Doctors often recommend low-protein diets for people with kidney
disease because such a diet delays the worsening of kidney
disease. However, patients who don't eat protein lose muscle.
When patients lose enough muscle, they become weak and less able
to carry out their usual activities. Lifting weights (resistance
training) builds up muscle and reduces loss of muscle in such
diseases as HIV infection and congestive heart failure. No one
has tested resistance training to see if it prevents loss of
muscle in patients with kidney disease who are following a low-
protein diet.