Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Aug 28, 2024
Date Accepted: Apr 8, 2025
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
Study on the Impact of Combined Exercise and Various Dietary Approaches Based on Digital Technology on the Body Composition of Obese College Students
ABSTRACT
Background:
Obesity has become a global health crisis, with projections indicating that by 2030, the number of overweight or obese individuals in China will surge to 790 million. Lifestyle interventions are a crucial component of weight loss programs, yet digital, personalized, and theory- and evidence-based lifestyle interventions remain limited.
Objective:
To investigate the impact of a combination of various dietary approaches and exercise, based on digital technology, on the body composition of obese college students.
Methods:
A total of 129 college students (age: 18.3 ± 0.7 years, weight: 89.9 ± 13.6 kg, BMI: 30.6 ± 3.3 kg/m²) were recruited from Jiangxi Normal University. An 8-week weight loss intervention was conducted on obese college students using a combination of exercise and various dietary approaches based on digital intervention. The exercise regimen included two days per week of one-hour resistance training and at least five times per week of sunlight running, with each run not less than 2 km. The dietary interventions consisted of a low-calorie diet (LCD), a twice-per week fasting diet (TWF), and a 16/8 time-restricted feeding diet (TRF). Changes in body composition indicators (muscle mass, fat mass, and water content) were assessed before and after the intervention. Participants were divided into three groups (LCD, TWF, TRF) for the experiment.
Results:
The 8-week intervention led to improvements in the body composition of obese college students. Additionally, it was found that compared to baseline, the male participants in the TWF group experienced a significant reduction in fat indices, and the female participants in the LCD group also showed a significant decrease in fat indices after the 8-week intervention.
Conclusions:
In the process of weight loss through the combination of exercise and dieting, using digital technology methods, various dietary approaches combined with exercise have distinct effects on body composition. Among the muscle indices, the TRF group experienced a rapid decrease in lean body mass at four weeks, which remained stable at eight weeks, with a slight increase observed in females. Regarding fat indices, males in the TWF group achieved better fat reduction, while females in the LCD group had a more significant decrease in fat mass. In terms of water content, both males and females in the TWF group maintained better hydration levels. Clinical Trial: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR2300073166
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.