Preserving Lean Mass While Using GLP-1 Agonists: What You Need to Know

Chapters

• 0:00 GLP-1s and Muscle Loss Concerns
• 3:56 Preserving Muscle During Weight Loss
• 6:25 Resistance Training Strategies
• 8:31 Protein Intake Requirements
• 11:00 New Medications and Supplements
• 13:14 Assessment Tools and Long-Term Benefits

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:25

So this lesson is quite important. It's talking about the use of GLP-1s and improving and preserving muscle within the body. So there's a lot of research stating that the lean muscle is being decreased when you're taking GLP-1s and if you have a low GLP-1 producing within the body, you're having more fat secretions and less muscle maintained. So let's think of it like the skeletal muscle plays a crucial role in the overall health. It influences your metabolism, it helps with physical strength and quality of life. It helps with physical strength and quality of life. So in this area, glp-1 receptor agonists, or the medication prescribed, maintains your body mass index, your muscle mass, because it's essential. It helps with mitigating, like fat loss, but there had been research that was supposedly potential muscle loss. So the impact of this is how do you promote weight loss without messing with your lean body mass, and that varies. So lean body mass reduction has happened due to your overall weight loss. So that does happen for some individuals and there has been shown some research there and there is some variability of when you lose the weight. Are you losing all fat or is it a portion of muscle? And they say it's around 15%. Potential mechanisms or reasons for this is that they had studied some animals and their skeletal muscle and they're saying that, um, it had the GLP ones, enhanced mitochondrial function and promoted muscle remodeling but in turn had also had some effects on um humans. So when they looked in the animal population there was an enhancement to the mitochondrial function but in some receptors for humans there was some dysregulation and notable that there might have been a disconnect so they might've had some muscle mass loss. But they have, through time, trying to mitigate this problem so that it's potentially beneficial for patients. They have come up with newer medications and there are also techniques that I will discuss with you, ways to preserve your muscle loss. So if you're taking this medication and concerned that you're going to lose protein and your skeletal muscle, which is long-term effect for myocardial function and longevity, here are ways that will improve that. There are also additional medications that have come out that have been less on decreasing the muscle mass. So that is a concern and I want to talk to you about how to improve and how to avoid that for yourself. So, lifestyle modifications you're going to uptick on possibly resistance training Sometimes it's high interval and you're going to increase your protein intake and you're going to support muscle health. You're going to support your body and stimulate muscle protein synthesis and you're going to get yourself to move. You know you're not going to just be taking this medication. Oh, I got a shot, I'm done, all right. I've taken my natural boosters foods All right, I'm done. That's not it. That's not the. That's not going to work because it shows like the ongoing use of these medications has been helpful. But you can preserve muscle by achieving weight reduction and also these other techniques in addition to it. So the next generation of not only the medications but also understanding what it's doing to your body and how you're losing the weight, we can benefit long-term.

Speaker 1: 4:30

So the goal is not to lose all of this muscle. The goal is to maintain the weight loss and maintain the muscle. You're doing this in keeping up that lean body by working out more, you know. You're increasing your muscle intake by giving protein. You're doing advisable exercises that are within your range, not not excess, whatever age you are and wherever you are, you can meet yourself where you are. But we still have to be real.

Speaker 1: 5:02

These medications have some side effects. We want to preserve that skeletal muscle because it's just as important as losing weight. You know body fat is not always the problem. The loss of skeletal mass, muscle mass will decrease our mitochondrial function, which will then decrease our longevity. So you know, it comes with long-term effects if we don't, you know, think of this smartly. So I want you to do these things with the right mindset. I want to lose weight for obesity. I want to lose weight for my metabolic health, but I also want to be optimally well, you know, and I want to get myself to where it needs to be, and I still want to have good body mass and good skeletal muscle, good skeletal muscle and not just losing, you know, excess fat. I want to be where I need to be metabolically healthy and have muscle tissues, because that muscle will help you actively burn calories more. That muscle will help you support blood sugar balance. That muscle and functional strengthening will help with hormone regulation. So, in turn, not only is it building up some having muscle mass on you more than fat mass, it will also help you with avoiding slow metabolism. It will help you from increasing your weight. It will lead to more so you become less frail. When you're older, you think longevity, think long-term here, and it will reduce the long-term need for metabolic health issues that could come up. So muscle preserving strategies, ways that we do that. Like I had stated previously, it's resistant training. So how do you do that? Now, the reason we're doing this is that we're trying to maintain the muscle during weight loss. If there's just slight weight loss, you will also have a decrease in muscle loss, but we want to preserve that as much as possible because muscle protein synthesis is preserving the strength and the lean muscle.

Speaker 1: 7:08

You can do this with weightlifting, lightweights, machines, dumbbells. You know body weight. You can do squats, pushups, lunges. You can do resistance bands. It doesn't have to be excess, it doesn't have to be bodybuilding crazy. You know resistance bands does a lot Dumbbells, does a lot Squats, does so much Pushups, sit-ups.

