Effects of Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance on Lipoprotein Insulin Resistance Scores in Adults with Overweight and Obesity.

An elevated lipoprotein insulin resistance (LP-IR) score corresponds to insulin resistance in adults with overweight and obesity, yet data are lacking regarding the impact of exercise interventions on LP-IR. The purpose of this secondary analysis was to evaluate the effects of a weight loss and weight maintenance intervention on LP-IR score in adults with overweight and obesity. Thirty sedentary adults with overweight and obesity completed a 10-week OPTIFAST weight loss program with supervised aerobic exercise to achieve clinical weight loss (CWL) (≥7% from baseline). Aerobic exercise volume increased weekly until 700 MET min/week was reached. Participants who reached CWL were randomized to groups at volumes at either physical activity (PA-REC) or weight maintenance (WM-REC) recommendations (weeks 11-28). Plasma blood samples were analyzed via nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy at baseline, after weight loss (week 10), and following weight maintenance (week 28). Following the weight loss phase, on average, participants significantly ( < 0.001) reduced LP-IR score (-12.1 ± 13.5), body weight (-8.9 ± 2.7%), and waist circumference (-7.7 ± 4.1 cm). During the weight maintenance phase, there were no changes in LP-IR score between exercise groups (PA-REC: 4.1 ± 13.6; WM-REC: -2.0 ± 11.2; = 0.7). The PA-REC group had improvements in LP-IR score from baseline (49.8 ± 24.6 to 36.6 ± 27.6, < 0.001), yet there were no within-group changes during the weight maintenance phase ( > 0.05). LP-IR score improved during weight loss in adults with overweight and obesity and were sustained during the weight maintenance phase in the PA-REC group. Aerobic exercise at least at minimum guidelines following CWL can preserve LP-IR score improvements and may indicate a reduced T2DM risk in adults with overweight and obesity.