About
I'm a protein scientist. I still lost muscle.
I'm Dr Aminata Kanu. I spent more than a decade studying how the body builds and breaks down protein. Then a GLP-1 medication showed me how fast it can go wrong, even when you know the science.
What happened
I took tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for fourteen weeks. Then a bout of vertigo (benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, or BPPV) stopped me, both the medication and my training.
What followed was not a clean exit. I couldn't lift. I lost muscle. My blood sugar markers moved towards pre-diabetes, with no warning. I had the PhD, the lab years and the reading, and it still happened to me.
That was the turning point. Muscle isn't a vanity project. It's the organ that decides whether you keep your results.
So I went back to the evidence and qualified as a strength and conditioning coach. Then I built the plan I needed for myself – protein that actually switches on muscle building, lifting that's hard enough to count and habits that hold on a bad week.
That plan became The GLP-1 Graduate, and it's now becoming an app.
Qualifications and experience
- PhD in Biochemistry, University of Bath
- Over a decade in pharmaceutical and biochemical research, including Unilever and AstraZeneca
- Certified strength and conditioning coach
- HYROX performance coach
- Founder of RESSETT LAB, metabolic health research and human performance
- Author of The GLP-1 Graduate, book 1 of the Science of Stronger series
I'm a scientist and coach, not a medical doctor. Decisions about your medication are always for you and your prescriber.
Three things I believe
Muscle is the organ of metabolic health
Not a scale number. Protect the muscle and most of the other results follow.
Honest ranges, not false precision
Nobody can weigh chicken from a photo. I give you ranges you can trust and act on.
Rules you can keep on a bad week
A plan only works if it survives a rough night, a busy month and real life after 40.
I live in the UK with my teenagers and an unreasonable number of protein shakers.