Sports Med 2006; 36 (3): 239-262

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 1. Diet Intervention Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 1.1 Dietary Energy Restriction and Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 1.2 High-Carbohydrate, Low-Fat Diets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242 1.3 High-Protein Diets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244 2. Exercise Intervention Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 2.1 Exercise and RMR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 2.2 Aerobic Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 2.3 Resistance Exercise and Combined Aerobic and Resistance Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 3. Combined Diet and Exercise Intervention Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 3.1 Dietary Energy Restriction and Aerobic Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250 3.2 Dietary Energy Restriction and Resistance Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254 3.3 Dietary Energy Restriction Combined with Aerobic and Resistance Exercise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 4. Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 The incidence of obesity is increasing rapidly. Research efforts for effective Abstract treatment strategies still focus on diet and exercise programmes, the individual components of which have been investigated in intervention trials in order to determine the most effective recommendations for sustained changes in bodyweight. The foremost objective of a weight-loss trial has to be the reduction in body fat leading to a decrease in risk factors for metabolic syndrome. However, a concomitant decline in lean tissue can frequently be observed. Given that fat-free mass (FFM) represents a key determinant of the magnitude of resting metabolic rate (RMR), it follows that a decrease in lean tissue could hinder the progress of weight loss. Therefore, with respect to long-term effectiveness of weight-loss programmes, the loss of fat mass while maintaining FFM and RMR