Beyond the Scale: Why Your 2026 Goal Should Be Building Muscle, Not Just Losing Weight
By the Editorial Team at Musa Magazine
For decades, the number one New Year’s resolution has been the same: “I want to lose 10 pounds.” We’ve spent our lives obsessed with a number on the scale, celebrating when it goes down and punishing ourselves when it goes up.
But if you’re over 40, the rules of the game have changed. Chasing thinness through endless cardio and restrictive diets may actually be working against you. This 2026, we invite you to make a radical mindset shift: forget weight loss and focus on gaining strength.
Here’s why muscle is your best life insurance policy (and beauty ally) after 40.
Muscle Is Your Metabolic Engine
After age 35, women naturally begin to lose muscle mass (a process called sarcopenia). If you don’t actively fight it, your metabolism slows down.
• The secret: Muscle is “living” tissue and expensive for your body to maintain. Having muscle burns more calories at rest—even while you’re sleeping or watching TV—than having fat. If you want to eat without guilt and maintain your weight, the solution isn’t eating less; it’s having more muscle.
The True Source of Youth: Strong Bones
Osteoporosis is a real threat for Latina women after menopause.
• The science: Strength training (with weights, resistance bands, or your own body weight) doesn’t just build muscle—it pulls on your bones, forcing them to become denser and stronger. Lifting weights today is preventing a hip fracture 20 years from now. It’s your armor against aging.
Busting the Myth: “I Don’t Want to Look Masculine”
Many women fear that touching a dumbbell will make them bulky like a bodybuilder.
• The reality: Women don’t have enough testosterone to naturally develop that exaggerated muscle mass. When you gain muscle and lose fat, what you get is the “toned,” firm look we all want. Your clothes fit better, your posture improves, and your arms look defined—not big.
Independence and Freedom
Beyond aesthetics, building muscle is about functionality. It’s about being able to carry your grandchildren without back pain, lift your own suitcase into the airplane overhead bin, and get up from a chair without help at 80.
This January, don’t join the gym to “burn off” what you ate. Join to build the body that will support you for the rest of your life. Thinness may be a trend, but strength is freedom. Get strong.