Exercise defies negative effects of weight regain

Washington, Mar 3 (ANI): Regaining weight is very detrimental to health but a new study suggests that exercise can counter those negative effects.

Researchers at University of Missouri have found that exercising during weight regain can maintain improvements in metabolic health and reduce disease risk.

In the study, individuals who didn't exercise during weight regain experienced significant deterioration in metabolic health, while those who exercised maintained improvements in almost all areas.

"Although many people are successful at losing weight through diet and exercise, the majority of them will relapse and regain the weight," study's lead author Tom R. Thomas, professor in the Department of Nutrition and Exercise Physiology in the College of Human Environmental Sciences, said.

"The findings of this study indicate that regaining weight is very detrimental; however, exercise can counter those negative effects. The findings support the recommendation to continue exercising after weight loss, even if weight is regained," he added.

In the study, overweight men and women with measured characteristics of metabolic syndrome (MetS) were given a diet and aerobic exercise plan that included supervised exercise five days a week, for 4-6 months.

After losing weight, participants underwent programmed weight regain and were separated into two groups, one that exercised and one that didn't.

The non-exercise group experienced rapid deterioration in weight-loss induced benefits to metabolic health.

The exercise group maintained improvements in almost all measures, including LDL and HDL cholesterol, oxygen consumption (VO2max), blood pressure and glucose. Exercise didn't maintain blood cholesterol and abdominal fat loss.

The study will be published in the Journal of Applied Physiology in April. (ANI)