Muscle and Fat Loss

[GOT2BSTRONG]

Having some muscle on your body will make your dieting
efforts much easier. Your muscle burns fat even while you
are sitting on the couch!

Muscle is a metabolically active tissue, much more so than
fat. This means that muscle burns calories even when you
are doing nothing.

Having more muscle means you can eat more and still lose
fat.

The best way to gain muscle is through resistance training,
e.g. weight lifting. This can be done 2 or 3 times per week
for good results.

Aerobic exercise such as jogging may result in some muscle
gain but it is minimal when compared to resistance training.

Muscle is what gives your body shape. You can lose all the
fat you want but if you don't have any muscle to show then
you won't have any real shape to show.

[Trapper]

Great comment. I just wanted to add some extra information.

The extra calories burned is a result of your Resting Metabolic Rate increased. As GOT2BSTRONG mentioned, your RMR is the amount of energy it takes the body to sustain living, so more muscle increases this energy and, subsequently, calorie burning. Though there are a number of ways to increase your metabolism at a given time (aerobic exercise, resistance training, even walking around) muscle gain - generally through resistance training - is arguably the safest way to increase your RMR. Some of the percentage increases of other ways are listed below:

Females have a cyclic increase in RMR around ovulation (4-16%)
Ephedrine can increase RMR (3-16%)
Caffeine increases RMR (3-7%)
Nicotine increases RMR (3-7%)
Fever and/or infection can increase RMR

More information about RMR:

It can account for 75% of calorie burning in inactive people. Also, it changes with calorie restriction, weight loss, exercises, and changes in body composition. RMR generally decreases at 2-3% per decade, and it is higher for those who weigh more.