Lifestyle Intervention to Improve Bone Quality

Participants in the this group will receive group educational sessions that focus on diet, exercise, and social support once a month throughout the study. The sessions will provide an opportunity for participants to discuss issues related to living with obesity and aging.Participants will also attend regular scheduled clinic visits for assessment of outcomes.

"The lifestyle modification will be achieved by group behavior therapy sessions designed to have older adults acquire positive weight-control skills/attitudes, and practice weight-maintenance skills.Participants will attend weekly group sessions (10-15 persons), which will last \~75-90 minutes. Visit frequency will be decreased to every 2 wks. from 6 to 12 mos. to prevent treatment fatigue. A balanced diet will be prescribed to provide a deficit of 500-750 kcal/day from daily energy requirement.~The exercise sessions are of \~90 min duration (\~15 min warm-up of flexibility exercise, followed by \~30 min of aerobic exercise, and after a brief rest period, \~30 min of resistance training, and finally \~15 min balance exercise) conducted three times weekly supervised at our exercise facility for one year. Aerobic exercises consist of treadmill, stationary cycling, and stair climbing."