Traditional weight loss methods often rely on difficult exercise routines and strict calorie restrictions that are hard to maintain over time. This can lead to frustration and negative impacts on individuals’ mental health when weight loss goals are not achieved.
To combat this, new weight loss interventions are being developed that prioritize enjoyment and sustainability. Pleasure-based physical exercise and mindful eating are key components of these interventions and can effectively reverse obesity in the long term.
Mindful eating involves paying attention to hunger and fullness cues rather than obsessing over calorie counts. This approach can help reduce overeating tendencies and promote weight loss while allowing individuals to enjoy their meals.
Yoga-dance is a novel exercise strategy that combines dance and yoga elements to improve body composition outcomes. Exploring alternative weight loss interventions that prioritize enjoyment and ease of implementation can increase compliance and willingness to participate, ultimately reducing the burden of obesity on individuals’ health.
Danish researchers conducted a randomized controlled trial (RCT) that was published in the Nutrients Journal. The study aimed to investigate the effects of yoga-dance and mindful eating on body weight reduction among women who were overweight or obese.
The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of yoga-dance and mindful eating in reducing body weight among women who were overweight or obese. The study was an open-label, exploratory, parallel-arm, superiority randomized control trial that involved 61 inactive, otherwise healthy adult women who were overweight or obese (waist circumference ≥80.0 cm and/or body mass index (BMI) ≥25.0 kg per square meter) and aged ≤65 years.
The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups for a duration of eight weeks. The groups were categorized as either mindful eating only, yoga-dance only, or a combination of yoga-dance and mindful eating. The yoga-dance group attended three classes per week, while the mindful eating group attended workshops every other week, with each session lasting 90 minutes.
The primary objective of the study was to measure the reduction in fat mass among participants, while secondary outcomes included BMI, body weight, fat percentage, fat-free mass (FFM), waist circumference, bone mineral density (BMD), visceral fat, quality of life (QoL), blood pressure, eating behavior, physical exercise, and caloric intake.
The research team used Dual X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans to monitor participants’ FFM, fat mass, BMD, and visceral fat. To recruit study participants, the team used various methods, including reaching out to individuals via social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook, advertising on Danish websites, and putting up posters and flyers in Copenhagen between November 2021 and January 2022.
Participants provided data through online electronic questionnaires that included the World Health Organization (WHO) QoL questionnaire, the intuitive eating scale-2 questionnaire, and the international physical activity questionnaire (IPAQ). The study team conducted baseline evaluations from December 2021 to January 2022, and post-intervention evaluations took place between March 30 and April 10, 2022.
To ensure the safety and accuracy of the study, pregnant and lactating women, individuals who engaged in more than 2.50 hours of mild physical exercise per week or more than 1.0 hour of moderate-hard physical exercise per week, and those with severe diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and diabetes were excluded from the analysis.
Moreover, the study team excluded women with eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, or orthorexia, those who followed restrictive diets, and those who had participated in any other study during the present study period.
Out of the 61 individuals who participated in the study, only 39 women completed it, resulting in a dropout rate of 36.0%. The median values for participant age (years), BMI (kg/m2), and waist circumference (cm) were 41, 27, and 87, respectively.
The study found that fat mass values decreased by 1.30 kg, 3.00 kg, and 1.80 kg in the mindful eating group, yoga-dance group, and the combined yoga-dance and mindful eating group, respectively. The corresponding intervention effect size values were 0.2, 0.3, and 0.2, respectively.
The complete-case analysis revealed that waist circumference and fat percentage decreased, with improved mental health-associated QoL outcomes and eating behavior observed in the mindful eating group and the combined yoga-dance and mindful eating group, compared to the control group.
The study found that body weight, body mass index, systolic blood pressure, and waist circumference decreased in all intervention groups compared to the control group. On the other hand, fat-free mass (FFM), WHO-QoL scores, and energy intake increased in all intervention groups compared to controls.
Furthermore, the study showed that yoga dance was more effective than mindful eating in improving body composition, with larger improvements observed in the participants’ mental well-being and eating behavior.
The same results were observed even after adjusting for physical exercise, either alone or combined with energy intake. However, overall compliance with the study interventions was low to moderate.
The study showed that the combined yoga-dance and mindful eating intervention provided modest health benefits, supporting previous research on dance, yoga, and mindful eating. The interventions could be a practical and accessible approach for reducing weight among overweight and obese women.
However, the study’s limitations, including low-moderate compliance, low training load, and low statistical power with a high drop-out rate, require cautious interpretation of the findings.
Moreover, the effects of the yoga-dance intervention depended on the participants’ technical skills and ability, which may have been limited for many individuals due to excessive body weight and a history of inactivity.
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