Tirzepatide and Exercise: Learn how to Supercharge Your Weight Loss!
Are you among the millions of people struggling to shed excess pounds or maintain a healthy weight? If so, perhaps you’ve already tried to get things under control by eating right and exercising. Or maybe you’ve attempted dozens of diets only to fail and gain back any weight you lost. These types of experiences can be devastating. They also illustrate that losing weight isn’t always as simple as consuming fewer calories than you burn. For many people, it’s much more complicated than that.
Though giving up on your healthy weight goals may be tempting, please don’t! There is a highly effective weight loss medication out there that might be the answer you’ve been hoping for. Tirzepatide is an injectable drug that helps millions of people finally reach their goal weight. But for it to work optimally, it must not be treated as a standalone solution. Instead, combine Tirzepatide and exercise for the best results. Here’s how to supercharge your weight loss with this incredible combination.
What Is Tirzepatide?
Tirzepatide appears under many different brand names, including Mounjaro and the newest FDA-approved Tirzepatide formula, Zepbound. It is important to note that Tirzepatide is not a substitute for insulin. If you are a type 1 diabetic, you cannot use Tirzepatide to get off your insulin medication. Taking this drug as a type 1 diabetic could also increase your risk for diabetic ketoacidosis.
Tirzepatide comes in an injectable form. The injections are popular and have excellent efficacy. Though it is having remarkable success and taking the fitness world by storm, Tirzepatide is not a miracle cure. You still need to put in the effort to live a healthy lifestyle while taking this innovative drug. That means using Tirzepatide and an exercise routine together.
How Does Tirzepatide Work?
It may seem like Tirzepatide uses some sort of magic to turn overweight people into thin people. But that’s not the case. This drug helps the body regulate insulin and blood sugar more effectively. It also slows the emptying of the stomach so you feel satisfied longer after each meal. This drug also controls appetite, so you don’t feel like you need to eat as frequently. Many people notice their cravings for unhealthy foods subside after taking Tirzepatide injections. You can also follow a Tirzepatide meal plan to make the most out of this weight loss injection and achieve the results you desire.
Is Exercise Important While Taking Tirzepatide?
Whether Tirzepatide is your first choice of weight loss medication or you’re switching from Semaglutide to Tirzepatide in hopes of seeing better results, taking Tirzepatide without improving your lifestyle will not work as well. It is like continuously filling your car with fuel but never changing the oil. Sure, the fuel will keep it running for a while, but it will eventually stop running once the oil turns into sludge. Every weight loss journey should also be a quest to reach higher levels of health. Otherwise, you’re wasting your time and will likely regain any weight you lost somewhere down the road.
If you want to experience the best possible outcome from your weight loss injections, realize that Tirzepatide and working out should always go hand in hand. This combination can help control your blood sugar even better when used together.
In one study, obese adults combined Tirzepatide injections with diet and exercise for 68 weeks. Other study participants adopted the same lifestyle changes but didn’t use Tirzepatide. At the end of the study, half of the participants who used both Tirzepatide and exercise lost at least 15% of their body weight. More impressively, nearly a third of the same group lost 20% of their body weight! The non-Tirzepatide group, on the other hand, only lost about 2.4% of their weight. This illustrates how incredible your weight loss results can be when you combine Tirzepatide with lifestyle changes.
Can You Lose Weight on Tirzepatide Without Exercise?
It is possible to lose weight on Tirzepatide without exercising. However, your weight loss results may not be as drastic as they would be if you stayed active. Additionally, maintaining unhealthy habits while taking the drug makes you more likely to feel tired and succumb to illnesses. You may also have a higher risk of experiencing unwanted side effects.
Another reason to use Tirzepatide and exercise to reach your goals is to enjoy long-term weight loss. If you maintain unhealthy diet and exercise habits, you’re more likely to regain any lost weight when you stop taking Tirzepatide. This is a sad scenario that happens to far too many people.
To maintain long-term weight management, relying on weight-loss medication alone isn’t enough. Instead, you must also develop healthy lifestyle habits. These habits must continue after you stop taking the injections. Otherwise, you’ll probably end up right back where you started.
