Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity reduces weight regain after intervention

Wake-time movement behaviour composition is associated with weight loss maintenance following an intervention, a recent study has shown.

A secondary analysis was conducted from a behavioural weight loss maintenance intervention on weight regain over 12 months after a clinically meaningful weight loss at 3 months. The authors assessed body weight at baseline, after weight loss (3 months), and at the end of the intervention (15 months).

Wake-time behaviours, namely sedentary time (ST), light physical activity (LPA), and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), were evaluated using accelerometry at two time points during the maintenance intervention. Finally, the authors explored the relationship between wake-time movement composition and weight regain using compositional data analysis.

A total of 153 individuals (80.4 percent female, 69.9 percent White) were included in the analysis. Wake-time movement composition significantly correlated with weight regain (p=0.001), with MVPA showing a negative association (p<0.05).

Furthermore, reallocating 10 min/day from ST or LPA to MVPA resulted in less weight regain (ST: ‒32 kg, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], ‒0.53 to ‒0.12; LPA: ‒0.37 kg, 95 percent CI, ‒0.59 to ‒0.15). Wake-time movement composition differed between participants who maintained clinically meaningful weight loss and those who did not, which was primarily driven by MVPA (36.1 vs 24.3 min/day).

“The composition of wake-time behaviours, specifically MVPA, reduces weight regain after clinically meaningful weight loss in a behavioural weight loss maintenance intervention,” the authors said.