Exercise Plays a Critical Role in Weight Maintenance and Cardiometabolic Health, Independent of Weight-Loss Drugs

The success of weight-loss drugs has dramatically reshaped how exercise factors into weight management, but a new scientific statement from the American Heart Association查看公司主页 (AHA) underscores that physical activity delivers cardiometabolic health benefits that operate independently of weight loss. The statement arrives amid evidence that many people reduce their exercise once they begin weight-loss medications, prompting experts to reaffirm the value of staying active.

"It is important to emphasize that physical activity and exercise (a planned structured, and repetitive subset of physical activity performed to maintain or improve health, fitness or both) have cardiometabolic health benefits independently of weight loss," the authors of the AHA scientific statement wrote.

Exercise's Role in Weight Maintenance Versus Weight Loss

Research indicates that exercise may have only modest effects on weight loss itself. A study of over 1,100 people found that physical activity had little effect on the amount of weight a person initially lost. However, doing higher levels of activity after losing weight was strongly linked to maintaining that weight loss.

Several physiological processes help explain why exercise does not always produce large amounts of weight loss. Exercise can stimulate appetite, leading to increased food intake. People may also subconsciously move less throughout the rest of the day after a workout, reducing the impact on their overall calorie deficit. Additionally, the body becomes more efficient over time, burning fewer calories while performing the same activity—a process sometimes called "metabolic adaptation" that reflects the body's tendency to defend against weight loss.

Mechanisms Supporting Long-Term Weight Maintenance

The reasons exercise helps prevent weight regain, despite being less effective for initial weight loss, are not fully understood, but several mechanisms may offer an explanation. When people lose weight, their resting energy expenditure decreases by more than would be expected for the amount of weight lost, which is thought to contribute to weight regain. Exercise raises total daily energy expenditure, helping to partially offset this decline.

Muscle mass plays a central role. Weight loss usually results in the loss of both fat and muscle, and losing muscle lowers resting energy expenditure, which can contribute to weight regain. Exercise—especially resistance training such as Pilates or lifting weights—can help preserve or even rebuild muscle mass, boosting metabolism and aiding long-term weight maintenance.

Physical activity also helps the body maintain its ability to burn fat. After losing weight, the body often becomes less efficient at using fat for energy, but intense exercise can improve fat burning and metabolic flexibility—the ability to switch between burning carbohydrates and fat depending on what is available. Exercise further improves insulin sensitivity, reducing the amount of insulin required to regulate blood sugar, which is beneficial because higher insulin levels can promote fat storage and reduce fat breakdown.

Combining Exercise with Weight-Loss Medications

Evidence suggests that combining exercise with weight-loss drugs, such as Saxenda查看药品详情, may help people maintain their weight loss better than using the drug alone. This is particularly relevant given that a study of 700 adults found the majority exercised less once they started on weight-loss drugs.

For some individuals, the side effects of their drug regimen—nausea and fatigue—can make exercise difficult, especially long or high-intensity bouts of aerobic exercise. However, the AHA notes that it does not take a lot of physical activity to reap the added health benefits exercise has to offer, and once the numbers on the scale start to fall, physical activity becomes easier with less body mass to move through space.

Broader Health Benefits and Recommendations

Exercise was associated with measurable health improvements, including better cholesterol, lower inflammation, better blood sugar control, and insulin sensitivity—all of which are associated with lower risk of health problems such as heart disease (搜索)搜索该疾病 and type 2 diabetes (搜索)搜索该疾病. Being active also improves mood, sleep, and lowers anxiety.

The American Heart Association查看公司主页 suggests following the general recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per week, while also stressing that weight training be included in any regular exercise program. When people lose large amounts of weight, they lose muscle as well as fat, which has implications beyond a loss of strength. Because muscle mass naturally decreases with age, any premature decline in muscle can result in increased risk of fragility and reduced function in the last few decades of life.

Obesity (搜索)搜索该疾病 experts have also suggested that individuals who carry large amounts of excess weight are likely to have higher levels of fat in their muscle, which can be moderated by being active. Research into the long-term effects of the newest class of weight-loss drugs remains scarce, so there are no firm guidelines as to the optimum volume, intensity, and type of exercise needed to maximize health benefits. Nevertheless, there is consensus that physical activity remains an important part of any weight-loss journey.

"By leveraging the unique, multifaceted health benefits of physical activity, we can improve the likelihood of long-term success of comprehensive obesity (搜索)搜索该疾病 treatment options and help reduce the prevalence of obesity and obesity-related cardiovascular outcomes," the American Heart Association查看公司主页 said.