The effect of an aerobic dance and diet program on cardiovascular fitness, body composition, and weight loss in women

Sixty female subjects in the age range of 20-65 years participated in a series of experiments to determine the effectiveness of a 1-hour aerobic dance video used each day for a total of 10 days, combined with a dietary plan in promoting weight loss and increasing cardiovascular fitness. The experiment was a single-blinded, randomized design study, and subjects were randomly assigned into 1 of 2 groups. One group of subjects participated in the exercise and diet program (30 subjects) and the other group served as controls, and participated in the measurements only (30 subjects). The diet consisted of 1,306 calories per day and was a balance between Carbohydrates, Fats and, Proteins. For the control subjects (non-exercising), there was no difference in blood pressure, heart rate, girth, or body weight over the 10-day period. In contrast, for the group of subjects that exercised, at 7 days, the average weight loss was 1.22 ± 0.75 kg, and the average loss in girth at the waist was 1.74 ± 3.0 cm. The top 10% of the subjects reduced their weight by 2.53 ± 0.6 kg and waist circumference by 5.86 ± 2.1cm. Heart rate and blood pressure decreased significantly at 7 days (p