Associations of objectively measured physical activity and sleep with weight loss maintenance: A preliminary study of Japanese adults

Abstract

Maintaining weight loss is considerably more challenging than losing weight. Most previous studies on weight loss maintenance have been conducted in Western countries and have assessed physical activity and sleep with the use of questionnaires. This preliminary study investigated the associations of objectively measured physical activity and sleep with weight loss maintenance among 25 Japanese adults who had intentionally lost ≥ 10% of their original weight. Participants wore tri-axial accelerometers on their waists and sleep monitors on their wrists for two weeks to measure their physical activity and sleep, respectively. A linear regression adjusted for sex, age, maximum weight, and time since losing weight was performed to investigate these associations. Participants had a mean body mass index of 23.4 kg/m2 and a median weight loss of 12.5%. Compared to those who maintained < 12.5% weight loss, those who maintained ≥ 12.5% weight loss slept longer (adjusted mean difference: 66.1 min/night, 95% confidence interval (CI): -14.0, 146.3 min/night, p = 0.10) and performed less moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (adjusted mean difference: -21.7 min/day, 95% CI: -58.0, 14.5 min/day, p = 0.22). Though statistical power was limited, sleep behavior may be an important modifiable factor that facilitates weight loss maintenance. Our findings can be used to establish a well-designed study to confirm this association.