One of the first conversations I have with almost everyone using a GLP-1 is about protein.

And for good reason.

When you’re eating significantly less food, getting enough protein becomes incredibly important. Your body still needs the raw materials to maintain muscle, recover, and function properly. But somewhere along the way, I think the conversation became oversimplified: Eat enough protein and you’ll protect your muscle.

I wish it were that easy.

Protein is part of the equation. Resistance training is the other part.

When you lose weight—especially when you lose it quickly—your body doesn’t exclusively burn fat. Some of that weight can come from lean mass. That matters because the goal shouldn’t simply be to become a smaller version of yourself. The goal should be to lose excess body fat while preserving as much muscle as possible.

Eating protein gives your body the building blocks. Strength training gives your body a reason to keep those building blocks around.

That doesn’t mean you need to become a bodybuilder. You don’t need to spend two hours in the gym six days a week. But you need some type of consistent resistance training. Lift weights. Use resistance bands. Do bodyweight exercises. Find something appropriate for your current fitness level and progressively challenge your muscles.

This is one of the reasons I get concerned when GLP-1s are marketed entirely around a number on the scale. If someone loses 40 pounds, everybody celebrates the 40 pounds. But I want to know what they lost.

Thirty pounds of fat and ten pounds of muscle is a very different outcome than losing nearly all fat while maintaining—or potentially even building—lean mass.

And this becomes even more important when you start thinking beyond the medication.

Eventually, I want the people I work with to be able to maintain their results without depending on an injection forever. Muscle matters tremendously in that equation. It matters for strength, mobility, metabolism, healthy aging, and your ability to continue doing the things you want to do later in life.

So yes, eat your protein. I talk about it constantly.

But don’t stop there.

Give your body a reason to keep the muscle you’re trying so hard to protect.

(This is Volume 8 of “Confessions of a GLP-1 Dealer,” a 12-week series sharing what I’ve learned from working with people using GLP-1 medications—and what I believe matters beyond the injection.)