The Study
Comparison of the Effects of Rapid, Moderate, and Slow Weight Loss Combined with a Low-Calorie Diet and Physical Activity on Inflammatory Factors in Obese Women
This study compared three ways of losing weight and saw that losing weight slowly made inflammation go down more than losing it fast. But it only looked at 36 women in one place, so we can't say this will work the same for everyone. It's like testing three different ways to clean a room—you know which way worked best for those rooms, but not for every house.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
When obese women lose weight slowly with diet and exercise, their body inflammation drops more than when they lose weight quickly.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 547 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — lower inflammation may mean lower risk of diseases like diabetes or heart problems, even if weight loss speed doesn’t change BMI.
- 2Slow loss: IL-1 down 39.59%, hs-CRP down 62.28% vs.
- 3rapid loss.
- 4Moderate loss: IL-1 down 22.66% vs.
- 5rapid loss.
- 6No change in BMI across groups.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
International Journal of Sport Studies for Health
Year
2025
Authors
Fatemeh Doroodian, Nicola Luigi Bragazzi
Related Content
Claims (6)
To lose body fat, you must consume fewer calories than you expend, and the size of this calorie deficit has a greater impact on fat loss than whether you do running, weightlifting, or other forms of exercise.
In obese women between 20 and 45 years old, losing weight slowly over 15 weeks with a moderate calorie reduction leads to a larger decrease in two markers of systemic inflammation—interleukin-1 and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein—than losing weight quickly over 12 weeks with a larger calorie reduction.
For obese women between 20 and 45 years old, losing weight through a low-calorie diet combined with aerobic and strength training reduces overall weight and waist size, but does not lead to different final BMI outcomes depending on whether weight is lost quickly, moderately, or slowly.
In obese women between 20 and 45 years old, losing weight quickly by cutting calories by 30–35% for 12 weeks does not lower levels of two inflammatory markers (IL-1 and hs-CRP) compared to their starting levels, but leads to higher levels of these markers after the diet than slower weight loss methods.
In obese women between 20 and 45 years old, losing weight at a moderate pace through a 20–25% calorie reduction over 10 weeks leads to a 22.66% decrease in plasma interleukin-1 levels compared to rapid weight loss, but shows no significant difference compared to slow weight loss.
In obese women aged 20–45, losing weight slowly or at a moderate pace lowers plasma interleukin-1 levels more than losing weight quickly, but none of these weight loss speeds significantly lower high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels, suggesting that interleukin-1 responds more to how fast weight is lost than high-sensitivity C-reactive protein does.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.