The influence of physical activity and diet on body composition and physical performance in overweight women

The purpose of the study was to assess the effect of exercise and low-calorie diet on body mass, body composition and physical capacity in 13 moderately obese untrained women. The subjects' age was 24.7+/-1.7 years, body mass - 80.7+/-2.4 kg, body height - 166.5+/-1.4 cm, body mass index - 29.7+/-1.1 kg.m(-2). The 8-week supervised exercise program included two 90-min weight trainings and two 30-min aerobic swimming exercise sessions weekly. The mean energy intake during the study was reduced to about 100 kJ.kg(-1).day(-1). The exercise and diet regimens resulted in weight reduction equal to 7.9+/-0.6 kg or 9.8% (P<0.01). This consisted, principally, of fat loss which amounted to 6.0+/-0.5 kg or 7.4% (P<0.001), and nest of the lean body mass (1.9+/-0.3 kg or 2.4%; P<0.05), both of the total initial body mass. The study showed that the low-calorie diet combined with physical activity brought about a gradual body weight reduction (1 kg per week) throughout the 8 weeks of treatment. This was accompanied by a 15.3% increase (P<0.001) in physical capacity (PWC170).