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_Magus_
The "average Joe" doesn't have a good diet.

Agree.

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_Magus_
That's why 60% of America is considered obese.

Disagree. On a couple levels.

First off, your numbers are wrong. It is not the case that 60% of Americans are obese. Technically speaking, someone is obese when his/her BMI is over 30.0. I'll cede that BMI is a poor indicator of actual fitness, but unfortunately it's the measuring stick most often used. With BMI as a measure, approx. 30% of Americans are obese and 63% are overweight.

The other point I'd disagree on is the cause of these numbers. I'm willing to bet that if you looked at the group of people categorized as "obese" that the percentage of those whose activity level is "sedentary" would be in the 90s. Having a poor diet (i.e. not supplying essential nutrients at optimal levels) can lead to poor general health and can hinder fitness, but it doesn't necessarily make you fat. What makes you fat is consuming too many calories and not doing anything to burn them.

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_Magus_
If you work out hard, like Nightshade apparently wants to, and you don't give yourself the right nutrition, you will be working against yourself (e.g. catabolism).

Agreed. If his current diet and level activity are such that he carries very little fat, then an increase in activity should be accompanied by an increase in calories or he's going to start wasting away. The vast, vast majority of people don't have nightshade's problem. Their caloric intake and level of activity are such that they carry around substantial amounts of excess fat. In that case catabolism (of fat) is exactly what needs to happen. To a point.

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_Magus_
Muscle is an easier source of energy for the body to breakdown and burn before fat is.

I'm almost positive this is incorrect, but I couldn't find any sources with a cursory googling. That's the whole point of fat- it's energy the body has stored up for future use. It makes zero sense for muscle to be consumed first.