Sixty female subjects in the age range of 20 to 65 years participated in a series of experiments to determine the effectiveness of a 1-hour aerobic dance video used each day for a total of 10 days, combined with a dietary plan in promoting weight loss and increasing cardiovascular fitness. The experiment was a single-blinded, randomized design study, and subjects were randomly assigned into 1 of 2 groups. One group of subjects participated in the exercise and diet program (30 subjects) and the other group served as controls, and participated in the measurements only (30 subjects). The diet consisted of 1,306 calories per day and was a balance between Carbohydrates, Fats and, Proteins. For the control subjects (non-exercising), there was no difference in blood pressure, heart rate, girth, or body weight over the 10-day period. In contrast, for the group of subjects that exercised, at 7 days, the average weight loss was 1.22 +/- 0.75 kg, and the average loss in girth at the waist was 1.74 +/- 3.0 cm. The top 10% of the subjects reduced their weight by 2.53 +/- 0.6 kg and waist circumference by 5.86 +/- 2.1cm. Heart rate and blood pressure decreased significantly at 7 days (p < 0.05). By the 10 th day, the average weight loss was 2.1 +/- 0.61 kg, average loss in body fat was 3.0 +/- 1.1% of body weight, and the average reduction of girth at the waist was 3.7 +/- 1.1 cm. For the top 10% of the group, the weight loss was 3.4 +/- 1.4 kg at 10 days, and for the waist, the average reduction of girth was 8.16 +/- 2.3 cm. There was a 28.6% increase in the strength of the core muscles.

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