First time for this one: you're reading the inaugural edition of The Next Move, a mid-week short I'm adding to The Upward ARC. Every Wednesday, two minutes: one timely finding, what it means for you, and one thing you can use immediately. Your Sunday edition, now called Under Load, isn't going anywhere. Here's the first.
A while back I argued GLP-1 drugs work, and that if you take one, you lift. No exceptions. New data this summer adds a second rule.
What?
At the Endocrine Society's June meeting, researchers tracked 753 adults on GLP-1 drugs through their own fitness trackers. After starting, they walked 560 fewer steps a day and did about 20% less moderate activity. Measured on the wrist, not self-reported. The drop was steepest in men and in anyone with sore joints. (Conference data, not yet published, so treat it as a strong signal.)
So what?
The muscle-loss panic is aimed at the wrong thing. The share of weight you lose as lean mass is the same on the drug as it is dieting without one, and strength holds in people who keep training. The real cost is quieter. These drugs switch off your appetite and your urge to move at the same time. Muscle you stop using is muscle you lose, and the scale keeps dropping, so you never notice it going.
Now what?
If you or someone on your team is on one of these:
- Lift 2 to 3 times a week. Non-negotiable.
- Push protein toward 1.6 g per kilo of body weight. Hard once the drug kills your hunger, so plan it.
- Put a floor under your daily steps, say 7,000, and protect a walking call the way you protect the injection.
- Track your working weights, not the scale. If the weights hold, the muscle holds.
The drug takes care of your appetite. Your movement is still your job.
Stay healthy.
Andre