Research

Energy balance

High-dose exercise (300-330 min/week) preserves fat-free mass during caloric restriction in type 2 diabetes, whereas moderate exercise (150-165 min/week) and diet-only interventions result in fat-free mass loss.

If you have type 2 diabetes and are dieting, you risk losing muscle. To stop this, you need high-volume exercise (at least 5 hours a week) including weights. Standard '150 minutes of exercise' guidelines are not enough to protect your muscle mass during weight loss.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
DCON and MED decreased fat-free mass compared to CON, whereas 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

RCT secondary analysis.

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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