Effects of a Weighted Vest on the Energy Expenditure of Sedentary Individuals With Overweight and Obesity During Free-Living and Controlled Conditions

Much emphasis has been placed on structured exercise as a means for increasing physical activity and improving energy expenditure among sedentary individuals with overweight and obesity, which has often proven unsustainable. This study aims to examine the effects of a weighted vest on the energy expenditure of sedentary individuals with overweight and obesity. Fourteen sedentary individuals (12 males and 2 females) with overweight and obesity (mean ± SD; age 29.14 ± 5.33 years, body mass 93.09 ± 9.08 kg, height 174.43 ± 9.94 cm, BMI 29.99 ± 3.27 kg/m² ) volunteered to participate in this trial. The experimental protocol was carried out in two phases: four days during free-living conditions and one day of a lab visit. Participants continuously wore a 10% body mass weighted vest (Tunturi, Finland) with an accelerometric device (Actiheart 5, CamNtech, UK) for ten hours on two non-consecutive days. A 24-hour recording was also done on two non-consecutive days with the Actiheart 5 device only during free living. After the free-living measurements, participants were invited to the lab for two separate tests on the same day: a walking step test at 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, and 5.5 km.h^-1 with and without the vest, followed by the second test, a ramp VO_2max test without the vest after a 30-minute recovery period. A paired samples T-test revealed significantly higher energy expenditure [t (11) = 6.38; d =1.84; p<0.001] on days with the vest (1633 ± 281 kcal.h^-1) compared to days without (1468 ± 231 kcal.h^-1) during free-living conditions. Two-way repeated measures ANOVA showed significant (p<0.05) effects of the weighted vest on cardiorespiratory variables compared to the control condition during the lab test. We concluded that wearing a weighted vest (10 % of body mass) during the active phase of the day (10 hours) is an effective strategy for increasing energy expenditure in sedentary individuals under free-living conditions.