Vol. 2025 No. 3 (2025)
Articles

The effects of exercise intensity on energy expenditure, weight, and lee's index in adolescent obese rats

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  • Qiang Li,
  • Chloe Jones
Qiang Li
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, United Kingdom
Chloe Jones
School of Sport, Exercise and Health Sciences, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, United Kingdom

Published 18-06-2025

Keywords

  • Exercise intensity,
  • Adolescent obesity,
  • Immediate post-exercise energy expenditure,
  • Body weight,
  • Lee's Index

Copyright (c) 2025 Cambridge Sport Science

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

[1]
Q. Li and C. Jones, “The effects of exercise intensity on energy expenditure, weight, and lee’s index in adolescent obese rats”, Camb. Sport Sci., vol. 2025, no. 3, pp. 26–36, Jun. 2025, doi: 10.62852/css/2025/170.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the effects of different intensity exercise prescriptions on immediate energy expenditure, body weight, and Lee's Index in adolescent obese rats immediately after exercise during an 8-week weight loss process. Methods: After 7 weeks of modeling, 32 obese rats were randomly divided into 4 groups, with 8 rats in each group: obese control group, low-intensity exercise group, moderate-intensity exercise group, and high-intensity exercise group. The running speeds on the treadmill for the three intensity levels were set at 15–18 m/min, 21–25 m/min, and 28–32 m/min, respectively, with 5 sessions per week and 60 minutes per session for 8 weeks. Body weight was measured and Lee's Index was calculated weekly. A rat metabolic system was used to measure the immediate oxygen uptake and energy expenditure in rats after exercise. Results: During the 8-week intervention, the exercise groups showed significantly higher immediate post-exercise muscle oxygen uptake and total oxygen uptake, as well as muscle energy expenditure and total energy expenditure compared to the control group (P<0.05, P<0.01). The high-intensity group had higher values than the low-intensity group (P<0.05). Weight gain was significantly lower in the intervention groups compared to the control group (P<0.05, P<0.01). Lee's Index was significantly lower in the intervention groups at week 8 compared to the control group (P<0.05, P<0.01), with no significant differences between different exercise intensities (P>0.05). In adolescent obese rats, body weight tends to increase with age, while muscle oxygen uptake, total oxygen uptake, muscle energy expenditure, and total energy expenditure tend to decrease. After 8 weeks of exercise intervention, different intensity exercise prescriptions can increase immediate post-exercise oxygen uptake and energy expenditure in adolescent obese rats, with the most significant effects observed in the high-intensity group. Weight gain and Lee's Index were reduced, but the effects were less influenced by exercise intensity.

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