The effects of a diet-exercise program on blood lipids, blood pressure, and diabetes indices in relation to body fat and body fat distribution

The purpose of this dissertation research was to evaluate the relationship of obesity measured as the sum of skinfolds (SSF) and body mass index (BMI) and body fat distribution measured as waist-hip ratio (WHR) to risk factors for cardiovascular heart disease (CHD), hypertension, and diabetes, and to evaluate the effects of a 12-week diet-exercise program on fasting insulin, glucose, glycohemoglobin (Hb A1), systolic (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), high density lipoprotein cholesterol subfraction 2 (HDL2-C), subfraction 3 (HDL2-C), diet, body weight (BW), body fat (%BF), waist (WC) and hip circumference (HC) cardiovascular fitness and stress. Fifty-five subjects (20 males and 35 females) were evaluated for the cross-sectional component of this research, and 36 subjects (15 males and 21 females) were evaluated for the longitudinal study. The exercise program consisted of "fast" walking sessions 3 times/week. Lifestyle workshops on topics such as nutrition, stress management, and the benefits of physical activity and a healthy diet were conducted weekly