C-O, It is typical to lose muscle mass as we age. But we can build more muscle, even in OLD age with strength-building [vs endurance exercise. Which one would ballet be — endurance?] exercise and attention to protein in the diet. On Fast Days, we eat eggs for breakfasts and lean protein for dinner, aiming at 15%+ protein for breakfast and 20-30% protein at dinner. On Slow days, I work on meal planning that increases protein choices: roast on Sunday, leftover roast on Tuesday, Fish on Friday.

Some people will try to push the protein to huge amounts, but that works only for young body-builders. Don’t go there. Specific exercises for triceps + biceps + pectorals + upper back would be good to add to your routine, as ballet and walking don’t address those.

I’m 69 yrs old and have been Fasting and paying attention to my health for 5 years. Fat = 15%
Good luck.

Hi Curious,

Welcome to the forum!

I’ll try to be brief, and another ballet for exercise fan here, also walking flat our an hour every morning, but, 20yrs of chronic debilitating illness put paid to that. So now, I fall into the sedentary category. I’m female, late 60’s, been on 5:2 for almost 4yrs, lost 21kgs ( 46lbs) on 5:2 – weight I put on from being ill. 169cm(5’6”) and middle if BMI healthy weight range. I have not had a Dexa scan yet, but it’s on my list.

When a young adult I did 10hrs/week of ballet, and I would say it is both muscle buildingie resistence, in the legs, quads, and endurance to some extent, but a class is start-stop-start-stop etc not a continuous consistent heart rate in a cardiac training range. So, I have some suggestions.

1. Plies and jumps would be a form of resistance, and any centre exercise that use a plie to launch from, or uses ballon, will give give resistence training to your legs, and quads(buttocks).

2. At your age, in my opinion, you need graded resistence exercise for your arms, at least.
Resistence exercise is needed, particularly in women, over 45ish to help keep calcium in the bones. Calcium is in a daily state of flux. It goes in and out of calcium storage, bones, throughout the day as your body needs it. So, as well as keeping some calcium in your diet, regular resistance training helps, and helps keep osteoporosis at bay – especially needed by older women.

2. Endurance training is needed regularly, – at least 3 x /week as well. 30mins of continuous walking 3x/week will do that.

3. I suggest you see an Exercise Physiologist – (this isn’t a Physiotherapist), they are exercise scientists. Although I can’t do a lot, mine is crucial in keeping my body functioning well. They will answer some of the questions you have and will help you work out what is exactly right for you. As you hit 60 you will need to add in some balance and neurological exercises. If you continue ballet that will do well for balance, but the neurological bit is a little different. My exercise physiologist suggests having a little carbohydrate/even containing a small amount of sugar, at the end of a session to put some glycogen quickly back into the bloodstream so , as the session depletes readily available glycogen.

4. High Cholesterol: the absolute best way to get bad LDL and VLDL’s out of your bloodstream is having plenty of fibre in your diet – the most effective for this purpose is oat bran. Forget the foods ads say x food reduces your cholesterol – it’s a fraction of what somefibre/oat bran will do. Will help protect against bowel cancer as well.

Unfortunately, many people dieting give up grains, which have fibre, and don’t replace the now missing portion of fibre. Also, that means less B Vitamins, essential for health. So if you’ve reduced grains right down – add back the bran and BVitamins.

Along with high LDs and VLDLs the other nasty for atherosclerosis is high Triglycerides. If you have this you need to look at your fruit/wine intake, fruit juice, other added sugar.

5. As you age, the body gets less efficient at using protein, so you need to up your protein component a bit. Too much protein, however , is just as bad as not enough protein. 100-125gms should be enough. If that’s animal protein – that’s the anount that covers the palm of your hand, not including fingers. Too little in the diet and the body will take it from muscle.

6. You’ve been used to dieting, or at least keeping calories low on a daily basis. If you go to the Tracker, and explore that you’ll find a measure called TDEE. Total Daily Energy Expenditure. You’ll also find instructions to work that out. That is the amount of calories you will need on your nonFast Days. On Fast Days(FDs) you have 1/4 that or 500calories.

It is the rhythm of FDs and normal days that does the trick, gets your weight to normal and keeps it there. You only have a couple of kgs to lose, so when that’s done add a little mire to you nonFDs to keep your weight balanced, or shift to 6:1 to maintain.

I suggest you shift your eating window to 11hrs as this apparently is the healthiest, though I have not read the research myself yet.

Above all, stay on the forum and good luck!
Merry
PS. Even though I can only do a very small light amount of resistence training my blood calcium levels are excellent.

3. I don’t agree women put on weight with age. I think it’s women do less activity as they age but keep eating the same amount, the same composition, or more than they ate. Some older women also tend to drink a bit more wine which also has lots of calories. Chocolate o’clock in the afternoon energy lull or in the evenings doesn’t help either.

Whole-Grain Cereal and Skim Milk. “Milk has whey protein, which is full of an amino acid called leucine that helps build muscle and burn fat,” Ansel says. “The whole grains are a good source of complex carbs.”