**1. Introduction**

Overweight and obesity are global health problems affecting more than 1.1 billion adults [1]. This is problematic in that overweight and obesity are prominent risk factors for the development of numerous conditions and diseases, including cardiovascular, pulmonary and metabolic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus [1, 2]. Consequently, overweight and obesity then result in enormous burdens on the healthcare system and burgeoning healthcare costs [3]. In weight loss regimes, it is important to note that the use of the term "overweight" is a misnomer, since overweight and obesity are situations of an individual being "overfat" and not just having a high weight [4].

Weight loss is a common aim for athletes, obese, overweight and even normal weight individuals. However, an optimal weight loss programme should

concomitantly reduce body fat while maintaining lean mass [5]. As such, the relative effect of various interventions should be assessed on how they impact body composition, rather than weight loss. In this regard, body composition is the amount or percentage of tissues within in the body, primarily including body fluids, bone, fat and muscle tissue an individual has. Typically, body composition is defined as the distribution of the body tissues into extracellular water, fat-free mass/lean mass and fat mass [6]. In this regard, two individuals of the same gender, height and weight can look completely different because of differences in body composition.

Further, in addition to total fatness, fat topography or distribution in the body has been found to be even more important for health promotion and disease prevention [7, 8]. This is so since abdominal visceral fat deposition is especially associated with an increased risk for a variety of health problems and metabolic disturbances such as "syndrome x" [9]. An increased intra-abdominal visceral fat even in the absence of a high body mass index (BMI) or generalised obesity can increase mortality and morbidity from chronic diseases and health conditions such as heart disease, hypertension and diabetes mellitus [7].