Speaker 1: 7:28

I can tell you that does more for me than a lot of things. And I do some basic weights. I don't have a big thing but big gym. I just do what I can. If I have some kettlebells and some weights. I have an adjustable weight at the house and a bar and some. You know that it does significantly for you. Try to aim for at least two days a week If I get to be like three for you. Try to aim for at least two days a week, if I get, to be like three, if you can. And why does it work? The idea is that the protein provides amino acids necessary for muscle repair and regrowth and it stimulates the GLP-1 to release, so that, again, the GLP-1 will prevent you from feeling full when you have that fullness and then it will lose the fat.

Speaker 1: 8:16

Now, target intake is depending upon a person. So protein intake is depending upon each person and I do have some information on this. On average, think of it like 1.2 to 2 grams per kilo body weight. Now, now, everybody's different and I have a whole podcast on this, um, but think about 25 to 30 grams a meal. So three meals 30, 60, 90, 90, 90 grams.

Speaker 1: 8:45

If you're trying to range, I start people on half their body weight. So if you're 150 pounds, around 75 grams of protein, I'd like you to have a day. If you're 200 pounds, half of that protein is a hundred. Um, or if your goal weight is like one, 75 would be half of that. The range is in kilograms, so your kilograms are 2.2. So if you're a hundred pounds, 2.2 of that is your in kilos. So you divide it out by 2.2.

Speaker 1: 9:21

And then finding different ways to get those types of protein. Now I will let you know there's many ways to get those kinds of proteins. Many options out there. There's anything from lean proteins to vegetarian options. Um, many options out there. I mean there's anything from lean proteins to vegetarian options, fish, eggs, greek yogurt, legumes, tofu, algae, protein powders, plant-based things.

Speaker 1: 9:45

Um, that is dependent, but you know, protein is a building block. I mean, it's one of the main macros, but it's necessary and you do have to have that intake when you are on these medications or you're trying to boost your own GLP-1 within the body. So understanding that means it's not just okay, let me just have my donuts all the time. So you don't see that. I mean I literally will have my collagen powder and my powder or my protein with my meals and I force it in there sometimes too, because I know I need it. And you know, regardless of whatever, if I don't put it in there, my body is not going to metabolize things quite well and I'm more prone to more insulin resistance. So I gotta be aware of that and, um, you know, that's why I talk about this. It's super important.

Speaker 1: 10:34

Um, there's, there's more medications that have come out. I mean, we're not just talking about medications, but you know there's smaglutide and then there's trisepatide now, so they're called dual action and triple action agonist medications. That will be glucagon peptide, there'll be glucagon and amylin, and those are going to be three. There's a retributide that's coming out now. That's a triple action medication and this in turn is supposed to mandora has less of the muscle mass loss and then the triple agonist that's coming out will also have less muscle loss and more fat loss and will help with more energy expenditure. Now I will say that, no matter what, even if they say they don't have muscle loss on these medications, still I would have more intake and more resistance training, just so that you can compensate for any sort of things that may come up for you may come up for you.

Speaker 1: 11:40

Other ways of improving your skeletal muscle and your muscle mass in conjunction with GLP-1s or improving your own natural GLP-1s, is you can do supplements. There are supplements available outside of foods, outside of Um. These are, and there's different ones Um, so creatine improves muscle retention. Um leucine or HMB is an amino acids that protect the muscle from losing. There are some um. There are some peptides out there that are out Um. There's not as much research on them, but some of them. There's BP one 57 for healing. Um, there's a couple other ones there to test senilin or semoralin. If you have other ones, let me know.

Speaker 1: 12:20

Collagen and vitamin C, very big for connective tissue and muscle integrity. Vitamin D and magnesium for muscle function and hormone balance. And high protein or anti-inflammatory diet to decrease the amount of inflammatory response in the body and to optimize metabolic function. So those are kind of those ways. And then again, like I quickly stated, you know, um, resistance training, uh in some manner or body, uh, weight training, daily protein, about one gram to two grams per kilo. Think about 25 to 30 grams per meal. If you're having three meals a day, it's about 60, 60 to 70 at least, if not more, and then the supplements I have discussed with you, and then, of course, you're going to sleep. Sleep is a big factor.

Speaker 1: 13:17

I do recommend I do have my clients or my patients use either, because the most gold standard for checking your body mass index within your body and also to check for muscle mass, fat loss and where you are, is either a DEXA scan. They also have an in-body scales now that show that. I really like the new. No affiliation or anything but. Dexa Fit has a nice AI affiliate-like affiliation of what your full scan is. Inbit has a nice AI affiliate like evaluation of what your full scan is. Inbody has a nice one also, and there's a couple other companies now that are offering the scales that will give you, like fat loss, muscle loss left, right where your muscle tone is, and you're like a 360 view. So those are pretty good.

Speaker 1: 13:58

I would recommend you getting that at least before and after, or at least two before. You know before and then a significant weight loss to see where you're at really, because just because you've lost fat doesn't mean that you're muscularly or metabolically healthy. So it's really important to kind of get them two together and to get yourself preserving your muscle for not only to be weight bearing and to be able to do things, but also for long-term longevity, mitochondrial function, which help you with long-term life and movement. And you know, when you're in the eighties, nineties and a hundred, if you do live to that long, you want to be able to, you know, pick up your groceries, bend down, drive, look around, walk around in your house, pick up something, sit down, get up those kinds of things, maybe even hold your grandchildren or whatever that may be for you. I will go and talk more on the next lesson and I hope you have a good rest of your day.