Healthy Weight Loss Maintenance with Exercise, Liraglutide, or Both Combined
- Design
- Randomized trial · 195 participants · Intermediate outcome
- Match to healthy normal-weight adults aged 55–75
- Different populationObesity without diabetes; young to middle-aged.
- Could weight loss explain it?
- Not applicableWeight-maintenance trial.
- Study tier
- Study tier 2[Auto] Small or short randomized trial (auto-provisional).
- Assessment
- Version 4 · Checked against the source by AI · Oct 19, 2026
Study facts come from the paper. Population match, weight-loss explanation and study tier are our judgments, made against the reference group of healthy normal-weight adults aged 55–75.
After an 8-week low-calorie diet, all three active strategies kept off more weight over a year than placebo. Exercise plus liraglutide kept off more weight than exercise alone, but not significantly more than liraglutide alone (-2.7 kg, P=0.13). The combination lowered body-fat percentage about twice as much as either alone and was the only strategy associated with better fitness, HbA1c and insulin sensitivity. Liraglutide alone was associated with more gallstones and higher heart rate than the combination group.
01Findings
What the study reported
- Drugs
- Liraglutide
- Dose
- 3.0 mg daily
- Route
- subcutaneous
- Treatment duration
- 52 weeks
- Comparator
- placebo; exercise; combination
- Primary outcome
- Change in body weight at 1 year after 8-week low-calorie diet
- Effect
- vs placebo: exercise -4.1 kg; liraglutide -6.8 kg; combination -9.5 kg; combination decreased body-fat percentage by 3.9 points, about twice exercise (-1.7) or liraglutide (-1.9) alone
- 95% confidence interval
- Not extracted
- Follow-up
- 52 weeks
- Adverse events
- Increased heart rate and cholelithiasis more often with liraglutide alone than combination.
- Limitations
- Not extracted
Who was studied
- Age range
- not reported in abstract; full text not checked
- Obesity status
- obesity (BMI 32-43)
- Diabetes status
- excluded
- Sample size
- 195
Study quality details
- Study design
- Randomized controlled trial
- Sample size
- 195
- Randomization
- yes
- Blinding
- not stated
- Comparator
- placebo; exercise; combination
- Follow up duration
- 52 weeks
- Outcome type
- hard
- Replication
- not assessed (auto)
- Consistency with other evidence
- not assessed (auto)
- Population applicability
- INDIRECT
- Statistical precision
- CI reported: 95% confidence interval [CI], -7
- Risk of bias
- not assessed (auto)
- Funding conflicts
- partial
- Peer review status
- yes
02Funding
Funding and conflicts
- Funding
- Novo Nordisk Foundation and others
- Industry funded
- Partial
- Manufacturer
- Not reported in the abstract; full text not checked.
- Sponsor role
- mixed industry and public/foundation funding
- Author conflicts
- See published disclosures.
- Independent replication
- no
- Notes
- Authors declare relationships with the drug's manufacturer: Novo Nordisk
Funding is shown on every study and never used to score it.
03Claims
Claims this study bears on
- GLP-1-induced weight loss causes clinically meaningful loss of muscle mass or function.Doesn't directly test the claim
S-LiTE: in adults with obesity and no diabetes, exercise plus liraglutide cut body-fat percentage by 3.9 points, about twice either alone, and only the combination improved fitness; the abstract reports no lean-mass or strength result.
04Source
The source, as retrieved
Abstract
[BACKGROUND] Weight regain after weight loss is a major problem in the treatment of persons with obesity. [METHODS] In a randomized, head-to-head, placebo-controlled trial, we enrolled adults with obesity (body-mass index [the weight in kilograms divided by the square of the height in meters], 32 to 43) who did not have diabetes. After an 8-week low-calorie diet, participants were randomly assigned for 1 year to one of four strategies: a moderate-to-vigorous-intensity exercise program plus placebo (exercise group); treatment with liraglutide (3.0 mg per day) plus usual activity (liraglutide group); exercise program plus liraglutide therapy (combination group); or placebo plus usual activity (placebo group). End points with prespecified hypotheses were the change in body weight (primary end point) and the change in body-fat percentage (secondary end point) from randomization to the end of the treatment period in the intention-to-treat population. Prespecified metabolic health-related end points and safety were also assessed. [RESULTS] After the 8-week low-calorie diet, 195 participants had a mean decrease in body weight of 13.1 kg. At 1 year, all the active-treatment strategies led to greater weight loss than placebo: difference in the exercise group, -4.1 kg (95% confidence interval [CI], -7.8 to -0.4; P = 0.03); in the liraglutide group, -6.8 kg (95% CI, -10.4 to -3.1; P<0.001); and in the combination group, -9.5 kg (95% CI, -13.1 to -5.9; P<0.001). The combination strategy led to greater weight loss than exercise (difference, -5.4 kg; 95% CI, -9.0 to -1.7; P = 0.004) but not liraglutide (-2.7 kg; 95% CI, -6.3 to 0.8; P = 0.13). The combination strategy decreased body-fat percentage by 3.9 percentage points, which was approximately twice the decrease in the exercise group (-1.7 percentage points; 95% CI, -3.2 to -0.2; P = 0.02) and the liraglutide group (-1.9 percentage points; 95% CI, -3.3 to -0.5; P = 0.009). Only the combination strategy was associated with improvements in the glycated hemoglobin level, insulin sensitivity, and cardiorespiratory fitness. Increased heart rate and cholelithiasis were observed more often in the liraglutide group than in the combination group. [CONCLUSIONS] A strategy combining exercise and liraglutide therapy improved healthy weight loss maintenance more than either treatment alone. (Funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and others; EudraCT number, 2015-005585-32; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT04122716.).
Where this record came from
| Source | Retrieved | Identifier |
|---|---|---|
| pubmed | Sep 13, 2026 | 33951361 first ingestion |