looking for committed fitness people

gntr73
gntr73 Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello . I am 69 in July and been into health and fitness my whole life. However, gained 20 lbs due to Covid and moving etc. I am tracking my food and lifting weights and walking. Dropped 3 lbs first week and working at keeping my muscle mass also. I sure could use some knowledge on this. I also weigh myself on a body composition scale daily that tells 13 areas of body composition. I would like to learn more about macros for my age. Currently weigh 158 and 5'4". Glad to meet you!

Replies

  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,672 Member
    Hi, @gntr73. I now see that you posted a similar question on other threads. I answered on one of them, but I'm thinking this might be a better spot, so I'm repeating the same answer here:

    Overall nutritional needs for people our age (I'm 68, female) aren't significantly different than for other ages.

    What can be different is that we metabolize certain nutrients less efficiently with age than we did when younger. One of those is protein.

    There was an international expert study group that looked at protein needs when aging. (I'll link it below.)

    The gist was that we don't necessarily need more protein than otherwise similar people, but we should make it a point to spread it through the day, across all our meals/snacks, rather than concentrating it all in one meal.

    Here's the link:

    https://www.jamda.com/article/S1525-8610(13)00326-5/fulltext

    The fulltext is available for free. If that link doesn't bring it up automatically, look for the box below "Free Text Links" near the upper right of the Abstract page.

    Beyond that, the USDA has a "calculator" that will suggest somewhat personalized reference values for a range of important nutrients. You can find that here:

    https://www.nal.usda.gov/human-nutrition-and-food-safety/dri-calculator

    IMO, that lowballs protein needs severely, I think basically specifying the minimum to avoid malnutrition, rather than an optimal value for all cases. The study group link above differs. The USDA calculator may lowball some other nutrients, too, but it's one of the more comprehensive sources I've found as a starting point.

    Also, this is an evidence-based personized protein needs calculator and guide, from a site generally regarded as neutral, and that takes recent research into consideration:

    https://examine.com/protein-intake-calculator/
    https://examine.com/guides/protein-intake/

    Note that the guide portion mentions that one can use goal weight in the calculator if currently materially overweight.

    If it matters, I'm not only female and age 68, quite active, but also 5'5" and 132 pounds now (8-ish years past major weight loss).

    I feel some caution about the body composition scales . . . they are doing an indirect estimate using a weak electric current sent through the body, and statistics from research. They can be . . . approximate. I do have one, though not a super-fancy model. IMO, they can be useful to see a trend (as long as one ignores any outlier readings), but I don't trust the absolute values. YMMV.

    Best wishes!

Categories