Research
Energy balance
High-dose, high-intensity aerobic exercise (600 kcal/session) without dietary restriction can achieve clinically meaningful weight loss (>3-5%) in young, obese adults.
For young, obese individuals, high-volume aerobic exercise (5x/week, ~600 kcal/session) can achieve >5% weight loss without dieting. This requires significant time and effort.
GoodConditionalMEDIUM confidence
the 600-kcal-per-session group had significant reduction in % BF and BF at the end of the trial... lost 5.7% of initial BW... high-dose and high-intensity exercise (without prescribed caloric restriction) can lead to a substantial WL.
Why this rating
Based on a single high-quality RCT (Midwest Exercise Trial 2).
Source
Physical activity and obesity: what we know and what we need to know*
Shao-Hua Chin et al. · Obesity Reviews · 2016
DOI 10.1111/obr.12460
narrative_reviewCited 262×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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- Combining moderate-intensity aerobic exercise with calorie restriction produces significantly greater initial weight loss and fat mass reduction than calorie restriction alone.Strong
- Aerobic exercise alone, without prescribed calorie restriction, produces modest but statistically significant weight loss (approx. 1.6-2.3 kg) in overweight/obese adults over 6-12 months.Good
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