Does muscle turn into fat when you stop lifting weights?

No, muscle and fat are two completely different substances which cannot be interchanged. Weight training causes muscles to hypertrophy (increase muscle mass) and burns calories both from the exercise itself and the increase in muscle mass. When weight training is stopped, muscles atrophy (lose muscle mass). The calories expended from the weight training exercises and the increased muscle mass are no longer a factor, and therefore the body's caloric requirement is reduced. Body fat is subsequently gained when the caloric consumption remains the same. Basically, body fat is gained because the calories consumed exceed the calories expended.

Get Motivated for Change in 2010

Happy 2010. A new year...365 days to fill with not with resolutions, but with actions. 365 days to begin anew, to make changes, to begin another journey of your choosing. But is 365 days too much? To daunting? Our article on "10 Ways to Get Motivated for Change in 2010" will help you make the most out of those days and to feel successful when you look back 12 months from now.

The word "super." It used to be a positive word that had meaning behind it. Now, it's just another adjective for ordering unhealthy fast food, and the super in super size is anything but. Does anyone really want to super size his or her type 2 Diabetes? Learn what you can do by reading "A Burger or Fried Chicken With a Side of Diabetes."

Our newsletter is packed with great information as always, including the above articles and much more. Our reader Lisa wrote in with a great question, check out our response and advice in "Your Questions Answered."

And cheers to a great year of health, happiness and enrichment. Newsletter (Constant Contact)

Fitness buffs start year with boot camp at Lakeland YMCA

MOUNTAIN LAKES -- Every boot camp has a drill sergeant, and the Boot Camp Challenge at the Lakeland Hills Family YMCA is no different.

But instead of a hard-nosed R. Lee Ermey of "Full Metal Jacket'' fame, the Y's drill sergeants -- Tiffiny Twardowsky and Dana Jacko -- don't belittle their subjects into becoming physical specimens bound for the Marines.

"She's a drill sergeant with a heart,'' Twardowsky said of Jacko Saturday morning. Article in Daily Record, NJ