# Promotion of Successful Weight Management in Overweight and Obese Veterans

> **NIH VA I01** · BALTIMORE VA MEDICAL CENTER · 2022 · —

## Abstract

Over 70% of Veterans who receive health care at the VA are overweight or obese, and obesity rates of
Veterans receiving care at the VA are higher compared to non-Veterans and Veterans who do not use the VA.
Obesity contributes to loss of mobility which is a significant determinant of morbidity and loss of independence.
Obesity also is associated with elevated cardiometabolic risk factors, including lipid profile, insulin resistance,
hypertension, and inflammation. Though weight loss of as little as 3% improves physical functioning and
reduces type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk factors, most subjects are unsuccessful at long-term weight
maintenance, regaining almost half the weight lost within the following two years and return to baseline weight
within the next 3-5 years. This clinical trial takes on the challenge of maintaining weight reduction by altering
energy balance and possibly skeletal muscle substrate oxidation to mitigate weight regain in overweight and
obese older Veterans with mobility limitations.
 The objective of this award proposal is to test in a randomized clinical trial the effectiveness of an
intensive weight management program with and without intermittent fasting (IF) to combat weight regain and
the obesity crisis in our Veterans. IF refers to short periods of intense energy restriction. We propose to enroll a
total of 200 overweight and obese Veterans with mobility impairments into a 12 weeks weight loss program
that incorporates a low calorie Heart Healthy (HH) diet and exercise at the Baltimore and Atlanta VAMCs.
Following weight loss (WL), Veterans will be randomized to weight maintenance (WM: continuation of HH and
exercise guidelines) program or weight maintenance with intermittent fasting (WM+IF) for 24 weeks. Our
central hypothesis is that IF will provide the stimulus for prevention of weight regain at 36 weeks and will
improve cardiometabolic and functional health factors. Further, we hypothesize that the ability to appropriately
modify fuel utilization through skeletal muscle fatty acid oxidation enzymes is an important factor in weight
maintenance and weight regain.
 This CSR&D Clinical Trial Merit Award introduces an innovative practice of IF to prevent weight relapse
after clinically significant weight reduction and could provide evidence-based recommendations to promote this
type of intervention in the Veteran population.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10409641
- **Project number:** 5I01CX001965-03
- **Recipient organization:** BALTIMORE VA MEDICAL CENTER
- **Principal Investigator:** HEIDI K ORTMEYER
- **Activity code:** I01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** VA
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** —
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2020-07-01 → 2025-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10409641

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10409641, Promotion of Successful Weight Management in Overweight and Obese Veterans (5I01CX001965-03). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10409641. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*