[pedalpete]

Have you been recommended an exercise regimen, or taken one up yourself? The one the great things about GLP-1s is that with the weight loss, it's easier to be more active once you've lost some of the weight. The negatives is that the current breed promote a loss in muscle mass as well as fat loss, so it is very important to do your best to maintain if not increase muscle while on them.

The next generation of drugs are including 2nd molecule...I'm blanking on the name, and a search isn't bringing it to me...which maintains or potentially increases muscle mass.

But curious what your experience with exercise has been.

I also didn't know there was a planned reduction in dosage, but the expectation is that you'll be on some type of GLP1 for life, is that not right?

[cthalupa]

Cagrilintide (paired with semaglutide) and retatrutide are the next wave, though I'm not aware of any research for either indicating an increase in muscle mass.

My understanding of the literature is that there's nothing special about semaglutide or tirzepatide that promote muscle loss - it's just people who lose weight based purely on diet tend to also lose muscle mass. Even bodybuilders lose some muscle mass when cutting.

It's up to the individual to increase their protein intake and exercise, the same way they would in any caloric deficit.

[coffeebeqn]

Bodybuilders lose muscle and they do a lot of hypertrophy training and high protein eating to counteract it. Probably the average ozempic taker does neither of those so they end up losing more

[cthalupa]

Sure. You're going to lose some muscle mass no matter what you do. And yeah, if you don't do either of those things, you're going to lose even more.

But fat people actually frequently have quite a bit of lean body mass - it takes muscle to carry around all that weight, even if you're sedentary. If I somehow maintained the LBM shown in my DEXA scan at the start of tirzepatide, by the time I got to my goal weight, I'd be looking more jacked than when I was lifting 3 times a week.

Obviously, I won't. I'm adding more and more cardio and lifting back in as my weight is dropping and it becomes more maintainable for my joints, etc., and I've been supplementing protein since the start, and I'm sure I'll still lose plenty. But I have the room to lose A LOT and still be in the healthy range of body fat%.

[hyperG]

There is a linear relationship between fat loss and caloric restriction until about 7 or 8% body fat.

The idea that caloric restriction is causing all this muscle loss is one of the dumbest ideas we currently have.

It is simply not true.

[cthalupa]

What is your argument? That losing weight does not result in muscle volume loss? That GLP-1s are somehow special and only losing weight via them causes muscle loss?

IFBB bodybuilders getting weekly DEXA scans and running multiple steroids including cycles specifically designed to help prevent muscle loss during cuts still lose muscle mass when losing weight for shows, despite taking every drug under the sun, working out an obscene amount, eating huge amounts of protein.

Your body will break down muscle when losing weight. You can do a lot to prevent the vast majority of it, but there is going to be some no matter what you do.

[phil21]

None of the GLP1s cause more muscle loss than simply losing the same amount of weight without it. It’s the rapid weight loss without resistance training that causes it.

If you calorie restricted with the same exercise routine without the drug you’d see the same amount of lean muscle mass loss as you would taking the drug. This spreading of misinformation is actively harming people.