ABSTRACT
Background: The lifestyle modification remains the fundamental approach for the obesity treatment. The aim of this study is to demonstrate the effect of the multimodal lifestyle intervention on the estimated visceral fat area versus changes in musculoskeletal mass in a cohort of adult men with obesity. Subjects and Methods: A retrospective cohort study in which the file of eighty-two male subjects, aged 20 - 60 years, was studied for three months. Patients had been instructed to follow a balanced-hypocaloric diet, physical activity plan and general advice for combating the unhealthy lifestyle habits through the study period. Those who succeeded to loss > 5% of their body weight were classified as weight loser (WL) group, while others as weight resistant (WR) group. The results of In Body-720 bioelectric impedance analysis were used to report the fat mass (FM), visceral fat area (VFA), skeletal muscle mass (SMM), SMM/VFA ratio, osseous mass (OM), and basal metabolic rate (BMR) before and after the study period. Anthropometric measures, glucose, and lipid profile were also analyzed. Paired t-test was used to detect the significance of change between before and after measures, independent sample t-test was used to compare WL vs. WR groups. Results: There were significant decreases in weight, FM (p < 0.05) and VFA (p < 0.001), in addition to a significant rise of SMM/VFA ratio (p < 0.05), together with insignificant changes of osseous mass, SMM and BMR after 3 months. Additionally, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein, and triglycerides were significantly reduced (P < 0.05). The percentages of reduction in weight, FM and VFA in WL vs. WR groups were highly significant (p < 0.001), while the percentages of change in SMM, SMM/VFA ratio and BMR were significant (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Lifestyle modification might be effective in production of positive changes in the body composition of patients with obesity. These changes were more significant in weight losers.