Research
Hormonal
Exercise improves cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, lipids, glucose) in overweight/obese individuals, even in the absence of significant weight loss.
Even if you do not lose weight, regular exercise will lower your blood pressure, improve your cholesterol profile (specifically increasing HDL and lowering triglycerides), and improve your fasting blood glucose. These are independent benefits of exercise.
GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Exercise is associated with improved cardiovascular disease risk factors even if no weight is lost.
Why this rating
Based on pooled data from RCTs showing significant differences in secondary outcomes.
Source
Exercise for overweight or obesity
Kelly Shaw et al. · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · 2006
DOI 10.1002/14651858.cd003817.pub3
Meta-analysis · 43 studiesCited 945×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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