title: Patterns of physical activity among overweight and obese adults.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Little is known about patterns of physical activity in overweight and obese adults, although they are at high risk for chronic disease and can benefit from physical activity. We describe patterns of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and MVPA in bouts of 10 minutes or longer in overweight and obese adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  Overweight and obese participants (n = 1,648) who were screened for the multicenter Weight Loss Maintenance Trial wore RT3 accelerometers for at least 3 weekdays and 1 weekend day. We determined minutes spent in moderate physical activity, vigorous physical activity, and MVPA overall, by weekday vs weekend, and by time of day. We also measured bouts of at least 10 minutes of sustained MVPA.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Participants were active for an average of 15.8 minutes per day. Among those who engaged in bouts of MVPA, the average bout was 33.3 minutes long. Participants who were younger than 50 years, male, non-African American, or overweight were more active than were those who were older than 50, female, African American, or obese. Participants were more active on weekends than on weekdays and in the morning than in the afternoon or evening. Only 2% of participants were active for 60 or more minutes per day.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found differences in physical activity patterns by demographic characteristics, day, and time of day. Weekend mornings may be an opportune time to promote additional physical activity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, 1242 SPH, College Park, MD 20742, USA. dryoung@umd.edu
authors.forename: Deborah Rohm
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: Gerald J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Jerome
authors.forename: Chuhe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laferriere
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Vollmer
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory; D009765:Obesity; D050177:Overweight