Keto and Muscle......

​     Our days in Birch Bay begin early with light, bright skies, and lovely views and end the same with gorgeous sunsets. Early spring is a beautiful time to enjoy this wonderful space, and it stays this way, sometimes through fall. We'll start golfing this week, and I'm looking forward to it. In the meantime, I'm adding balancing exercises to my daily routine because it might help promote stability. I've also done more research into insulin resistance. As I explained before, insulin is an important hormone that has many roles in the body. When your insulin sensitivity is low, like mine, it puts pressure on your pancreas to increase insulin production to clear sugar from the blood, causing insulin resistance. I learned that the symptoms of insulin resistance begin in the cells. Over time, cells stop responding to insulin, so the pancreas makes more insulin, trying to make cells respond. Eventually, the pancreas can't keep up, and blood sugar keeps rising, resulting in chronically high blood sugar levels, increasing the risk of obesity and other issues like diabetes and heart disease. Increasing insulin sensitivity helps cells respond to insulin and supports weight loss if combined with diet and exercise. Semaglutide helps me with insulin sensitivity, and I'm losing weight more rapidly while continuing keto and exercise. However, some studies claim that the Keto diet may cause muscle loss. That's a problem for me because muscle loss also occurs with aging. I've not noticed muscle loss, but I also exercise. Exercise can reverse muscle loss by keeping muscles active. Studies show that combining aerobic exercise, resistance training, and balance training can prevent and even reverse muscle loss.  My resistance exercises include squats, deadlifts, free weights, and the Lat Pulldown.  Some of the myths, misconceptions, and misinformation regarding keto include that keto diminishes exercise performance because building muscle requires carbs. Therefore, keto dieters might lose muscle mass, strength, and endurance. However, understanding how the body works makes it possible to experience the health benefits of keto while increasing muscle mass and improving exercise performance at the same time with carb restrictions.  Carb consumption is not essential to maintain or build muscle. If I eat enough protein, ingest sufficient calories, and exercise correctly, I will maintain and even gain muscle mass.  Exercising properly while on keto can preserve muscle mass while controlling fat.  With that in mind, I am off to Zumba, one of my favorite cardio workouts, this morning, and then, I intend to enjoy another beautiful day in Birch Bay.