If you don’t use it, you will lose it! The most important type of exercise as you age is resistance training. However, you don’t need to spend hours per day lifting weights or even step foot in a gym. You can do resistance training easily at home or outdoors using your own body weight. Just 20 minutes 2 or 3 times per week can prevent muscle loss. There are many apps and free whole body resistance workouts using body weight alone.

The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for protein intake is 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. What you aren’t told is that the RDA is the minimum amount of protein required to avoid protein deficiency. You need much more protein to gain muscle and/or to prevent age related muscle loss. You need more in the range of 1.5-2.0 grams per kilogram. Furthermore, you need to eat at least 25 to 30 grams of protein in a meal to turn on your body’s signal to build muscle. If you eat less than that, your body will use protein to create energy rather than to build muscle.