OBJECTIVES: The purpose was to determine if a 12-week weight loss intervention with a physical activity (PA) component would lead to changes in steps/day, step count accumulation patterns, and peak cadence. DESIGN: Randomized clinical trial. METHODS: Overall, 121 overweight/obese white and African-American adults (ages 35 to 64yrs) were randomized to a diet education plus PA education and behavior change intervention group (DE+PA) or diet education and behavior change group (DE). The DE+PA intervention was designed to increase steps/day, and steps at moderate-to-vigorous intensity. The Actigraph GT3X+ accelerometer was used to measure steps accumulated in different cadence bands (1 to 19, 20 to 39, 40 to 59, 60 to 79, 80 to 99, 100 to 119, 120+ steps/min), and peak 1-min, 30-min and 60-min cadence. Pre- to post-intervention changes in steps/day, step count within each cadence band, and peak cadences were compared within groups using paired sample t-test and between groups after adjustment for baseline values of the same variable using ANCOVA. RESULTS: Ninety participants had valid data (44 in the DE+PA group). Change in steps/day was not significantly different between the groups. However, participants in the DE+PA group accumulated significantly more steps at post-intervention in the 80 to 99, 100 to 119, and 120+ cadence bands, all p < 0.02. The DE+PA group increased step counts accumulated within the 100 to 119 (463 +/- 1,092 versus 56 +/- 546 step counts; p = 0.01) and 120+ (390 +/- 999 versus 34 +/- 321 step counts; p = 0.03) cadence bands, as well as peak 60-min cadence when compared to the DE group. CONCLUSIONS: Non-significant changes in steps/day following a PA intervention may mask changes in steps accumulated at moderate-to-vigorous intensity cadences.

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