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  • Original Article
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Clinical Studies and Practice

Does metabolic compensation explain the majority of less-than-expected weight loss in obese adults during a short-term severe diet and exercise intervention?

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 1472–1478 (2012)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Objective:

We investigated to what extent changes in metabolic rate and composition of weight loss explained the less-than-expected weight loss in obese men and women during a diet-plus-exercise intervention.

Design:

In all, 16 obese men and women (41±9 years; body mass index (BMI) 39±6 kg m−2) were investigated in energy balance before, after and twice during a 12-week very-low-energy diet(565–650 kcal per day) plus exercise (aerobic plus resistance training) intervention. The relative energy deficit (EDef) from baseline requirements was severe (74%–87%). Body composition was measured by deuterium dilution and dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, and resting metabolic rate (RMR) was measured by indirect calorimetry. Fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM) were converted into energy equivalents using constants 9.45 kcal per g FM and 1.13 kcal per g FFM. Predicted weight loss was calculated from the EDef using the ′7700 kcal kg−1 rule′.

Results:

Changes in weight (−18.6±5.0 kg), FM (−15.5±4.3 kg) and FFM (−3.1±1.9 kg) did not differ between genders. Measured weight loss was on average 67% of the predicted value, but ranged from 39% to 94%. Relative EDef was correlated with the decrease in RMR (R=0.70, P<0.01), and the decrease in RMR correlated with the difference between actual and expected weight loss (R=0.51, P<0.01). Changes in metabolic rate explained on average 67% of the less-than-expected weight loss, and variability in the proportion of weight lost as FM accounted for a further 5%. On average, after adjustment for changes in metabolic rate and body composition of weight lost, actual weight loss reached 90% of the predicted values.

Conclusion:

Although weight loss was 33% lower than predicted at baseline from standard energy equivalents, the majority of this differential was explained by physiological variables. Although lower-than-expected weight loss is often attributed to incomplete adherence to prescribed interventions, the influence of baseline calculation errors and metabolic downregulation should not be discounted.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Exercise and Nutrition Sciences and Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    N M Byrne & R E Wood

  2. Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Y Schutz

  3. Mater Mother′s Hospital, Mater Medical Research Institute and Griffith Health Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

    A P Hills

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  1. N M Byrne
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Correspondence to N M Byrne.

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Byrne, N., Wood, R., Schutz, Y. et al. Does metabolic compensation explain the majority of less-than-expected weight loss in obese adults during a short-term severe diet and exercise intervention?. Int J Obes 36, 1472–1478 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2012.109

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