CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 3Physical Activity and HealthCardiovascular and exercise physiologyNutrition and Health in Aging

Resistance training as a key strategy for high-quality weight loss in men and women

Open access
Lahav, Yair, Yavetz, Roi, Gepner, Yftach·2026·Frontiers in Endocrinology
DOI 10.3389/fendo.2025.1725500PMC PMC12851882
Open this paper in CoChat — free accountOpen PDF

Abstract

Background: Preserving fat-free mass (FFM) during weight loss is critical for preventing sarcopenia and maintaining metabolic health. This study examined the effects of resistance training (RT), aerobic exercise (AR), and no exercise (NO) on body composition during a calorie-restricted diet. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included 304 adults (183 men, 121 women; aged 20–74 years; BMI: 18.5–45 kg/m 2 ) who followed a hypocaloric diet and self-selected RT, AR, or NO. The diet was designed to provide an individualized energy deficit of approximately 500 kcal/day, calculated relative to each participant’s measured resting metabolic rate (RMR) and total estimated daily energy expenditure. Body composition was assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), and abdominal circumference (ABC) was measured as a marker of central obesity. Results: Mean follow-up was 5.1 months ± 0.42 months. In men, total weight loss was similar across groups (NO: − 8.5 kg ± 3.2 kg; AR: − 9.0 kg ± 4.2 kg; RT: − 7.7 kg ± 4.2 kg). However, RT produced the greatest reduction in fat mass (RT: − 8.9 kg ± 4.1 kg; AR: − 7.8 kg ± 3.2 kg; NO: − 5.8 kg ± 2.5 kg) and was the only modality associated with an increase in fat-free mass (RT: + 0.8 kg ± 5.0 kg vs. AR: − 1.1 kg ± 2.0 kg and NO: − 2.8 kg ± 1.4 kg). ABC declined in all groups, with larger reductions in RT (− 9.0 cm ± 3.7 cm) and AR (− 8.0 cm ± 3.2 cm) compared with NO (− 6.1 cm ± 2.4 cm). Among women, weight loss was also comparable between groups (NO: − 7.13 kg ± 3.27 kg; AR: − 6.43 kg ± 3.53 kg; RT: − 5.42 kg ± 3.76 kg). RT produced the greatest fat-mass reduction (RT: − 6.36 kg ± 3.82 kg; NO: − 5.47 kg ± 2.64 kg; AR: − 4.10 kg ± 3.17 kg) and was the only modality that increased fat-free mass (RT: + 0.90 kg ± 1.24 kg). Both NO (− 2.94 kg ± 1.40 kg) and AR (− 0.37 kg ± 1.45 kg) experienced FFM loss. The fat mass (FM)-to-weight loss ratio was lowest in the NO group (0.7 ± 0.2), higher in AR (0.86 ± 0.2), and highest in RT (1.1 ± 0.7; p = 0.0002 vs. NO, p = 0.0051 vs. AR). ABC reduction correlated strongly with FM loss ( r = 0.84; p = 0.0001), highlighting its utility as a marker of high-quality weight loss. Conclusion: RT enhances weight-loss quality by maximizing FM reduction while preserving or increasing FFM. Incorporating RT into weight-loss programs may improve long-term weight maintenance and mitigate FFM loss.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.3389/fendo.2025.1725500

Cites

26 of 26 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Resistance training helps mitigate these effects by maintaining muscle mass and preserving metabolic capacity, including mitochondrial function and glucose utilization.

    “Resistance training helps mitigate these effects by maintaining muscle mass and preserving metabolic capacity, including mitochondrial function and glucose utilization.”

    From Weight maintenance after discontinuation of GLP-1 therapies (2026) · cites this paper as [76]

    The Discussion section on resistance training during energy restriction reports that resistance training preserved or increased fat-free mass, and the Introduction links skeletal muscle to glucose metabolism. The paper also associates muscle preservation with metabolic health, but the passages do not establish that resistance training preserves mitochondrial function or directly measure glucose utilization. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.85)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [14]ACSM. ACSM-guidelines-for-exercise-testing, Tenth-Ed. Wolters Kluwer: (2017)

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Lahav, Y., Yavetz, R., & Gepner, Y.
Affiliations
Tel Aviv University (IL)
Corresponding author
Gepner, Yftach
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Endocrinology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2026-01-15
Volume
16
Pages
1725500-1725500
ISSN
1664-2392 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fendo.2025.1725500
PMC
PMC12851882
OpenAlex
W7124262965
Cited by
1
References
26
Citations by year
2026: 1
FWCI
4.57
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Endocrinology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Physical Activity and Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Complementary and alternative medicine › Cardiovascular and exercise physiology
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Nutrition and Health in Aging
Keywords
resistance training, weight loss, calorie-restricted diet, fat-free mass, fat mass, body composition, aerobic exercise, abdominal obesity, abdominal circumference, sarcopenia prevention, sex differences, negative energy balance, metabolic health, self-selected exercise, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, resting metabolic rate, energy expenditure, waist-to-hip ratio
MeSH terms
Adult, Aged, Body Composition, Energy Metabolism, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Obesity, Retrospective Studies, Weight Loss, Exercise, Absorptiometry, Photon, Caloric Restriction, Resistance Training, Young Adult

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review