Elsevier

Behavior Therapy

Volume 16, Issue 4, September 1985, Pages 345-356
Behavior Therapy

A comparison of lifestyle exercise, aerobic exercise, and calisthenics on weight loss in obese children*

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(85)80002-2Get rights and content

Previous research has shown that lifestyle exercise is superior to programmed aerobic exercise programs for the long-term treatment of childhood obesity. The present study is designed to evaluate the reliability of this finding, with the addition of a low-intensity calisthenics group to control for nonspecific aspects of participating in an exercise program. Results showed similar and significant weight changes across the exercise conditions during the year of treatment for parents and children. However, during the next year of observation, children in the lifestyle group maintained their weight change, while children in the other two groups gained significant amounts of weight. Similar trends were observed for parents. The results for children replicate the positive effects of lifestyle exercise on child weight control.

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*

This research was supported in part by Grant HD12520 from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. The assistance of Camille Szparaga, Mary Jean Kress, Andrea Kriska, Sandra McKenzie, Tony Goreczny, Diana Block, Karen Woodall and Jennifer Holmes in organizing and running treatment groups is appreciated.

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