The Effect of Internet-Based Dietary, Exercise, and Combined Interventions on Fat Loss in Overweight and Obese College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Objective: Exploring the effects of Internet-based diet, exercise, and combined interventions on fat loss outcomes in overweight and obese college students. Method: College student volunteers were recruited in October 2023 at a university in Luoyang City and divided into 4 groups according to body fat percentage: control group, dietary intervention group, exercise intervention group, and diet-combined exercise intervention group, with 35 people in each group. A 6-week online nutrition and/or exercise intervention was conducted to observe the changes in body composition indexes before and after the intervention in each group. Multiple linear regression was used to explore the influencing factors affecting the effect of fat loss. Result: Six people were lost to follow-up, and a total of 134 people eventually completed the trial. Prior to the intervention, none of the differences in baseline characteristics of the groups were statistically significant (P > 0.05). Multiple linear regression showed that, compared to the control group, body fat percentage was significantly reduced by 2.18% (95% CI: −3.06 to −1.30, P P = 0.012) in the dietary intervention group, while there was no statistically significant difference in the exercise intervention group (P = 0.317). Female (β = −0.33%, P = 0.039), baseline body fat (β = −0.13%/kg, P = 0.040), and Waist-to-Hip Ratio (β = −12.82%/unit, P = 0.018) were independent predictors of lower body fat percentage (model R2 = 0.336). Conclusion: Internet-based dietary and/or exercise interventions can effectively reduce body fat mass and body fat percentage in overweight and obese college students and are suitable for replication in the obese population.