The study of the effect of walking exercise on the body shape and the amount of serum insulin in obese girls

Obesity, a public health problem is more and more growing in the urban societies over the past decade. This creates anxiety because obesity increases all causes of mortality risk and it is more dangerous in younger people than in adults. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of walking exercise on reducing the obesity among the inactive obese girls.Twenty non-athletic obese (BMI>30) girls aged 19-25 voluntarily participated in this study and then were randomly divided into two groups of control and experimental. At the beginning of the study and after two months, the fat mass, the percentage of body fat and lean mass were assessed using bioelectrical impedance method(BIA). The serum insulin was also measured by ELISA method. The experimental group started to do a 30 minutes continuous walking exercise with the intensity of 50- 75% of maximum heart rate, three times a week for two months. Data was analyzed by unpaired t-test at the level of p<0.05.The results showed that walking exercise positively reduced body fat and fat mass and increased the lean mass in the experimental group. Serum insulin also significantly decreased. A regular exercise program like walking exercise can significantly reduce body weight and improve the serum insulin in obese girls. It seems that this type of exercise can be an efficient, safe and inexpensive way to reduce and prevent obesity.