Why Exercise When You Are Already Losing Weight with GLP-1 RAs
Key Takeaways
Your overall weight does not reveal the amount of each type of tissue that you have. It does not distinguish between fat loss and muscle loss.
Muscle tissue is heavy, but is actually protective to your health. That is why exercise is important even if you are already on GLP-1 RAs.
Muscle mass loss also makes it harder to continue your weight loss journey, and makes weight regain easier when you stop GLP-1 RAs.
Muscle mass also has a negative effect on blood sugar control.
Gaining or preserving muscle mass will also help you achieve a toned physique, improving your overall confidence.
GLP-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 RAs, 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 GLP-1 RAs can also lead to weight loss, with some of them specifically approved for this purpose. Studies of semaglutide (a class of GLP-1 RA) have shown that it leads to an average weight loss of about 15% of starting body weight; while liraglutide (another class of GLP-1 RA) has been found to lead to an average weight loss of 5 to 10% of starting body weight.
When you're on GLP-1 RAs, 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 GLP-1 RA medications like Semaglutide are working in your favor.
Your Weight Does Not Reveal Your Body Composition
While GLP-1 RAs effectively help you shed pounds, it's important to understand that weight loss goes beyond what the weighing scale shows.
Although body weight is an easy way to measure body composition, it’s an imperfect measurement – it does not reveal the amount of each type of tissue that you have. Excess fat tissue has been found to increase the risk of many health problems and even the overall risk of death, while other types of tissue, such as muscle tissue, don’t carry the same risk. For one, higher muscle mass will increase body weight, but it actually protects your health rather than damaging it.
In a nutshell, the number you see on the weighing scale doesn’t distinguish between fat loss and muscle loss, nor does it tell you how your body composition is changing. As your weight drops, other changes happen within your body that can impact your metabolism, energy levels, and overall health.
Why You Should Worry About Muscle Loss
Your body requires protein every day to maintain its cells and tissues. When you don't consume enough protein, your body compensates by breaking down muscle proteins to obtain the necessary amino acids to build other essential proteins, ensuring proper organ function.
Muscle proteins can also be broken down for energy when your calorie intake is insufficient to meet your body’s energy demands – which could happen when you’re on GLP-1 RAs. While fat tissue is the body’s primary energy reserve, muscle proteins are also used to fuel bodily functions. During weight loss, the body typically draws on both fat and muscle tissue for energy.
Research has shown that individuals taking GLP-1 RAs may experience a reduction in muscle mass. Around 20% to 50% of the weight lost on these medications is muscle, with the remainder being fat tissue. However, this muscle loss isn’t unique to GLP-1 RAs as weight loss in general leads to muscle mass reductions. In other words, GLP-1 RAs don’t directly cause muscle loss; it’s a natural consequence of weight loss itself.
Even if you’re using a GLP-1 RA primarily to manage diabetes, weight loss is common, and along with it, some muscle mass loss is likely to occur.
Muscle Loss Makes it Harder for You to Lose Weight
Medication alone isn’t enough for sustainable weight loss. A study has shown that up to 67% of people who stop using GLP-1 RAs 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 GLP-1 use 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.
Muscle Loss Has a Negative Effect on Blood Sugar Control
Given that muscles are one of the most energy-demanding tissues in the body, they also take up a lot of glucose from the blood. When you have less muscle tissue, your blood sugar levels may rise. Studies have shown that having more muscle mass is associated with better blood sugar control.
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.
What is body recomposition?
While increasing your calorie expenditure is an important benefit of exercise, perhaps more significant is its role in shaping your body. You may lose weight with GLP-1 RAs, but it doesn’t necessarily help you achieve a toned, fit appearance. With regular exercise, you can tone your muscles and improve your body’s overall appearance, helping you look and feel better.
Body recomposition is a process of losing fat while simultaneously gaining lean muscle. This can be achieved with the right exercise regime tailored to your schedule, fitness level, and medication plan – even when you’re on GLP-1 RAs. Done correctly, body recomposition can change your body’s makeup so you have more muscle than fat.
This will not only enhance your appearance, but also improve your strength, endurance, confidence, and overall health.
A Holistic Approach Works Best for Sustainable Weight Loss
GLP-1 RAs 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 GLP-1 RAs with proper diet 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. Specific exercise recommendations should be tailored to meet the specific needs of each individual.
If you have already signed up for our holistic NOVI Optimum Plus GLP-1 RA weight loss program and would like to maintain your weight through a health coach-guided exercise and diet plan, NOVI Optimum Fit is for you.
With NOVI Optimum Fit, you get:
1:1 personal training sessions with experienced coaches who will guide you through the workouts to ensure that they are safely executed.
Fitness coaches who are experienced at creating personalized training programs for individuals with medical issues.
Training programs that are flexible and constantly evolve with your progress.
Regular measurements of body fat percentage and muscle mass so you can track the results of your efforts.
Fitness coaches who work closely with NOVI doctors or dietitians to ensure that the training program complements your nutrition plans and medications taken.
A personal fitness coach who will keep you motivated and accountable for your fitness.