Impact Of Time-restricted Eating And Aerobic Exercise On Maintaining Weight Loss In Women With Overweight/obesity

PURPOSE: Time-restricted eating (TRE) and aerobic exercise are effective in achieving short-term weight loss in individuals with overweight or obesity. However, the combined effects of TRE and aerobic exercise on long-term weight maintenance remain unclear due to limited data on the sustained effect after the intervention period. This study aims to evaluate the effects of a 12-week intervention combining TRE with aerobic exercise on weight loss and its maintenance over a subsequent 3-month follow-up period in women with overweight or obesity. METHODS: This single-center, parallel-group, assessor-blinded, four-arm randomized controlled trial involved 98 females with overweight or obesity. Participants were randomized into four groups: 1) TRE with an 8-hour eating window; 2) aerobic exercise (3x/week, totaling 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity per week); 3) a combination of TRE and exercise; 4) control group. Body mass was assessed at baseline, post-intervention, and follow-up. Data were analyzed using a generalized estimated equations. After identifying a significant group by time interaction, pairwise comparisons were performed using linear contrast with Holm adjustment. RESULTS: A significant group-by-time interaction effect was observed for body mass (P < 0.001). At post-intervention, all three intervention groups achieved greater weight reductions compared to the control group (all P < 0.001). The combination group showed the most substantial decrease in weight, surpassing the TRE and exercise groups alone by -1.61 kg and -2.26 kg, respectively (both P < 0.001). At follow-up, the combination group sustained significant weight loss compared with the control group (-3.82 kg, 95% CI -5.45 to -2.18; P < 0.001). The TRE group also maintained improvements over the control (-1.67 kg, 95% CI -2.92 to -0.42; P = 0.009), while the exercise group did not show significant changes (-0.82 kg, 95% CI -1.90 to 0.27; P = 0.142). CONCLUSIONS: Combining time-restricted eating with aerobic exercise leads to a more remarkable weight loss compared to individual intervention with improvement sustained for at least 3 months after the intervention period. This suggests that TRE combined with exercise is a more effective strategy for sustainable weight management in women with overweight and obesity.