A Fat Burning Metabolism

We hear this term thrown around a lot in LC circles.  The frequency of this seemed to have picked up in 2011 with the mitochondrial tangent of the carbs-make-you-fat crowd.  It's a clever gimick:  If you're burning more fat for energy, that means you're burning body fat, and if you're not, those evil carbs are "locking your fat away" in your fat tissue.   It doesn't take but a little common sense to see through this nonsense folks.  With the possible exception of super-extreme diets, as has been demonstrated in metabolic ward studies, varying the 85% or so non-protein intake between fat and carbs has little if any difference on total energy expenditure.  Also, within a fairly wide middle range of carb/fat balance in the diet, which substrate is preferred or used at higher levels for energy is something that is relatively constant though the major intake macro is used preferentially at some point. 

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