Weight training helps keep you and your bones strong. Another bonus: The extra muscle you build helps burn more calories - even when you are doing absolutely nothing - or sleeping.
Muscle Facts:
Muscle is like a car engine. It burns gas - or calories - and provides the power to get you from one place to another. The bigger the "muscle engine", the more fuel you burn. In other words, the larger the muscle-mass, the more calories your body burns at work and at rest.
It is possible to increase your metabolic rate by at least 7-percent after six months of intense weight training. This means if you are eating 2,000 calories a day to maintain your weight, you would burn an additional 140 calories each day. At this rate, you would lose over seven pounds of fat in six months.
Every added pound of lean muscle burns an additional 30 to 50 calories each day.
Exercisers can add three to six pounds of muscle in six months of weight training.