“New Year, New Me,” you've probably heard this phrase, or at least once in your life, you've made it your New Year's resolution. And a big part of making a New Year's change is fitness.

Weightlifting can also impact your fat loss, metabolic health, and stress resilience. Let’s understand how it works. 

Weight lifting and metabolic health

Resistance training, or, to be precise, weight lifting, increases muscle mass. This weight lifting improves your insulin sensitivity by allowing your muscles to absorb and utilize glucose more efficiently, which ultimately lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes. 

It helps lower LDL (Bad cholesterol) and triglycerides in our bodies and increases the level of good cholesterol, which we call HDL. This means that lifting weights helps balance cholesterol levels in one’s body and assists in regulating blood pressure. 

Lifting Weight and Fat Loss

Although weight lifting is a good option for building lean muscle, this muscle mass helps increase the resting metabolic rate. As a result, one can burn calories and fat even while resting.

According to research by Kristen MacKenzie-Shalders, published in the National Library of Medicine, resistance training is a good choice for individuals with a higher resting metabolic rate.

However, you will burn calories based on the intensity of your workout. So, the more you develop muscles by lifting weights, the more fat you will burn.

Effect of weight training on  stress resilience and more 

During weight training or other forms of resistance training, hormones like endorphins are released.  This assists in managing the level of cortisol, which is a stress hormone. Thus, a person's overall mental health and mood will improve. A lower stress level leads to increased activity in the parasympathetic nervous system, which helps regenerate and repair tissues in the body.  

It also supports better sleep quality, which ultimately leads to muscle recovery and higher energy levels throughout the day. 

Written by

Supradeep Dutta

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar