Regular exercise attenuates the metabolic drive to regain weight after long-term weight loss
- 1 September 2009
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physiological Society in American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology
- Vol. 297 (3), R793-R802
- https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00192.2009
Abstract
Weight loss is accompanied by several metabolic adaptations that work together to promote rapid, efficient regain. We employed a rodent model of regain to examine the effects of a regular bout of treadmill exercise on these adaptations. Obesity was induced in obesity-prone rats with 16 wk of high-fat feeding and limited physical activity. Obese rats were then weight reduced (∼14% of body wt) with a calorie-restricted, low-fat diet and maintained at that reduced weight for 8 wk by providing limited provisions of the diet with (EX) or without (SED) a daily bout of treadmill exercise (15 m/min, 30 min/day, 6 days/wk). Weight regain, energy balance, fuel utilization, adipocyte cellularity, and humoral signals of adiposity were monitored during eight subsequent weeks of ad libitum feeding while the rats maintained their respective regimens of physical activity. Regular exercise decreased the rate of regain early in relapse and lowered the defended body weight. During weight maintenance, regular exercise reduced the biological drive to eat so that it came closer to matching the suppressed level of energy expenditure. The diurnal extremes in fuel preference observed in weight-reduced rats were blunted, since exercise promoted the oxidation of fat during periods of feeding (dark cycle) and promoted the oxidation of carbohydrate (CHO) later in the day during periods of deprivation (light cycle) . At the end of relapse, exercise reestablished the homeostatic steady state between intake and expenditure to defend a lower body weight. Compared with SED rats, relapsed EX rats exhibited a reduced turnover of energy, a lower 24-h oxidation of CHO, fewer adipocytes in abdominal fat pads, and peripheral signals that overestimated their adiposity. These observations indicate that regimented exercise altered several metabolic adaptations to weight reduction in a manner that would coordinately attenuate the propensity to regain lost weight.Keywords
This publication has 47 references indexed in Scilit:
- Central Exercise Action Increases the AMPK and mTOR Response to LeptinPLOS ONE, 2008
- Effect of Exercise on 24-Month Weight Loss Maintenance in Overweight WomenArchives of Internal Medicine, 2008
- A review of the effects of exercise on appetite regulation: an obesity perspectiveInternational Journal of Obesity, 2008
- LKB1-AMPK signaling in muscle from obese insulin-resistant Zucker rats and effects of trainingAmerican Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism, 2006
- Is the insulin resistance syndrome the price to be paid to achieve body weight stability?International Journal of Obesity, 2005
- AMP-activated protein kinase: Ancient energy gauge provides clues to modern understanding of metabolismCell Metabolism, 2005
- Regulation of energy homeostasis by peripheral signalsBest Practice & Research Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 2004
- Acute appetite reduction associated with an increased frequency of eating in obese malesInternational Journal of Obesity, 1999
- Exercise and the maintenance of weight loss: 1-year follow-up of a controlled clinical trial.Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 1998
- Defense of a lowered weight maintenance level by lateral hypothamically lesioned rats: Evidence from a restriction-refeeding regimenPhysiology & Behavior, 1977