What is sarcopenia?

Nikkiey calls sarcopenia a health science term for something most women feel long before they have a name for it. The surprise is the timing. It doesn't wait for your 60s or 70s. She describes it beginning in your 30s and picking up speed with each decade after that if nothing is done to stop it. That's why she wants you to think of muscle as an organ, just like your heart and lungs. In her words, muscle is the organ of longevity.

She also explains what happens when muscle slowly slips away. Without the right stimulus, the body adapts downward. It loses muscle, your metabolism drops, and your body stores more fat. So if your body feels like it changed overnight at 45, that's real, and it isn't a willpower problem. It's what happens when muscle isn't being actively built or protected.

This is where many women go wrong. The instinct is to eat less and less, living off small yogurts, fruit and salads with chicken. Nikkiey's view is that you don't need to eat less. You need to build more muscle. She likes Pilates, walking and yoga and does them herself, but says they aren't enough to prevent muscle loss on their own. Strength training with dumbbells and barbells is what she calls the ultimate stimulus to build, maintain and protect muscle, and why she believes it's no longer optional after a certain age.

The reframe she offers: stop asking how to weigh less and start asking how to become stronger. As she puts it, the women who age the best are the women who lift weights.