This is my article as it appeared in Great Lakes Fitness Extreme Magazine; enjoy.
Muscle Burns Fat
Hit the weights to ignite your body's fat burning furnace.
Have you ever noticed that fat people tend to stay fat, while thin people tend to stay thin? Do you assume that this is simply because overweight people do not exercise or eat as healthful as their thin counterparts? While this may be true to an extent, there is much more to it than that.
In fact, it is your fat cell-to-muscle cell ratio that helps to determine some of these outcomes. Overweight people have proportionately more fat cells than thin people do, with receptor sites to soak up energy (calories from food) for storage.
I like to think of muscles as individual fat burning furnaces. The more fat burning furnaces you have, the more fat you will burn 24/7 - - even while you are asleep. Here's why.
Basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the amount of energy (in calories) your body expends while at rest, and it decreases with age and the loss of lean body mass. The result is a slower metabolism and an increase in body fat. The lower your body fat percentage, the higher your basal metabolic rate (BMR).
Approximately, 70% of your total calories consumed are burned solely by your BMR while 18% are burned by your muscles. Since muscle tissue is highly active (even while at rest), it makes sense that muscle mass is a key factor in wight loss.
According to a University of Michigan Health System website, "A pound of muscle burns 30 - 50 calories per day just to maintain itself. Add three pounds of muscle and you may burn 630 to 1,050 extra calories per week."
Typically, men have a greater muscle mass and a lower body fat percentage, resulting in a higher basal metabolic rate (higher metabolism). Ladies may see this as an unfair advantage, yet several studies have proven there to be no difference in metabolic rate between the sexes when adjusting for lean body weight vs. fat mass.
Frankly, muscle is muscle and fat is fat...ladies, hit the weights.
Weight training can have a more lasting impact on metabolism than aerobic training. During an intense strength training workout you will see an increase in energy expenditure (calories burned) during both muscular contractions and rest periods, when anabolism (muscle building) is occurring. Such increases in energy expenditure may stay with you up to 24 hours after your workout.
Proper weight training techniques and sound nutritional practice will build up muscle and allow the natural processes of your body to burn fat 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
In addition, the health benefits of increased muscle mass are improved blood lipids, body composition, glucose metabolism, and functional ability for daily activities. You will also experience and increase in energy, stronger bones, protection against low back pain, reduced stress, better sleep, and an overall improved quality of life.
So what are you waiting for? Beckon the iron your way, stoke the furnaces, and start making some great things happen.


Mediterranean and low-carbohydrate diets may be effective alternatives to low-fat diets. The more favorable effects on lipids (with the low-carbohydrate diet) and on glycemic control (with the Mediterranean diet) suggest that personal preferences and metabolic considerations might inform individualized tailoring of dietary interventions...So, ditch the low-fat (also known as high carb) diet and get on board today. Now's the time to think outside the box, explore your options, and make a change....The similar caloric deficit achieved in all diet groups suggests that a low-carbohydrate, non–restricted-calorie diet may be optimal for those who will not follow a restricted-calorie dietary regimen.

“More and more, professional organizations are recommending interval training during rehabilitation from diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peripheral artery disease and cardiovascular disease,'’ said Maureen MacDonald, academic adviser and an associate professor in the department of kinesiology. “Our research certainly provides evidence that this type of exercise training is as effective as traditional moderate-intensity training. We wouldn’t be surprised to see more rehabilitation programs adopt this method of training since it is often better tolerated in diseased populations”.What's interesting is how interval sprinting is often "better tolerated" in diseased populations. I totally agree that it's better tolerated because it is a shorter workout, it is more interesting, challenging, and engaging. This stimulating way to workout is exciting and elicits a greater response from your body and mind.


