Dallas Chiropractor Best Practices
Research Commentary;
Effect of Exercise Training
on Weight Loss
A review of
Bellicha, A, van Baak, MA, Battista, F, et al. Effect of exercise training on weight loss, body composition changes, and weight maintenance in adults with overweight or obesity: An overview of 12 systematic reviews and 149 studies. Obesity Reviews. 2021; 22( S4):e13256. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.13256
Research Reviewed by Dr. Anthony Vasile
Summarized Review of Conclusion:
This research showed that resistance training and aerobic training combined had the greatest impact on weight loss measures. Aerobic exercise was found to create the biggest effect on weight loss vs resistance training. Resistance training alone helped people lose some weight while maintaining lean body mass, or muscle, compared to aerobic exercises alone. So, this means if you want to keep muscle while losing weight, resistance exercises is your best bet but if the main objective is to lose weight do both resistance and aerobic exercise.
Below I have referenced key quotes from this research to help summarize the results.
Quotes from the Article:
“All SR-MAs reported a significant weight loss in the exercise group vs. a non-exercise control group, whatever the type of exercise training performed, that is, aerobic training,20, 22 aerobic or resistance training or both18 and HIIT9”
“Comparing one to the other, a significantly greater weight and fat loss of about 1 kg for each outcome was reported after aerobic vs. resistance training.21”
“This overview of reviews also provided evidence on significant effects of exercise on visceral adiposity as measured by imaging techniques such as CT scan or MRI in patients with overweight or obesity.”
“These findings are in agreement with the extensive literature showing the superiority of resistance training over other exercise modalities to stimulate muscle protein synthesis and thus increase or maintain muscle mass.41”
Introduction to the Research
The United States is currently having one of the highest populations in the world of individuals that are overweight or obese. The purpose of this review was to analyze the effects of exercise training programs on weight loss, changes in body composition, and weight maintenance in adults overweight or obese. Physical activity is a key part to help with the management of weight.
Research Methodology
This overview of reviews follows the guidelines outlined by the Cochrane Handbook14 and is registered in the PROSPERO database (registration number CRD42019157823).
Three electronic databases (PubMed, Web of Science and Cochrane Library) were searched for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (SR-MAs) published between 2010 and December 2019 using the strategy “obesity AND physical activity AND age AND weight loss” (Table S1). Limits were set to include SR-MAs published in English. Reference lists from the resulting reviews and articles were also screened to identify additional articles.
Research Findings
The study found that resistance training along with aerobic exercising had the greatest impact on weight loss, waist composition, weight maintenance and overall health. Since we have an epidemic of overweight and obese individuals it is crucial that research like this gets out so people can see how important exercise is. Our goal as humans to get to and stay in a state of homeostasis. Exercise or movement is just one of the 3 factors that can lead us to this. It is vital to incorporate a healthy diet, manage stress and receive regular chiropractic adjustments to give the body the ability to do what it knows best and that is staying well.
Research References
As always with these reviews, these are my takeaways from the article and I encourage you to read the article in its entirety. The references used in this article by the authors of this article are listed here.