This is encouraging news for people looking to lose weight safely, especially older adults who want to lose weight without losing bone or muscle mass.
The study, “Does time spent upright moderate the effects of weighted vests on bone density changes during weight loss in older adults,” was published in a peer-reviewed journal. Frontiers of aging.
A weighted vest can provide an external load equal to the weight lost. Replacing that weight by wearing a vest allows you to:
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It prevents the body’s metabolism from slowing down and helps maintain weight loss.
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Maintaining your muscles and bones becomes especially important as you age. Loss of bone and muscle increases the risk of fractures and disability.
Researcher Jason Fanning, lead author of the study and associate professor of health and exercise science, analyzed data from Wake Forest University’s Bone Health Investment for this study. A randomized controlled trial led by Wake Forest colleague Kristen Beavers examined whether wearing a weighted vest could help maintain bone density during a year of weight loss. Participants were divided into three groups, with the weighted vest group wearing the vest for at least eight hours each day.
What Fanning found:
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Weighted vest and weight loss group: Increasing time spent standing and walking resulted in positive changes in bone density.
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Weight loss only group: Negative changes in bone density were more often seen when standing and stepping.
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Weight loss and strength training group: Time spent upright had no effect on bone density.
Researchers believe that by spending more time upright, the wearer will be exposed to more weight from the vest, resulting in more benefits. The positive changes in bone density in the weighted vest group are promising enough that the INVEST research team is planning a new study. The study will investigate whether encouraging people to move more frequently increases the effectiveness of weighted vests in maintaining bone mass.
“If you’re going to put vests on people, you have to train them to get up and move,” Fanning said. Fanning is also the principal investigator of a current study examining how exercise affects arthritis pain.
A vest can be a great tool. But like any tool, it doesn’t do the job for you. ”
Jason Fanning, Wake Forest University
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Reference magazines:
Fanning, J. others. (2026) Does time spent upright moderate the effect of weighted vests on bone density changes during weight loss in older adults?A secondary analysis of the INVEST randomized controlled trial on bone health. frontier of aging. DOI: 10.3389/fragi.2026.1729001. https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging/articles/10.3389/fragi.2026.1729001/full.
