julia.endo said:

Gym confidence after training weight loss: walked into a gym for the first time in 8 years yesterday.

Exercise transformation with training: went from barely able to walk a block to completing a 10K last weekend.

My fitness journey alongside GLP-1 therapy:

• Month 1-2: Walking 15 min/day
• Month 3-4: Walking 30-45 min, started bodyweight exercises
• Month 5-6: Joined a gym, started resistance training
• Month 7+: Running, lifting heavy, swimming for fun

The weight loss made movement possible. The movement made more weight loss possible. Virtuous cycle in action.

The figures, for anyone assembling their own picture. The boring version of this is the one that works, and the boring version is: measure a baseline, change one variable, wait, measure again under the same conditions. Nobody wants that answer and it is still the answer.

sarah.morrison said:

Exercise transformation with training: went from barely able to walk a block to completing a 10K last weekend.

Coming at sarah.morrison’s question from a different direction. It helps to say which part of this you are uncertain about. A precise question gets a precise answer; a general one gets everybody’s favourite anecdote.

A narrower follow-up, since the general answer is now clear:

How would you tell the difference between that and the alternative explanation?

Reporting back.

Resolved, and the thing that resolved it was the least interesting suggestion in the thread. Writing that down for the next person who wants the interesting answer.