You do not need to exercise for the medication to work. You do need it to keep the muscle, and to hold the result afterwards. That reframes what kind of activity is worth your limited time and energy.
Cardio burns energy, and energy is not the binding constraint when appetite has already fallen sharply. Resistance work sends a different signal: keep this muscle, take the weight from fat instead.
That makes it the higher-value use of limited time and energy while you are on treatment, and it is what makes the result easier to hold once you come off.
Two short sessions you actually do beat an ambitious plan abandoned in three weeks. Energy is lower than usual on reduced intake.
Add walking as a baseline
Daily walking is the easiest thing to sustain, helps mood and digestion, and costs almost nothing in recovery.
Fuel and hydrate around it
Training on a very small intake without protein or fluids beforehand is how people end up lightheaded.
Build as the weight comes off
Movement gets easier month by month. Increase then, rather than trying to do everything in month one.
Care points
Training on a much lower intake
Lightheadedness, unusual fatigue and poor recovery usually mean intake or fluids are too low rather than that the session was too hard. Eating slightly more before training solves most of it.
If you are also on diabetes medication, exercise adds another variable to blood sugar. That is worth planning rather than discovering during a session. GLP-1 and type 2 diabetes covers the next part, alongside Common side effects and Weight loss for men.
How much, what kind, and training on reduced intake.
Not for the weight to come off. But resistance training is what protects the muscle you would otherwise lose, and that affects both how you feel and how well the result holds afterwards.
Resistance work, in this context. Energy expenditure is not the binding constraint when appetite has already dropped sharply, so preserving lean mass is the higher-value goal.
Two resistance sessions a week, plus walking most days, is enough to make a real difference. More is fine if you want it, but this is the level that matters.
Usually too little food or fluid beforehand rather than the session being too hard. Eating something with protein before training resolves most cases.
As weight comes off and movement gets easier, typically from month three onwards. Trying to do everything in month one is how plans get abandoned.
