(Not a programme. A floor. The minimum that protects muscle through the transition, built to survive a bad week.)
Why a Floor
Ambitious plans fail in week three. A floor is what you hold on the worst week, and it is the only number that compounds.
Everything below is the minimum, never the target. Doing more is fine. Dropping below it is what costs you.
The Three Levers
In Order of How Much They Move
Resistance training · 2 sessions weekly
Full body both times. Load matters more than duration. Thirty minutes of heavy beats ninety minutes of light. Progress the weight, not the time.
Protein at every meal
Spreading it out beats the daily total. A palm-sized portion at each meal, breakfast included.
Creatine monohydrate · 3 to 5 g daily
The most studied supplement for keeping muscle. Get the monohydrate kind. When you take it does not matter, taking it every day does.
What To Track
The Scale Is a Lagging Indicator
Track the weight you lift, not the weight you are. It moves first and it does not lie.
Track whether you can carry the shopping in one trip, and get off the floor without a hand. Function is the real outcome.
If you want a number, ask about muscle at your next appointment, not BMI.
The Fix:Load the muscle first. Everything downstream, energy included, follows it rather than leading it.
Please Read
Where To Start If You Have Not Lifted Before
Start lighter than feels worth it. In the first month your body is mostly learning the movement, and that happens at any weight.
If you have a joint or heart problem, or you have not moved much in years, get this checked before you start. That is a real safety point, not a formality.
Want the next one?
Each week covers the mechanism behind one midlife symptom, in the same tone as
this page. It goes out on Instagram first.