Weight Cycling Linked to Increased Loss of Muscle Volume

MONDAY, July 27, 2026 (HealthDay News) — For individuals who maintain stable weight over 48 months, weight cycling, defined as repeated episodes of weight loss and regain, is associated with increased loss of thigh muscle volume, according to a study published online July 21 in Radiology.

Adrian A. Marth, M.D., from the University of California in San Francisco, and colleagues compared 48-month changes in magnetic resonance imaging-based thigh muscle volume, proportion of intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT), and knee-adjacent subcutaneous adipose tissue (KaSAT) thickness between weight-stable weight cyclers and weight-stable noncyclers (77 and 1,356 participants, respectively).

The researchers found greater thigh muscle volume loss for weight cyclers versus noncyclers (−3.71 versus −1.03 percent). No evidence was seen for a difference in IMAT proportion change between weight cyclers and noncyclers (2.55 versus 2.61 percent) nor in KaSAT thickness change (12.30 versus 12.20 percent).

“When people”s weight cycled, they lost tremendous amounts of muscle along with the fat, and they didn”t gain the muscle back,” lead author Thomas Link, M.D., Ph.D., also from the University of California, San Francisco, said in a statement. “This tells us that understanding how to protect muscle while people are losing weight is important for overall health.”

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