Eating more protein seems to be a hot topic these days, more specifically animal protein. On social media you can see many once vegan influencers now introducing fish, eggs and beef into their diet. Hey, whatever makes you feel your best.
The topic on getting enough protein has been especially directed toward women who commonly don’t eat enough of it for fear of bulking up. Same goes for weight lifting. More and more research is coming out, and experts are finally being heard when they say that, women should be weight lifting and making sure they eat mostly protein at every meal. This is for your glucose levels, bone density and mobility as you get older.
Anyway, today we have a very exciting guest: Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. In this post she is going to give you her best tips on how to start strength training no matter what your fitness level, how many grams of protein to aim for and why, AND why your attitude and minset plays a huge role.
Without further ado, let’s welcome Dr. Lyon to the blog.
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My name is Dr. Gabrielle Lyon. I am a New York Times Best-Selling Author and physician on a mission to revolutionize conventional wisdom about health through Muscle-Centric Medicine®.
Throughout my medical career, I have encountered countless patients grappling with preventable diseases like type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and obesity. During my residency, I had the opportunity to provide nutritional counseling, which shed light on how simple improvements to unhealthy lifestyle patterns can change the trajectory of health. This experience prompted me to pursue further research and a fellowship in geriatrics and nutritional sciences at Washington University. Through my research and clinical work, I made a profound discovery: the common denominator among many health issues wasn’t excess fat but insufficient muscle mass. This realization challenged the prevailing narrative on weight loss and health that me and thousands of other physicians had been taught in medical school.
My own struggles with food and body weight in the past fueled my passion for understanding nutrition and its impact on overall well-being. Although I prioritized whole foods, I had completely missed the mark on protein—just like so many other people I’ve encountered over the years. I kept an intense exercise regimen of one hour of cardio and weight training daily. Undereating protein left my body starved for extra fuel. All the carbs I ate then kept me hungry and at the mercy of constant blood sugar peaks and crashes. When you get your macronutrients correct, you impact blood sugar, hunger, mood, and life. Instead of subtracting foods and activities from my life, I started adding.
Today, I am an advocate for informed nutrition and lifestyle practices grounded in the pursuit of healthy skeletal muscle. My goal is to empower individuals like you to unlock your full potential and live healthier, more fulfilling lives.
Tips on Protein Intake and Lifting Weights
Muscle is not just about looking good – it is crucial for our overall health and longevity. By focusing on building and maintaining healthy muscle tissue, we’re essentially investing in our future well-being. By combining optimal dietary protein with regular resistance training, we not only enhance our physical strength but also improve our body’s ability to use nutrients efficiently and boost our immune function.
However, neglecting muscle health can have serious consequences. Poor dietary choices and a sedentary lifestyle can lead to metabolic dysfunction and increase the risk of various health issues. So, it’s essential to treat muscle health as a priority and make informed decisions about nutrition and exercise.
DIETARY PROTEIN
Now, let’s delve into protein intake. Protein is not just about building muscles; it’s about supporting overall health throughout our lives. As we age, our protein needs change, and it’s crucial to adjust our intake accordingly.
Many people, especially older adults, don’t consume enough protein to meet their body’s needs. Leucine, a key amino acid, plays a vital role in promoting muscle health and should be a focus in our diet as we age. Therefore, it’s essential to aim for adequate protein intake at each meal, ideally between 30 to 50 grams of high-quality protein. This ensures that we provide our bodies with the necessary building blocks for optimal health and longevity.
TIP # 1: My prescription, simply put, is that every adult should consume at least 1 gram per pound of their ideal body weight each day.
TIP # 2: Your first and last meals of the day should each contain a minimum of 30 grams of high-quality protein.
It is important to remember that not all protein sources are created equal. Animal proteins generally contain higher quantities of essential amino acids, making them ideal for sustaining muscle health. However, it’s still possible to meet protein needs on a plant-based diet with careful planning and supplementation if necessary.
Prioritizing muscle health and ensuring adequate protein intake are essential for optimizing our overall health and longevity. By incorporating these principles into our lifestyle, we can empower ourselves to live a long, strong, and healthy life.
TIP #3: If you don’t know how your current intake aligns with the above goals, track your food in a food tracker for a couple weeks to truly understand your nutritional reality.
RESISTANCE TRAINING
Exercise, particularly resistance training, plays a significant role in improving insulin sensitivity and glucose regulation. It’s like priming your body to efficiently manage energy levels and maintain optimal health.
Cardiovascular exercise is essential for good health, but the benefits expand exponentially once you add in resistance training. Not only will strength training create more muscle tissue to act as your metabolic sink (the ability to take up nutrients such as glucose and fatty acids), but combining cardio with resistance training on the regular will also keep you from gaining back any fat you’ve lost, eliminating the yo-yo effect of dieting.
