A total of 101 healthy, weight stable (\< 2 kg variation in BW within the last 3 months), adult (18-65 years old) individuals with obesity (body mass index \[BMI\] 30-45 kg/m2) who were not actively trying to lose weight were recruited through advertisements in Facebook, Twitter and the intranet of St. Olavs Hospital and the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim, Norway from May 2017 - August 2018.
Informed consent was obtained from all participants before enrollment in the study, and participants were allowed to withdraw at any time.
Study participants were randomized to one of three intervention arms: low, medium, or high CHO groups. Computer-generated randomization was performed using a block sampling (fixed block size) and stratification approach to account for the potential confounding factors of sex and BMI (\< 35 and ≥ 35 kg/m2). (34, 35). Study participants were not made aware of which intervention arm they were allocated to until the end of the trial. All participants underwent an 8-week, supervised LED containing different amounts of CHO, followed by 4 weeks of gradual refeeding and weight stabilization. Measurements were taken before diet initiation (baseline), at the end of the WL phase (week 8) and at the end of the weight stabilization phase (week 12) to allow for the evaluation of the impact of WL in or out of ketosis on appetite markers.
