Resistance Exercise to Protect Muscle During Weight Loss Medicines for Obesity
Tests leg strength training to protect muscle in women with obesity starting weight loss medicine.
Plain-language title generated from the registry record
Registry title: Preserving Muscle Mass During Incretin-Induced Weight Loss
Key facts
- Where
- Stockholm, SwedenSee the site
Could this be for you?
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 18 and 64 years old?
Source: NCT07761923, who can take part
Where in Sweden
- Karolinska University Hospital HuddingeStockholm, SwedenTaking people
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Trial details
- Who runs it
- Karolinska Institutet
- Trial code
- NCT07761923
- Record updated
- 3 November 2026
- Original description
Treatment with incretin-based obesity medications leads to clinically meaningful weight loss and reduced cardiometabolic risk. However, the weight lost includes not only adipose tissue but also skeletal muscle, which may impair physical function and metabolic health.Read full original descriptionShow less
Resistance Exercise Training to Preserve Muscle Mass and Physical Function During Incretin-Based Weight Loss
Treatment with incretin-based obesity medications leads to clinically meaningful weight loss and reduced cardiometabolic risk. However, the weight lost includes not only adipose tissue but also skeletal muscle, which may impair physical function and metabolic health.
Resistance training is an effective strategy to maintain or increase skeletal muscle mass during weight loss, but its effects during treatment with incretin-based obesity medications have not been studied. This study will investigate whether unilateral resistance training during incretin-based receptor agonist treatment can preserve or improve skeletal muscle volume. The study will also examine whether training affects muscle strength and fatigue tolerance, body composition, cardiac structure and function, and molecular profiles in skeletal muscle, adipose tissue and blood.
Participants will be women with obesity who are about to start treatment with an incretin-based receptor agonist as part of routine clinical care. During the 13-week intervention, participants will perform supervised unilateral resistance training twice weekly, training one leg while the other leg serves as an internal control. Assessments before treatment start and after 13 weeks include whole-body and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, blood sampling, skeletal muscle and adipose tissue biopsies, knee-extensor strength and fatigue tests, and questionnaires. An additional intermediate sampling of blood and tissue (week 4-6) will be collected only in participants who consent to an extra visit.
Inclusion: Women aged 18-64 years with obesity, BMI ≥35 kg/m²; Planned initiation of incretin-based obesity pharmacotherapy as part of routine clinical care; Able to participate in supervised unilateral resistance training; Able to complete physical function tests; Able to attend study visits at the study center; Able to provide written informed consent in the Swedish language.
Exclusion: Previous bariatric surgery; The use of medications that cause clinically significant weight gain or loss; Medical condition preventing resistance training or physical-function testing; Medical condition preventing skeletal muscle or adipose-tissue biopsy; Angina pectoris, coronary heart disease or congestive heart failure (NYHA Class III- IV); Severe hepatic impairment; Inflammatory bowel disease; Cancer; Chronic obstructive lung disease; Severe psychiatric disorders; A history of idiopathic acute pancreatitis; A family or personal history of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 or familial medullary thyroid carcinoma; Hypersensitivity to the planned incretin-based medication or any of its excipients; Patients diagnosed with any known serious chronic illness, including type 1 or 2 diabetes (or a randomly measured fasting plasma glucose >7 mmol/L); Severe renal impairment (creatinine clearance (GFR) <30 mL/min); Contraindication to magnetic resonance imaging; A weight reduction >5% during the last 3 months; Gastroparesis; Osteoarthritis, which is judged to be too severe to manage the exercise programme; Pregnancy, expecting pregnancy or breast feeding; Regular exercise training at high intensity (eg, spinning) >2 hours per week; Inability to understand the study information in Swedish or provide informed consent.