Research

Energy balance

In individuals with type 2 diabetes, combining caloric restriction with high-dose exercise (300-330 minutes/week) significantly reduces fat mass percentage more than caloric restriction alone, while preserving fat-free mass.

For people with type 2 diabetes, dieting alone causes muscle loss along with fat. To maximize fat loss and keep muscle, you must add exercise. Aim for 6 sessions a week (300-330 mins total) mixing cardio and weights. If that is too much, start with 3 sessions (150-165 mins), which still burns more fat than dieting alone without losing muscle.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Adding exercise to a caloric restriction was superior in reducing FM% compared to a caloric restriction alone... HED preserved fat-free mass (-0.2%; 95%CI: -2.0% to 1.7%).
Mark Lyngbæk et al. · Journal of sport and health science/Journal of Sport and Health Science · 2024

Why this rating

Randomized clinical trial with a control group, though it is a secondary analysis of a larger trial.

Source

Effects of caloric restriction with different doses of exercise on fat loss in people living with type 2 diabetes: A secondary analysis of the DOSE-EX randomized clinical trial

Mark Lyngbæk et al. · Journal of sport and health science/Journal of Sport and Health Science · 2024

DOI 10.1016/j.jshs.2024.100999

rct · n=82Cited 8×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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