Effects of Exercise Sequence and Meal Sequence on Weight Management Among Children and Adolescents With Overweight or Obesity: The STEP Trial

The goal of this clinical trial is to learn how the order of exercise and the order of eating food affect weight management in overweight and obese children and adolescents. The main questions it aims to answer are whether doing aerobic or anaerobic exercise first changes weight loss results, and whether eating vegetables and proteins before carbohydrates improves health outcomes compared to a standard diet. Furthermore, the study asks how the exercise order and eating order work together to affect weight and health. Researchers will compare four different groups to see if these specific exercise and eating orders work better to treat obesity. Participants will stay at a closed weight loss camp for 28 days and do daily aerobic and anaerobic exercises in a randomly assigned order. They will eat meals in either a strict order, consuming vegetables and proteins first, or a standard order. Throughout the trial, participants will give blood, urine, stool, saliva, and sweat samples for lab tests, while also checking their body weight, body composition, and heart rate. Finally, they will answer surveys about their diet, physical activity, hunger, and tiredness.