Research

Energy balance

Increasing physical activity (specifically total, light, and moderate-to-vigorous activity) or decreasing sedentary time during a dietary energy restriction intervention is associated with a faster rate of weight loss in women with overweight and obesity.

If you are on a calorie-restricted diet to lose weight, try to stay active or increase your daily movement. This paper shows that people who increased their physical activity (even light activity) or reduced their sitting time lost weight faster than those who became more sedentary. You don't need to start a rigorous gym routine; simply maintaining or slightly increasing your daily steps and reducing sedentary time can help you reach your goal sooner.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Changes in total (r = 0.54; P < 0.01), light (r = 0.43; P = 0.01) and moderate-to-vigorous PA (r = 0.55; P < 0.01), sedentary time (r = –0.52; P < 0.01), steps per d (r = 0.39; P = 0.02), TDEE (r = 0.46; P < 0.01) and AEE (r = 0.51; P < 0.01) during energy restriction were associated with the rate of WL.
Nuno Casanova et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 2022

Why this rating

The study uses objective measures (SenseWear Armband) and rigorous statistical controls, but it is a secondary analysis of a randomized trial with a relatively small sample size (n=37 completers) and observational correlations rather than a direct experimental manipulation of PA levels.

Source

Increases in physical activity are associated with a faster rate of weight loss during dietary energy restriction in women with overweight and obesity

Nuno Casanova et al. · British Journal Of Nutrition · 2022

DOI 10.1017/s000711452200023x

rct · n=37Cited 6×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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