Advantages of group treatment and structured exercise in promoting short-term weight loss and cardiovascular risk reduction in adults with central obesity.

Description

The purpose of this study was to determine the advantages of group exercise treatment vs. individual exercise treatment approaches on weight loss and cardiovascular risk reduction in adults with central obesity. Participants were prescribed a low-calorie diet and moderate intensity exercise program. After 20 weeks, a greater weight loss was observed among those exercising in a group (13%) vs. those exercising individually (10.6%). Both groups showed improvements in the number of cardiovascular risk factors such as C-reactive protein levels. Compared to sedentary individuals (9.2%), participants reporting regular exercise had a greater weight loss (15.9%). Thus, these results suggest that exercise in addition to calorie restriction provides weight loss benefits beyond calorie restriction alone. In addition, group exercising treatment seems to yield superior weight loss over individual exercising treatment.