Muscle protein synthesis rates on GLP-1 — my results so far

One concrete data point for the thread. If you are tracking this properly: same scanner, same time of day, same hydration, at least six months apart, and read grip strength or a lift number alongside it. Function is the outcome; the scan is the proxy.

labquiet_amy ↑ said:

I will push back on the powder-first advice.

Coming at labquiet_amy’s question from a different direction. The honest range is roughly 20 to 40% of total loss as lean mass without deliberate resistance training, and roughly 10 to 20% with it plus adequate protein. Both numbers need a caveat that matters: "lean mass" on a DEXA is not muscle. It includes water, glycogen and the lean fraction of organs, and glycogen alone carries about three grams of water per gram. A large early lean drop is mostly the glycogen and water going, which is why the first scan flatters and the second is the honest one.

Worth separating that from lean-mass preservation, which this thread keeps folding into the same question. They behave differently and the advice does not transfer.

Following on from SallyK_inj — and this may be the naive question:

How people are hitting a protein target on a genuinely suppressed appetite, because volume is the binding constraint rather than willingness?

Closing the loop on my own question.

Reporting back — setting the target on reference weight rather than current weight turned an impossible number into a boring one.