Animal study · Exercise · 18 Oct 2026
In obese male mice, seven strength sessions shrank visceral fat cells without a change in body weight
Source: UNICAMP / Life Sciences
What the research found
Study (male mice). Diego Gomes de Melo, Leandro Pereira de Moura, and colleagues at the State University of Campinas report in Life Sciences (2026; 401:124546; DOI 10.1016/j.lfs.2026.124546). Obese mice fed a high-fat diet either stayed sedentary or climbed a 70-centimeter stair 20 times a session, at about 70 percent of the load they could carry, with 60 to 90 seconds of rest, for seven sessions. Both groups kept the high-fat diet. Body weight did not fall. The trained mice had less mesenteric fat around the intestine and smaller fat cells. Markers of fat breakdown, including the ABHD5–ATGL interaction and perilipin-1, moved toward more lipolysis, and Scd1 expression was lower. Only male mice and one fat depot were studied. This is not evidence that one week of lifting shrinks belly fat in people. Not medical advice.
Evidence level: Animal study. Results in animals or cells often don't carry over to people.
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