Muscle Matters: Why Having Strong Muscles Might Just Save Your Life

Body Shop Guy: "This is your car?"
Me: "Well, it... was."
Body Shop Guy: "And you were driving it?"
Me: "I was."
Body Shop Guy: "You're one lucky girl.  I wouldn't have expected you to be walking around like you are.  That was a bad accident.  But you look like you're o.k...?"

I was getting my things out of my car two days after the accident-- suspecting, accurately as it turns out, that my car would be totaled. I'd been T-boned on the driver's side of the car and spun out across a busy road.  My back tire was caved in about 20 degrees, the airbags had deployed, and the frame of the car had shifted enough that 2 doors were not able to function properly. As far as wrecks go, it wasn't that bad comparatively.  But it wasn't a fender bender either.

The body shop guy's comment creeped me out more than a little, especially since that was the first time I'd really looked at the interior of the car.  It was littered with bajillions of unidentifiable metal pieces, the leather had numerous rips, and my plastic tupperware boxes in the trunk were destroyed.

I, however, am fine.  I had some seatbelt burn, and a sore shoulder from the impact of the airbag.  Nothing some ice and advil couldn't help.

Trust me, there have been more than a few prayers of gratitude that have gone up.   I do feel lucky, and the thought of how much worse it could have been still makes me a little queasy. I'm glad I was in a car that was well designed for side impact.  Silly though it sounds, I'm also grateful to my body.

I frequently tell people that being strong matters.  Which is usually when women put up their hands and say "I don't want to be one of those body builder women." I resist the urge to roll my eyes and give my schpiel about women not having enough testosterone to do that...nevermind that I was talking about strength not muscle size.  I guess I'm really talking about functional strength, which is being strong enough to do what you need to do.  It's being able to carry a heavy purse without your shoulder coming out of socket.  It's being able to hold a cast iron skillet, or to get the thing off the shelf without having to call your husband.

It's also being strong enough to withstand an impact if you ever need to.

A big part of a  muscle's job is to keep a joint in place. My trainer uses the analogy of a corn dog.  (But he calls it a "Corny" dog.  I've tried to explain to him that he sounds silly.  He says that's what people say in Texas.) Imagine that the corn meal covering represents your skin, the hot dog itself represents your muscles, and the stick represents your joints. Now imagine that you could somehow take bits out of the hotdog, leaving the covering and the stick.  Of course, that'd be a mess--and the stick would be anything but stable.

If you don't take care of your muscles, they won't be prepared to do what you ask of them.   It means feeding them properly, with enough protein and variety of amino acids so that the body can do it's work of repairing wear and tear on body parts.  (If you aren't getting enough, your body will actually eat it's own muscle to get the amino acids it needs.  No joke.  More on that later!)  Taking care of your muscles also means using them.  "Use it or lose it" is about the truest statement there is when it comes to muscles.  Sitting around on an ever expanding butt is not only causing weight gain and a host of other problems, it's destroying the quality of your muscles.

I'm not exaggerating when I say having strong muscles can save your life.  (Literally, man!) My trainer tells a story of being young and dumb, and being thrown from a motorcycle into a tree at 40 mph.  The doctor looked at him and said "The ONLY reason you are alive is because you have so much muscle."  But I saw it happen with my parents too, when they rolled their car three times across a busy interestate. Dad got an earful of dirt because the caved in sunroof acted like a shovel.  Mom had a cut on her toe that required seven stitches.  And that was it.  Were all these people lucky? Absolutely.  (And divinely protected?  Oh yeah.) But it was also that their muscles were ready to do their job.

Think it doesn't matter?  Go watch the "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up" commercial.   That doesn't just happen to octogenarians.  It happens to people who don't take care of their bodies.

A Calorie is a calorie?

Every person who has wanted to lose a few pounds has probably heard this advice from well meaning friends: "Calories in, calories out. It's that simple."  As if to say the only thing that ulimately matters is that you burn more calories than you eat.  And we've taken that advice to heart.  To that end, we've tried everything: Weight Watchers and Atkins and South Beach and maybe even things like the "Grapefruit Diet" or the "Eat only cabbage for a week diet." Maybe we've had success with some, dismal failures with others.  But still the question remains:  How much does the food I eat really matter as long as I watch my calories?  Hey, sign me up for the Oreo Diet!

