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This study examined the between-person associations of seven health behaviors in adults with obesity participating in a weight loss intervention, as well as the covariations between these behaviors within-individuals across the intervention. The present study included data from a 12-month weight loss trial (N = 278). Seven health behaviors (physical activity, sedentary behavior, sleep duration, and consumption of fruits, vegetables, total fat and added sugar) were measured at baseline, 6- and 12-months. Between- and within-participants network analyses were conducted to examine how these behaviors were associated through the 12-month intervention and covaried across months. At the between-participants level, associations were found within the different diet behaviors and between total fat and sedentary behaviors. At the within-participants level, covariations were found between sedentary and diet behaviors, and within diet behaviors. Findings suggest that successful multiple health behaviors change interventions among adults with obesity will need to (1) simultaneously target sedentary and diet behaviors; and (2) prevent potentialcompensatory behaviors in the diet domain.

The objective of the present study was to estimate whether physical activity (i.e., step counts) on one day was associated with both sleep quality (i.e., sleep efficiency) and quantity (i.e., total sleep time) the following night and to examine to what extent sleep on one night was associated with physical activity the next day. We collected data continuously with a Fitbit Charge 3 among 33 young adults with overweight and obesity participating to a weight management program. A total of 7094 days and nights were analyzed (215 days on average per participants). Person-specific models (i.e., participants were not pooled together) were conducted to test the bi-directional associations for each participant separately. Results from linear regressions and Generalized Additive Models (GAMs) were compared to account for potential non-linearities in associations. Results suggest an absence of association between steps and sleep efficiency in the two directions for most participants [i.e., these associations were not significant for 31 (94%) and 32 (97%) of the participants]. More heterogeneous results were observed for the association between steps and total sleep time, with 19 participants (58%) showing a negative association between total sleep time and next day steps, and 9 (27%) showing a negative association between steps and next day total sleep time (results of the linear regressions). Taken together, these results suggest a potential conflicting association between total sleep time and physical activity in the daily lives of young adults with overweight and obesity.