Does Tirzepatide Cause Muscle Loss?
Some research shows that Tirzepatide can cause declines in both fat and muscle. This isn’t exactly a unique phenomenon, though. No matter what you do to lose weight, you’ll invariably lose a combination of both fat and muscle. However, some doctors fear that patients who don’t combine Tirzepatide and working out may experience an unhealthy decline in lean mass. These fears are not unfounded.
Therefore, doing what you can to maintain your muscle mass while taking this medication is essential. One way to do that is by combining Tirzepatide and exercise. Strength training is particularly important while you’re receiving this drug. It can boost your fat-loss efforts while helping you maintain lean muscle mass. Here are some key ways to avoid losing muscle while on Tirzepatide.
Increase Your Protein Intake
You need to optimize your protein intake to make sure you’re supporting good muscle health. There’s a rigorous debate about how much protein is ideal for muscle maintenance. However, most experts agree that a person should consume no less than 0.5 g of protein per kg (2.2 lbs) of body weight to maintain what they have. To support lean muscle mass while taking Tirzepatide, you may want to increase that amount to 1.5 g or more per kg of body weight.
Consuming too much protein for your body’s needs can also backfire. So, pay attention to how you feel as you alter your protein intake. If you’re constantly constipated, need to urinate all the time, or aren’t getting the weight loss results you expect, you may be consuming too much protein. Try cutting back a bit and see how your body responds.
Resistance Train Regularly
Resistance training is an important part of any healthy lifestyle. But it’s non-negotiable when it comes to Tirzepatide and exercise. Resistance training can help you avoid excessive loss of lean muscle mass while taking weight loss medication. You should aim to include at least three resistance training sessions into your workout regimen every week. Try to increase the volume and intensity of your exercises over time. This will help encourage muscle growth to maintain a desirable body composition as you lose excess fat.
Take Vitamin B6
Consuming the protein and nutrients your muscles need can be hard when you’re too nauseous to eat. Since nausea is one of the most common symptoms associated with Tirzepatide injections, it’s important to work around it. Many patients find that taking vitamin B6 helps to alleviate nausea and stomach discomfort. If you’re having trouble keeping healthy foods down, take a vitamin B6 supplement.
What to Eat While Taking Tirzepatide
The complementary relationship between Tirzepatide and exercise is quite clear. But, many people underestimate their diet’s importance while taking weight loss medication. As the old saying goes, you can’t outrun an unhealthy diet. Therefore, evaluating your dietary choices is important and ensuring you’re fueling your body correctly. Here are some tips for what to eat and avoid while taking Tirzepatide:
- Eat plenty of fresh vegetables and fruits
- Use less butter and select low-fat dairy products
- Limit beverages and foods with high sugar content
- Avoid alcohol
- Eat whole grains and fiber to help you stay regular
- Consume a variety of healthy proteins, such as eggs, lean meats, and seafood
- Limit your consumption of fatty foods
- Avoid highly processed foods, such as fast-food menu items and frozen TV dinners
- Fill your diet with fresh, whole foods
You may also need to decrease your portions and eat more frequently to avoid nausea. Your stomach takes longer to empty on Tirzepatide. Therefore, eating large meals might make you feel uncomfortable and contribute to digestive upset. It may take some trial and error to determine what foods and meal frequencies help you feel your best while receiving weight loss injections.
Achieve a Slimmer Physique With Tirzepatide
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Tiffany DiGiuseppe
Admire Aesthetics was founded by Tiffany DiGiuseppe. Tiffany has been in the medical field for 22 years. The last 14 years have been devoted to a wide array of medical aesthetics. Specifically, the last 10 years in body contouring.
Admire Aesthetics, Inc. is a CoolSculpting specialty practice located in Medford, OR. We are recognized by Allergan to be a Certified CoolSculpting facility, with the highest level of recognition given. We have performed over 12,000 CoolSculpting procedures! We take pride in always maintaining the most up-to-date treatment options and equipment to ensure the best results which are all backed by our “Admire Promise” guarantee.
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