Increasing strength-training output remains one of the most effective tools to move the body-composition needle—especially if you’ve been feeling stuck. Due to the rapid turnover of muscle tissue, consistent training is vital to your health. Simply put, resistance training breaks down muscles, and then protein yields repair. Protein builds muscle through muscle-protein synthesis, the process by which you grow stronger and gain muscle definition. As you know by now, developing healthy muscle tissue can determine your body composition for a lifetime.
The first adjustment I usually make to a patient’s plan is upping their resistance training. Next, I often add HIIT, which involves intense bouts of exercise—pushing to at least 80 percent of maximal heart rate—interspersed with recovery periods of lower-intensity exercise or rest.
TIP #4: Include regular resistance training in your workout routine
This should be in addition to about 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic training per week.
To guide you as you build your own plan, here are the benchmarks I recommend for those at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels:
If you are a beginner:
+ Resistance training of moderate or greater intensity that involves all major muscle groups at least two days a week OR full-body resistance two days a week.
If you are an intermediate:
+ Resistance training of moderate or greater intensity that involves all major muscle groups three to four times a week, using eight to twelve reps per exercise.
If you are advanced:
+ Resistance training of high intensity that involves all major muscle groups four to six times per week, adapted to your specific goals.
TIP #5 – Include ‘progressive overload’. You should be gradually increasing the difficulty of your workout as your body adapts to the current demand/stress of the exercises. If you have been lifting the same 5lb dumbbell for years, you are missing the mark!
TIP #6 – Put your mind on your muscles and enjoy the struggle without distractions. Before you begin your workout, silence your phone and get your mind in the zone. Ignoring the ping of texts and alerts will help you focus on the muscle you’re targeting in each exercise. Over the long term, this approach can improve your training, both mentally and physically.
MINDSET
What is the biggest factor driving the success of any health-related behavior change? Your ability to stick to the plan. Establishing mindset guidelines for execution and consistency is a crucial component that many people do not face head-on.
Step one is to deconstruct your thinking around health and wellness. Is your mental framework fixed or growth-oriented? Pairing a growth mindset with internal discipline is crucial. I call this integrating a growth-focused mental framework. This approach will help you look forward to learning health improvement skills and enjoy the process—not because it is easy but precisely because it is not. Through challenge comes mental and physical refinement, and that leads to a meaningful life. It’s time to recognize that having an “easy” life is a delusion laced with unmet dreams and complacency. If you choose the “easy” path, life will end up being hard; if you choose the hard path, life will wind up easy. I’m here to show you how.
TIP #7 – Adopt a growth mindset around your health and wellness.
I don’t talk much about setting “goals” for wellness. To me, that framework offers too much room for failure—keeping too many people in cycles of sickness when they deserve the freedom of optimal health. Instead of goals, let’s focus on setting the standards necessary for you to reach your future self who embodies strength, inside and out. Raising yourself up to high standards takes hard work and planning. Keep reminding yourself of the costs of continuing your negative habits while cultivating the positivity that will propel you to execute. Our ultimate goal is for the health-promoting action to become so well practiced and ingrained that it becomes your default response—creating a life that supports your own vision for yourself.
TIP # 7 – Set standards to achieve the health you deserve.
You can find me through my website at drgabriellelyon.com
If you are interested in becoming a patient with my practice, you can book a discovery call to meet with one of our representatives, where we’ll discuss our practice, package options, and more details about you. We’ll assess what you need and how we can assist moving forward. As a patient, you would have access to a team that supports your transformation with clear and present communication, a tailored evolving personalized care plan based on your labs, your habits, your exposures, and your experiences. We use a combination of prescription and natural treatment modalities to help you regain and sustain your optimal health.
If you like what you’ve read here and want to go deeper, my most recent book FOREVER STRONG: A New, Science-Based Strategy for Aging Well is available wherever books are sold. In it, you will find an easy-to-follow food, fitness, and self-care program anchored in evidence and pioneering research that teaches you how to optimize muscle—no matter your age or health background.
I produce a weekly podcast called the Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show where I talk about all things ‘strong medicine’. My guests and I delve into the science behind attaining lasting quality of life, exploring the ways in which we can rise above the physical and mental barriers that get in our way.
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Hope you loved this post. Do you lift? What are some benefits you’ve seen since getting started? Let us know below.
Be sure to follow Dr. Gabrielle Lyon on IG and if you’re interested in health, wellness and science that goes along with it, listen to The Dr. Gabrielle Lyon Show.
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