it.

But the important thing is not where you exercise.

It is giving your muscles a reason to remain strong.

What about protein?

Protein matters because our bodies need it to maintain and repair muscle.

As we get older — and particularly if we are exercising regularly — getting enough becomes increasingly important.

There are various recommendations about precisely how many grams of protein we should eat. For many healthy older adults, around 1–1.2 g per kilogram of body weight per day is a reasonable ballpark, sometimes more for people who are exercising regularly.

But I don't want you to finish this article believing that you now need to weigh chicken breasts and calculate grams of protein.

Start more simply.

Look at your meals.

Is there a decent source of protein in each one?

Eggs or Greek yoghurt at breakfast. Fish, chicken, lentils or beans at lunch. Meat, fish, tofu, beans or dairy with dinner.

An 80 kg man — about 12½ stone — should think in terms of roughly 100 g of protein a day. Chicken and fish are about 25% protein, so 100 g of protein is roughly equivalent to 400 g of those foods spread across the day. Of course, you’ll also be getting some protein from eggs, dairy, beans, and nuts too.

Real food first.

If breakfast currently consists of toast and coffee, perhaps adding some yoghurt or an egg is your first change.

That's enough for now.

One step at a time

This is where I think lifestyle medicine can sometimes go wrong.

We give people a list.

Exercise 150 minutes a week. Strength train twice. Eat more protein. Lose weight. Sleep eight hours. Stop drinking. Don't smoke. Eat five portions of vegetables. Meditate.

All individually sensible.

Collectively, for somebody with a job, children, elderly parents and a life to lead, it can sound exhausting.

I would rather you did one thing.

If you currently do no strength exercise, choose something you could realistically do twice a week.

Perhaps ten sit-to-stands from a chair while the kettle boils.

Perhaps five minutes of simple exercises after your morning shower.

Perhaps book a session with somebody who can show you how to use weights safely.

Once that becomes normal, add something else.  Gradually build up.  Being aware is a lot of the battle.  You will get there.

Start before you need to

We often become interested in muscle only when we notice we're losing strength.

That's certainly what happened to me.

I started doing weights when my wine deliveries became less of a joy and more of a chore — carrying the box from the doorstep into the house was getting noticeably harder.

Hardly an elite athlete's origin story. But it made me realise that strength is one of those things we tend to take for granted until everyday life quietly tells us we're losing it.

I would much rather we thought about it earlier.

You don't have to be perfect. You don't need the ideal programme, the perfect diet, and certainly not a cupboard full of protein supplements.

You just need to start asking your muscles to do a little more than they did yesterday and giving them the protein they need to be maintained and grow.

Your long, good health

And if you're ready to start thinking more seriously about your long-term health — or you've already made changes and would simply like to fine-tune what you're doing — sometimes it's worth establishing where you're starting from.  You can discuss this with your own GP or in more detail with a lifestyle medicine specialist.

For some people that's reassurance. For others it's guidance, a plan and some ongoing support.

It isn't about changing everything on Monday morning.

It's about understanding where you are now, deciding where you'd like to be, and taking the next sensible step.

Muscle isn't vanity. It's an investment in your future health.

And investing a little time in understanding your health now may be one of the better investments you make.

Dr Mick Watts MBBS MRCGP is a GP at Windsor Wellness Clinic with a particular interest in men's health, healthy ageing and lifestyle medicine.

As always, this is general health information rather than individual medical advice. If you have an existing medical condition, have been unwell, or haven't exercised for some time, what is sensible for you may be different. If you're unsure, talk it through with your doctor or an appropriately qualified exercise professional before making significant changes.