In the authors' words
“Exercise was associated with weight loss (1.1-6 kg) in all intervention studies, all of which studied an overweight sample, and with weight maintenance in most observational studies, all of which studied a general population or otherwise overweight-unspecific sample.”
What was measured
- Body fat and weight Reported an improvement
About the study
- Type
- Systematic review
- Who took part
- Postmenopausal, overweight or obesity
- Exercise
- Exercise with diet, General physical activity
- Cited
- 21 times, per Europe PMC
- PubMed ID
- 22381255
How to read this. Each line is one study, summarised in plain language from its PubMed abstract, with the authors' own sentence underneath on the study page. A count of studies is not a verdict: trials differ in size, length and quality, and a result in one group of women may not hold in another. Nothing here is medical advice.
Summaries are generated, then checked by machine against the abstract they came from; any summary that could not be matched word for word was left out. Our clinical lead is reviewing the summaries topic by topic, and this note will change when that is done. Corpus last refreshed 2026-11-03. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix the summary or remove the study.
Similar studies
- A meta-analysis of 20 trials in overweight breast cancer survivors found diet plus exercise programmes reduced weight, BMI and waist size, and improved quality of life.
- A meta-analysis of 7 RCTs found programmed exercise for 3 to 4 months lowered insulin levels, HOMA-IR, BMI and body fat in postmenopausal women, while longer programs mainly reduced waist circumference.
- A meta-analysis of 17 randomized trials in menopausal women found exercise improved body fat, waist circumference, triglycerides, and lumbar spine bone density compared with no exercise.
- A meta-analysis of 11 trials in overweight or obese peri and postmenopausal women found exercise alone reduced body weight less than diet, but adding exercise to diet increased weight and fat loss.