Is you're a woman and losing muscle tone and strength I've got some good news for you. If you've been noticing a decrease in your muscle tone along with an increase in fat gain with age, this isn't inevitable, meaning you CAN do something about it.

Muscle protein synthesis, the repair and growth of muscle which is the opposite of muscle wasting and loss of strength is dependent upon protein.

In order to start building and repairing muscle you need protein, but specifically an essential amino acid, leucine, in the quantity of 2.5 to 3 grams 2x/day. Leucine, an essential amino acid, is the specific one you need to ensure you get enough of. Now, you don't want to take only leucine, but rather ensure the protein you're consuming has a good amount of it along with the other 9 essential amino acids. The 11 non-essential ones can be gotten easily as your body makes them.

As we get older we need more protein but less calories and more intense exercise - resistance training. That's a lot to confront but I'm happy to help you figure it all out. It turns out that we are less efficient at extracting protein from the food we eat as we age. Add that to a slower metabolism and it's critical for long-term health that we understand the nuances of aging and our strength of overall body composition.

So when designing protein intake with a mindset of adequate leucine, high quality protein and moderate to low calories you need to know some specifics.

Let's talk about a few common foods and how much you need to consume of each to get adequate leucine.
Whey protein isolate is number 1 with a single scoop providing great protein and leucine balance with only 100-120 calories.
Lean ground beef comes in second with 1/4 pound providing enough leucine at about 155 calories.
Salmon, about 7 ounces has a calories account of about 300 depending on the type of salmon.
Eggs are next but it takes 5 eggs to get adequate leucine with a calories count of 368.
Soy beans are 4th with less than 1/2 cup getting the leucine in but the calories are now mounting - 443 calories.
Pumpkin seeds require 3/4 of a cup with calories of 446.
Hemp seeds need more than a cup and calories are 573.
Peanuts require over 120 peanuts and 600 calories.

As you can see, while plant protein can still provide the needed leucine and balanced amino acids, we start "paying' for it in calories, so something to consider.

I hope this provided some valuable information for you.
If you need assistance in this area, please call my office at 727-335-0400 for a consultation.