A Combined Workplace Intervention Including Exercise and Nutrition for Health Promotion in Obese Office Workers: A Randomized Controlled Study

Background: During the last decades, the office workplace setting has increasingly become an inherently “obesogenic” environment, promoting unhealthy behaviors. The main objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of a 6-month workplace combined (exercise and nutrition) intervention in obese office workers, using a randomized controlled study. An additional objective of this study was to evaluate the individual responses per participant following the program. Methods: In total, 36 obese office workers (BMI: ≥30) were randomly assigned to two equal groups: intervention (IG; age: 48.06 ± 6.60 yrs; BMI: 33.57 ± 1.58 kg/m2) and control (CG; age: 47.95 ± 5.95 yrs; BMI: 33.54 ± 1.74 kg/m2). The IG participated in a daily supervised 6-month workplace program (during working hours), including (a) exercise (flexibility, balance, strength, and aerobic) and (b) counseling and educational activities for healthy diet and hydration. The CG did not participate in any intervention. Before and after the 6-month period, the following were measured: (a) health indices (body fat, body circumferences, blood pressure, respiratory function, and lipidemic profile), (b) functional capacity indices (flexibility, balance, handgrip strength, and cardiovascular fitness), and (c) adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MedDietScore) and daily water consumption. Results: All the participants of the IG reduced body mass, body fat, and circumferences (−4.47 to −18.95%), blood pressure (−4.08 to −46.15%), lipidemic profile indicators (−2.50 to −212.67%), and heart rate recovery (−9.62 to −57.33%), while increased respiratory function (1.82–20.26%), flexibility (5.13–50%), balance (15.38–88.83%), handgrip strength (5–25%), MedDietScore (12.5–56%), and water consumption (23.08–50%). In CG, all aforementioned indices remained unchanged (p = 0.16–0.99). Conclusions: A combined workplace intervention (exercise and nutrition) constitutes an effective approach for health promotion in obese office workers.