Weighted vests may mitigate metabolic slowdown and subsequent weight regain in older adults after diet-induced weight loss, according to a pilot study. Digest
Although many older adults can successfully lose weight through diet and exercise, most eventually regain it, partly due to changes in metabolism and appetite that happen after weight loss. However, gravitational loading—the physical force the body applies during movement—may have a surprising influence on long-term weight management. A recent study found that older adults who wore a weighted vest during a six-month weight loss program were less likely to regain the weight they lost, possibly because their metabolism remained more stable.
Researchers enrolled 18 older adults with obesity in a six-month weight loss program that included daily calorie restriction. Half of the participants also wore a weighted vest (weighing a minimum of 10 pounds) for 10 hours daily. The researchers measured the participants' body weight and resting metabolic rate before and after the six-month intervention, and again at 24 months.
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Both groups lost about the same amount of weight by six months—roughly 11% of their starting weight. But 24 months later, those who wore the weighted vest had kept off about half the weight they had lost, while the others had regained nearly all of it. Participants who wore the vest also showed far less decline in their resting metabolic rate—less than 20 calories per day—compared to a drop of more than 230 calories per day in the diet-only group. Those with greater drops in metabolic rate were more likely to regain weight.
These findings suggest that wearing a weighted vest during weight loss helps older adults sustain their results, possibly by reducing the metabolic slowdown that usually follows weight loss. Although this was a small pilot study, the results support the idea that gravitational loading can affect long-term weight management and may provide a new strategy for preventing weight regain.