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.