An investigation of nearly 1,000 brand-name sunscreen products finds that 4 out of 5 contain chemicals that may pose health hazards or don't adequately protect skin from the sun's damaging rays. Some of the worst offenders are leading brands like Coppertone, Banana Boat, and Neutrogena.While you're there, check out the safety of your makeup, your fragrances, and other products for your skin, hair, eyes, nails, and your mouth. Because what's on your skin will also be found in your blood.
Give the low carb. nutrition plan a whirl for a few weeks. Simply cycle your carbs low (100 - 150 g. a day or less) for 2 - 3 days and then add them back in on days 4 and 5; repeat this rotational schedule for a few weeks and let me know how awesome you feel.Ketones, to put it briefly, are compounds created by the body when it burns fat stores for energy. When you consume a diet very low in carbohydrates, the body responds to the significantly lowered levels of blood sugar by flipping the switch to another power source. The body converts fatty acids in the liver to ketones. Ketones, then, become the main energy source as long as blood sugar levels remain low...
...Ketosis was crucial to our evolution. Given the relatively minor role of carbohydrate-rich foods (even the consumption of many tubers is thought to have come later with the advent of cooking practices), our bodies were fairly frequently operating in the arena of ketosis. Add to this the fasts and famines of primal living, and it’s clear that ketones served as an essential energy source.
Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo.
"Matt is a 31-year-old deadbeat from Connecticut who used to think that all he ever wanted to do in life was make and play videogames. Matt achieved this goal pretty early and enjoyed it for a while, but eventually realized there might be other stuff he was missing out on. In February of 2003, he quit his job in Brisbane, Australia and used the money he'd saved to wander around Asia until it ran out. He made this site so he could keep his family and friends updated about where he is.
A few months into his trip, a travel buddy gave Matt an idea. They were standing around taking pictures in Hanoi, and his friend said "Hey, why don't you stand over there and do that dance. I'll record it." He was referring to a particular dance Matt does. It's actually the only dance Matt does. He does it badly. Anyway, this turned out to be a very good idea.
A couple years later, someone found the video online and passed it to someone else, who passed it to someone else, and so on. Now Matt is quasi-famous as "That guy who dances on the internet. No, not that guy. The other one. No, not him either. I'll send you the link. It's funny."
The response to the first video brought Matt to the attention of the nice people at Stride gum. They asked Matt if he'd be interested in taking another trip around the world to make a new video. Matt asked if they'd be paying for it. They said yes. Matt thought this sounded like another very good idea."
-- Vitamin D is essential for calcium absorption and bone health. Inadequate vitamin D intake can result in a softening of bone surfaces, or osteomalacia, that causes pain. The lower back seems to be particularly vulnerable to this effect.Go ahead and catch a few rays. It's summer and evidence shows that melanoma is not caused by the sun, but it is actually caused by immune system dysfunction.
-- In one study of 360 patients with back pain, all of them were found to have inadequate levels of vitamin D. After taking vitamin D supplements for 3 months, symptoms were improved in 95% of the patients. All of them with the most severe vitamin D deficiencies experienced back-pain relief.
-- The currently recommended adequate intake of vitamin D up to 600 IU per day is outdated and too low. According to the research, most children and adults need at least 1000 IU per day, and persons with chronic back pain would benefit from 2000 IU or more per day of supplemental vitamin D3 (also called cholecalciferol).
-- Vitamin D supplements have a highly favorable safety profile. They interact with very few drugs or other agents, and are usually not harmful unless extremely high doses such as 50,000 IU or more are taken daily for an extended period of time.
-- Vitamin D supplements are easy for patients to self-administer, are well tolerated, and typically cost as little as 7 to 10 cents per day.

Patients treated most aggressively are at increased risk of infections and medical errors that come from uncoordinated care, such as doctors prescribing drugs that duplicate or interact with other drugs. They also tend to receive poorer care, spend a lot more money for co-payments, and are the least satisfied with their health care, the Dartmouth researchers found.Here's a shining example; "Consider the case of a middle-aged IBM executive from the New York City area who experienced chest pain. He went to a cardiologist, who ordered a full workup, including a CT scan of his chest. The scan found no heart problem, but at the edge of the film the radiologist noticed "something funny" in the neck area. A neck surgeon performed a biopsy and found nothing wrong. The cardiologist then performed an angiogram to look for abnormalities in the blood vessels. Complications from that procedure landed the executive in the hospital for a brief period. By the time it was over, his bills were more than $150,000 and he still had no diagnosis. Eventually the pain disappeared on its own.