But let's think about this for a second.  As good adults, we know about budgets. We know that we have a certain amount of money to last a certain period of time.  We could spend it all on clothes or entertainment or whatever, but then what happens when the mortage is due and the kids are sick and why did the washing maching decide to give out now, for crying out loud? We have to make decisions that help us live the life we want.  Most of us opt for making sure the family is fed and keeping a roof over our heads, even if it means we can't indulge every desire we have.

I think the same is true for our bodies.  We know that we can't eat more calories than we need, or we keep fighting the Battle of the Bulge.  But what we don't see as clearly is that like our budgets, our bodies have certain requirements. We might know that we need protein to build muscles, and carbohydrates to give us the energy to live our lives. But beyond that, we're not really sure what matters. We hear "experts" talk to us about watching our sodium or cholesterol.  We're vaguely aware that we should have some calcium, and vitamins sound important, and "antioxidant" seems to be slapped on every label.

So how do we make decisions about what we should be eating? I have had to learn to ask myself a question as I make food choices: what gives me the most bang for my caloric buck?  Right now, I eat 1600 calories a day.  I could theoretically eat 1200 calories worth of oreos and 400 calories worth of milk.  But what does that get me?  A whole lot of carbs, a load of not so healthy fat, a little bit of protein, and some calcium and maybe some vitamin D.  (And probably a tummy ache!)  But if I did that, I would be missing out on a whole host of vitamins and minerals and things like amino acids (which are the building blocks of muscle as we learned in biology class.) But what if I took those same 1600 calories and spent them on lean proteins and healthy fats and a variety of fruits and vegetables? I would come a whole lot closer to giving my body the tools to do the work it is supposed to do.  When we choose foods that are basically "empty calories", we're doing the equivalent of spending a whole paycheck on a wardrobe.  Try that for a month and see how excited you are about those purchases at the end of the month when you can't afford to pay your mortgage.  That's how it works in the body too.  When we spend our calories on foods that don't have any nutritional value, we come up short. We ask our bodies to do the hard work of losing fat and building muscle and keeping us going throughout the day, but we don't give it the tools it needs to do that work.  And then we wonder why nothing seems to work for us!

Bottom Line:  Calories in, calories out matters... a lot.  But it isn't the whole story.  Spend your calories wisely by choosing mostly nutrient dense foods.

10 cans of fat free whipped cream will totally give you what you need to function.  Or not... 

Measuring Up

When I started working with a trainer a few years ago, he made the bold statement that I probably didn't know what I was actually eating.  I quickly informed him that he was wrong.

He said, "Do you measure it out? Everything that goes in your mouth-- do you weigh it or put it in a measuring cup or spoon?"  Then gave me that look that said 1) I was busted and 2) that there was no point in me actually answering that question. 

Uh.  Seriously?  Who does that? Who has time for that nonsense?

From ISSA's Specialist in Fitness Nutrition

It took me a long time to realize that he was right, and that taking the time to measure was really important to achieving my weight loss goals.  I was thinking about that conversation (ok, ok, conversations) when I came across this study that shows what people perceive they consume versus what they actually eat.  People underestimate the amount of  grains and fats they actually eat, and overestimate the amount of vegetables and protein they consume.  Basically, our human tendenacy is to take what we believe to be healthy, and give ourselves the benefit of the doubt. 

If you are struggling to lose weight, figure out how many calories you need.  (Ask me! Happy to help) and then take the time to look at what a serving size actually is.  Hint: unless it's measured, nobody eats the recommended serving size of 1/2 cup of ice cream. Or 3/4 cup of cereal. Or 2 T of Peanut Butter.   Invest in a food scale and some measuring spoons/cups.  Use them consistently and see what a difference in makes!

I'll be talking about meal plans later, but I've found that it is also really helpful to track your food.  As I learned at weight watchers a long, long time ago:  You bite it, you write it.  A paper journal is really helpful, but if you are "techy" apps can be a great tool.  I personally love myfitnesspal, and ask my clients to use it.  It's great to be able to keep a food diary that figures the calories as well as things like protein, fats, carbohydrates and even potassium and sodium.  Diaries can be made shareable, which adds for a level of accountability.  Recruit a friend to support you in this and invite them to see what you eat.  Of course, as my trainer reminded me, it's only as accurate as the information you add to it.

Take the time.  Don't lie to yourself.  (I had to learn that my hips always knew the truth, no matter what I recorded!) Measure, measure, measure!