Effect of dairy intake and resistance exercise on weight loss in overweight or obese caucasian men and women

Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of three groups for a duration of 12 weeks. Group 1: 3 serves of dairy product/day only [1 serve each of milk, cheese & fruit yoghurt], Group 2: 5 serves of dairy/day only[ 2 serves of milk, 1 of cheese, 2 of fruit yoghurt], Group 3: 5 serves/day plus resistance exercise training. All subjects will be prescribed an individualized energy restricted diet that will consist of normal foods eaten by the subject but tailored to meet National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) dietary guidelines. Dairy products like low-fat milk, cheese, and fruit yoghurt will be provided to all subjects in sufficient quantities to help them fulfill the requirement for their group allocation. The resistance training group will, in addition, undergo individualized, incremental exercise training under the supervision of qualified trainer. Each session will start with a 15 min warm up, followed by 45 - 90 min exercise and end with a 15 cool down. All exercise sessions will be conducted 3 times per week. At each session, subjects will complete one set of 10 exercises at 10 repetition maximum (10-RM), for the first two weeks, increasing to two sets by week 4, three sets by week 6, and four sets by week 8. The latter intensity will be maintained till the end of trail by week 12.