The effect of online zumba exercises on body fat rates, eating attitudes and body image in women

Societal restrictions have increased to keep the rate of spread of the Covid19 epidemic under control. While a large part of life is sustained with internet-based applications during the pandemic process, the increasing restrictions have the society with physical inactivity. The aim of this study is to determine the effect of 8-week online zumba exercises on body fat ratio, eating attitude and body image, given to sedentary women who applied to dieticians to control weight during the Covid19 pandemic. The research is an experimental design study with pre-test and post-test control groups. The study was conducted between December 2020 and March 2021, with 150 people between the ages of 20 and 40 who applied to the nutrition and diet clinic of the medical center in Amasya. Participants were parted into three groups of 50 each: zumba exercise, walking exercise and control. Zumba and walking exercise program was applied to the application groups for 8 weeks. In the study, "Body perception scale" for body image and a "three-factor nutrition questionnaire" for eating attitude were used. Body fat ratios were determined by Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis. Analyzes were made with SPSS 20.0 software at 95% confidence level and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Body fat percentage, trunk fat percentage and waist-hip ratio decreased compared to preliminary measurements in the walking and zumba groups at the end of 8 weeks. At the end of the study, the factors of "emotional eating" and "sensitivity to hunger" decreased significantly in the walking and zumba group. It was observed that 80% of those with low body perception in the walking group and 90% in the zumba group were in the group with high body perception at the end of the study.