Maintaining Weight Loss After Medication: The Key Role of Exercise – New Study Reveals

2024-02-23 15:15:00

FRIDAY, Feb. 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) — An open question regarding weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound has been whether people will maintain their weight when they stop taking them.

Regular exercise might be the key to stopping medications without regaining weight, according to a new Danish study.

“It is actually possible to stop taking the medication without much weight regain, if you follow a structured exercise regimen,” said senior researcher Signe Sorensen Torekov of the University of Copenhagen.

Just a couple of hours a week of exercise maintained the weight lost with the drugs, the researchers found.

“Our study offers new hope, as we have shown that the majority of those who take weight loss medications and exercise regularly are able to maintain the beneficial effects one year following completing treatment,” Torekov said in a statement. university press.

For the study, the researchers recruited four groups of test participants.

One group was given a weight loss medication, a second group was asked to exercise regularly, and a third group was given the medication and asked to exercise. The fourth group received a placebo.

The results showed that the exercise groups experienced an improvement in their quality of life. And those who took the drug while exercising maintained their weight once they stopped the drug.

The new study appears in the Feb. 19 issue of the journal Lancet eClinical Medicine.

“All it takes is two hours of exercise a week to get your heart rate up and make you gasp,” said lead researcher Simon Birk Kjær Jensen, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Copenhagen.

“And it can differ from person to person,” Jensen added. “For people with severe obesity and a low baseline fitness level, a brisk walk may be sufficient, while people with a higher fitness level may need to practice running or cycling.”

Based on this data, doctors should consider prescribing exercise along with weight-loss medications to increase people’s chances of maintaining their weight loss.

“The study almost makes me want to advise once morest medical treatment without increasing physical exercise, especially if you don’t want to take the medications for the rest of your life,” Torekov said. “The good news is that maintaining weight loss following treatment is possible, but only when combined with exercise.”

More information

The Mayo Clinic offers more information regarding weight loss medications.

SOURCE: University of Copenhagen, press release, February 20, 2024

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