Can a Weighted Vest Halt Bone Loss?

A new study has women questioning the worth-it-ness of the trendy accessory

After seeing a number of beauty pros, all right around my age, wearing weighted vests, and hearing from readers wanting to know if they work, I got curious and reported on the trend for Allure. The piece explores the health concerns that menopause ushers in and how regular exercise—cardio plus weight-bearing activities, including working out with a weighted vest—may help preserve the integrity of our muscles and bones while boosting heart and metabolic health.

From exercise physiologists and trainers to OB/GYNS and endocrinologists, the experts had mostly favorable things to say about weighted vests as adjuncts to midlife wellness routines. (Key word: adjuncts. Vests alone are not a magic panacea.) We reviewed small studies, dating back to the ‘90s, demonstrating the vests’ various effects in postmenopausal women, including improvements in strength, stability, and physical functioning as well as modest gains in bone density. As my most skeptical source pointed out, “The bone benefits seen with weighted vests aren’t dramatic, but as we get older, even maintenance of bone density is really beneficial.”

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I spoke to Kristen M. Beavers, PhD, MPH, RD, a professor of internal medicine, section of gerontology and geriatric medicine, at Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and a research professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest University. At the time, she was wrapping up the 12-month INVEST in Bone Health Trial, investigating whether weighted vests, when worn for up to 10 hours a day, could help offset the bone loss that tends to accompany weight loss in older adults. (As I explain in Allure: When we slim down, reducing the load on our skeleton, we lose bone density—approximately 2% for every 10% of body weight shed—which is a vital concern for menopausal women in general, and even more so if you’re considering a GLP-1.)

In Beavers’ randomized clinical trial, researchers used adjustable-weight vests to gradually reload the frames of study subjects as they dropped pounds. The theory being: “Replacing lost weight externally may be an innovative way to minimize weight loss-associated bone loss.” The trial was predicated on a pilot study, which suggested that, for older people with obesity, wearing weighted vests while losing weight may help them retain bone density in their hips.

I reported the Allure story in January 2025. In June, the results of Beavers’ study were published in JAMA Network Open. While subjects lost approximately 10% of their body weight, researchers ultimately found that “neither daily weighted vest use nor progressive resistance training was able to mitigate weight loss-associated bone loss at the hip in older adults living with obesity.”

When Wake Forest PR emailed me the news, the subject line read: Weighted vests don’t help preserve bone density for seniors, study finds. On social media, I saw vest naysayers spinning the trial results as an I-told-you-so of sorts—proof positive that weighted vests offer zippo in terms of bone benefits.