How muscle protects against weight regain
Weight loss medications are a group of medications that help control blood sugar by mimicking a certain hormone produced in the gut. In addition to helping control blood sugar weight loss medications can also lead to weight loss, with some of them specifically approved for this purpose.
When you're on weight loss medications, it might seem like exercise becomes less of a priority since the numbers on the scale are moving in the right direction. But losing weight isn’t only about hitting your target weight; it’s about maintaining your health, strength, and appearance along the way. This is why exercise remains an essential part of the process, even when weight loss medications are working in your favor.
While weight loss medications effectively help you shed pounds, it's important to understand that weight loss goes beyond what the weighing scale shows.
How Muscle Protects Against Weight Regain
Medication alone isn’t enough for sustainable weight loss. A study has shown that up to 67% of people who stop using weight loss medications regain a significant portion of the weight they lost, on average, regaining about two-thirds of their weight within a year. This demonstrates the importance of pairing weight loss medications with sustainable healthy habits, particularly building muscle mass.
Muscle tissue burns calories even at rest, as it requires energy to maintain itself. Losing muscle mass lowers your basal metabolic rate (BMR), making it harder to maintain weight loss. Focusing on building and preserving muscle can help protect your long-term progress and avoid the rebound effect often seen after discontinuing medication.
How Exercise Builds and Maintains Muscle
This is where exercise becomes crucial. Exercise, particularly resistance training, has been found to be an effective way to preserve or reduce the loss of muscle mass during weight loss. Resistance training can involve lifting weights, using resistance bands, or doing bodyweight exercises that require strength (like squats, crunches, or pushups). Maintaining muscle mass helps prevent the decrease in daily calorie burn that comes from losing that lean tissue. With resistance training exercises, you might even increase your muscle mass, which can lead to a higher metabolic rate, allowing you to burn more calories even at rest.
Aerobic exercises such as walking, running, cycling, or swimming have also been found to help maintain or even build muscle tissue. This is in addition to its other health benefits, such as heart and lung health.
A Holistic Approach Works Best for Sustainable Weight Loss
Doctor-prescribed weight loss medications are effective for helping you lose or maintain your weight, but they shouldn’t be considered a substitute for a healthy lifestyle. Instead, these medications can be thought of as an adjunct to lifestyle changes like diet and exercise. Combining weight loss medications with guidance from doctors, proper diet, the necessary vitamins and supplements, and a personalized exercise plan will allow you to achieve a healthier, stronger, and more balanced physique.
However, specific recommendations and precautions may apply, and will vary by age, activity done, and your current health state.
If you would like to sustainably lose weight, maintain your muscle mass, and optimize your health, a structured, doctor-led approach that combines exercise, nutrition, and clinical supervision can provide valuable support.
Learn more about how a holistic program like Optimum 365 can complement your weight loss journey. The Optimum 365 Program integrates:
curated supplements and vitamins based on your individual needs,
protein shakes,
medical guidance from doctors,
structured exercise by experienced fitness trainers, and
personalized nutrition support from health coaches