For decades, conventional wisdom said that, to lose weight, you should eat less and move more. Of course, that is easier to say it than doing it, so drugs like Wegovy are so revolutionary. By suppressing appetite, they help address the first part of that equation, which generally leads to dramatic weight loss. But what about the second? Do we still need to get to the gym if drugs for weight loss are causing the number in the balance to fall? And what impact do these drugs have on our ability to exercise?
What is becoming clear is that exercise can be even more crucial for people who receive these medications than for those who are not. The capacity of the semaglutida to induce a rapid weight loss (see “How they work”below) also leads to a remarkable decrease in muscle mass. For example, a study of 2021 of 95 people overweight or had obesity and were taking semaglutida, lean body mass decreased by almost 10 percentOn average, after 68 weeks.
This article is part of a special series investigating the agonist boom GLP-1. Read more here.
The lean body mass covers body tissues such as muscle and bone. Then, these results suggest that both deteriorate when taking medications for weight loss, says Signe Sørensen Torekov at the University of Copenhagen. Because these drugs lead people to consume less calories, the body must break down fat, muscle and even bone for nutrients.
“We understand that up to approximately 40 percent of the total weight loss seen in the semaglutida is potentially the loss of muscle mass,” he says …
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