All Life is Learning - December 2024

How Do You Like to Celebrate?  

Do you celebrate heritage months or cultural observances throughout the year, such as National Hispanic-Latino month, Lunar New Year, or National Native American month? Are you curious about the heritage months celebrated in the United States?

In the interest of getting to know OLLI members better and create courses that are meaningful as well as educational, the Cultural Observances and Heritage Celebrations Subcommittee is promoting OLLI courses, WMU events, and community opportunities that celebrate our breadth of culture and heritage here in Southwest Michigan. Be on the lookout for more information on Facebook beginning in January 2025!

Would you kindly share with us what you find important to celebrate and the ways that you do so by completing this short online form? It is just 3 questions. 

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‘Tis Always the Season to Share the Gift of Knowledge!

The season of giving is coming up, and we have the perfect idea for your relatives and friends—give the Gift of OLLI. One size fits all!

Your gift of an OLLI membership includes:

• members-only rates for OLLI trips and courses
• access to our Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
• discounts at the WMU Bookstore, Gilmore Theatre Complex, Miller Auditorium, and West Hills Athletic Club
• access to participate in the exclusive Osher Online program, which offers high-level, multi-session online courses coordinated by the Osher National Resource Center

That’s a lot to fit into a small package!

Call the OLLI office at (269) 387-4157 for more information on how you can give the gift of lifelong learning this year.

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Upcoming Volunteer Opportunities

OLLI staff are seeking one, two, or three volunteers to assist with tasks in the OLLI Office from February through May 2025. The help needed will focus on three areas—

Customer Service/Communications: This volunteer will send out membership cards, make phone calls in response to OLLI inquiry cards, and handle other day-to-day tasks to support OLLI staff. The ideal person for this role will enjoy talking with and assisting others and will be needed for about two hours each month.

Archives Support: This volunteer will check paper files against digital records, shred paper files, scan files as needed, and add scanned records to the WMUx drive shared folder. The ideal person for this role will be detail oriented, enjoy working independently, and have technological confidence with scanning and uploading files. The time commitment will be about two to three hours each week.

Technology Support: This volunteer will make sure tech devices are charged and recharged as well as drop off and pick up equipment for OLLI classrooms on campus, mostly at the College of Health and Human Services. The ideal person for this role will have a car and be willing to use it to move equipment. They will also need a flexible schedule, confidence using technical devices, and the ability to troubleshoot technology problems. Time requirements will vary but may average one to two hours per week.

If you are interested in volunteering next winter/spring and would like more information, please call the OLLI Office at (269) 387-4157 or send an e-mail to wmu-olli@wmich.edu.

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The Pitfalls of Rapid Weight Loss

Tyler Norman, Ph.D. 
Manager of Corporate Outreach 
ACSM Exercise Physiologist 
NCFI Corporate Fitness Specialist 
West Hills Athletic Club, WMU 

Back in the 80’s the trend for rapid weight loss was to do endless hours of cardio and eat salads. While that was an effective way to lose weight, it wasn’t very effective at burning fat. What we know now is that by being on a diet with too dramatic of a caloric deficit, not consuming enough protein, and not including resistance training, we were putting a stress on our bodies that actually protects the fat and selects muscle mass as its preferred form of energy. The result is weight loss, but usually more muscle loss than fat. We’ve discussed how muscle is the main substance in our bodies that uses calories to do work, therefore, muscle equals metabolism. Consequently, having lost muscle in our weight loss efforts (sarcopenia), we have actually slowed down the body's metabolism, making it a less efficient calorie burning machine, which predisposes us to gain weight back plus more. This physiological response to muscle loss is exactly where the yo-yo syndrome comes from.

The development of drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is a game changer in the weight loss arena, and I have seen dozens of examples of people that have experienced dramatic results in a short period of time. If I was a type 2 Diabetic, or had some other metabolic disorder, I would want this drug. While a type 2 diabetic will always be diabetic, they can be asymptomatic with proper nutrition and exercise. Having said that, back to the point of muscle loss. I have included a link to a recent study that determined 38% of the weight loss experienced by individuals using these drugs came from muscle. This means that the individual is now 38% less efficient at burning calories. One question I’m asked frequently is if the individuals on these drugs will have to stay on them forever. I don’t have an answer, but what I know is that if they do stop the drug and resume the portions they were consuming before the drug, the weight will come back.

All this is to say that resistance training is crucial for long-term weight management. As we build muscle our bodies become more efficient calorie burning machines. As an example, the average participant in our Biometrics program, which includes three weightlifting sessions per week for six weeks, gains 3-5 lbs. of muscle and loses 20 inches in circumference measurements.

Sarcopenia, or the disintegration of muscle, is a risk for the aging population without the added stress of rapid weight loss. Weightlifting is our salvation for the prevention of sarcopenia at any age. And, for our readers, it's worth mentioning that sarcopenia increases our risk of osteoporosis. One of the functions of the muscle is to support and protect the bones. With less muscle, our bones adapt to the reduced stress by disintegrating. This is of course why medical doctors recommend weight bearing exercise to prevent osteoporosis. As the muscle grows, the bones have to adapt to the added stress by increasing their density.

Ozempic May Make Your Muscles and Bones Weaker (healthline.com)

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