The key lies in your muscles. At rest, 1 pound of muscle burns three times as many calories every day just to sustain itself—and a lot of those calories that muscle burns off come from fat storage units. Muscle is constantly burning fat off!

Now before I go any further, I know most women are afraid to hear the word muscle, because that means getting bulky like men. One must realise, muscles can get stronger without getting bigger. Women have very low testosterone (the hormone responsible for making men bulk up). This is why when women weight train, their result is a natural lean and tone shape.  For men who crave to get big: increasing the size of the muscle almost inevitably increases strength. So it all comes down to the specific training technique as per your body’s need.

Why be obsessed with muscle?

Muscles are essential for maintaining how we breathe, how we move, metabolism, and posture. It’s simple, the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism.

Decrease depression —

Resistance exercise training was associated with a 45 percent reduction in multiple depressive symptoms (according to a meta-analysis of 33 randomized controlled trials).

Boost brain performance

Training for muscle increases neurotrophic factors in the brain. Just 30 minutes of exercise increases this 2-3 fold. These cause your brain to make new neurons in areas involved in learning/memory. They also repair damaged neurons.

Fight fat storage

Muscles are more metabolically efficient than fat mass, allowing you to burn more calories at rest. Clinical data shows that your metabolic rate is increased up to 72 hours after strength-training exercise. This means that you are still burning additional calories hours and even days after your workout.

Insulin Resistance

By partnering the powerful combination of whole food nutrition with strength training, insulin resistance can be reversed.  Strength training stimulates greater glucose metabolism during and right after a workout.

Weight training triggers an adaptive response for more muscle and thus greater metabolic potential for the next workout. This compounding effect leads to improved insulin sensitivity due to the improvements in muscle strength.