Physical Activity

Physical Activity in Obesity Management

Key messages for healthcare professionals

  • Regular physical activity induces a wide range of health benefits in adults across all body weight categories, even in the absence of weight loss.
  • Aerobic and resistance exercise can favour the maintenance or improvements in cardiorespiratory fitness, mobility, strength and muscle mass during obesity-management interventions. This can be important, as these outcomes are not targeted and sometimes are negatively affected by other therapies, such as caloric restriction, medications and bariatric surgery.
  • Weight stigma is linked to reduced engagement in physical activity. The role of healthcare professionals is to provide non-judgemental support for physical activity as a health-promoting behaviour, regardless of body size or obesity complexity.
  • In Ireland body weight tends to increase with age. Physical activity is particularly important for preserving lean tissue and reducing metabolic effects of higher levels of fat mass in older adults due to the changes in body composition associated with ageing (higher levels of fat tissue and lower levels of lean tissue).

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