Maximizing Weight Loss

Go West Young Man said:

The fat and cholesterol is all in the yolk, while the protein is all in the white.

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Egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks. The protein in egg whites isn't as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available.

The yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. Moreover, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

Aku Aku said:

Egg whites are almost devoid of nutrition compared to the yolks. The protein in egg whites isn't as powerful without the yolks to balance out the amino acid profile and make the protein more bio-available.

The yolks contain more than 90% of the calcium, iron, phosphorus, zinc, thiamin, B6, folate, and B12, and panthothenic acid of the egg. Moreover, the yolks contain ALL of the fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K in the egg, as well as ALL of the essential fatty acids (EFAs).

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But over 60% of the protein is in the whites and the yolks are massively rich in cholesterol. If a person has a two-egg omelet in the morning, that's 100% of your recommended cholesterol intake for the day. Kind of restrictive for the rest of your meals. It's also about 150 calories, compared to 30 calories-- not an efficient cal:nutrient ratio. The only important thing you get from yolks that you can't easily, easily get in your other meals are polyunsaturates-- I usually have some sort of fish for my lunch unless it's an off-day, yesterday I had a smoked salmon salad, today it's going to be sole-wrapped asparagus.

Better to just rock the egg whites, which I believe are the best protein:cholesterol/fat ratio you can easily get, and get your additional vitamins from other things. Always remember how Atkins died.

Unless you really love egg yolks, and are completely comfortable with using up your entire cholesterol budget on them, in which case eat those mothers up by all means.

Aku Aku said:

A lot of good info posted. A cup of black coffee before your workout will go far. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. H2O is your best friend. Whatever you do, don't drink your calories.

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all good except that coffee significantly dehydrates you. I'm guilty of often popping down a double espresso first thing, but a much better strategy is to rock some energy-boosting tea with alternative sources like taurine, such as Yerba Mate. Those little 5-hour energy capsules are pretty incredible as well, though they contain sucralose which I generally avoid like the plague.

mkornecki said:

Replace one of your 5-6 daily meals with a protein shake. It'll be ~ 100 calories, plus whatever is in liquid you mix it in (non-fat milk is a good suggestion)

Throw it in after your workout.

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This is really good advice for building muscle, but I feel like it should be qualified a touch.

1. You're only going to see benefits from this after a fairly intense resistance workout, where you're tearing up muscles that will need to be rebuilt.

2. Get that protein shake in within 30 minutes of the end of your workout. What I do immediately after dropping the old irons, is grab my cables for a muscle cooldown, zip over to my stationary bike or whatever cardio machine at the gym, slog off 5km for a general cooldown while I stretch out my tris, bis, pecs and basically everything you can comfortably stretch while sitting on a bike, then hop off and zip into the kitchen-- whip up a protein shake, pound that mother, then finish stretching. It's super important to hit that 30 minute window, but it's also critically important to cool/stretch down properly and I find that a protein shake makes me a big sluggish.

3. For practicality I would actually recommend 1% milk-- skim really doesn't blend very well with any kind of whey powder I've ever tried, and you're going to get annoyed at the big globs of powder gritting against your teeth. I usually do 1/4-1/2 a cup of 1%, two scoops of 100% whey isolate (chocolate), about 2 tbsp of non-fat probiotic balkan-style yogurt, and a frozen banana.

4. On that note, and this is so, so so so bloody important when considering your after-workout protein-- read the label. 90% of protein powders contain 100% whey/soy from isolate. This is basically a calorie-rich meal replacement shake. You want the ones that are 100% whey isolate, which usually cost more than twice as much but will give you roughly 2,000% better results. Seriously, do not skimp on protein powder. Also, get one with fructose instead of sucralose if possible. I would recommend "Now Sports" or "Ultimate".

5. Finally-- I've tried soy protein isolate with soy milk, because I always try to minimize my dairy intake as much as possible, and personally I haven't found it to work as well as whey (hormone issues aside).

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A brief tip on workouts: chaps, I know it's conceptually not very manly... but pilates are golden. Throw a few sets into your regular abdominal routines, they slide right in and you will notice a difference.

Some tips on nutrition: if you're serious about taking care of your body, feeling better all of the time, having more energy, a better sex life and a longer life span? Seriously. Zero or nearly zero processed sugars and artificial sweeteners. Zero luxury fats. Zero processed meats. Reduce pork to a infinitesimal minimum, reserve beef for special occasions. Your dairy intake should consist of non-fat yogurt in moderation, low-no fat milk in moderation, and perhaps goat cheese in extreme moderation. No cheese from cow milk, and you should take a bullet before eating the processed stuff or anything remotely orange because it will be the healthier option. Cut out anything with ingredients you can't pronounce, and anything with the word "modified" in it. Minimize sodium and starches. Limit and be mindful of fructose and carbohydrates- if there is a rice-based carb option, take it. I find a good, general nutritional guideline is to make sure at least half of what you eat are either cruciferous or leafy green vegetables. Get to know the wide and wondrous world of seafood. And most importantly- learn to cook! Healthy food can still be ridiculously delicious.

Hornwort said:

But over 60% of the protein is in the whites and the yolks are massively rich in cholesterol. If a person has a two-egg omelet in the morning, that's 100% of your recommended cholesterol intake for the day. Kind of restrictive for the rest of your meals.

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Given that the diet/blood lipid theory has never been proven, I'd not waste any time worrying about the cholesterol in your eggs (or diet). Your body produces 3x as much cholesterol as you ingest, and up or down-regulates it as necessary. Mounting evidence indicates that the whole dietary cholesterol leads to heart disease theory (two theories, actually) is bogus.


For losing weight, nothing beats eating primarily meat, whole eggs, and vegetables.

Stubblefield said:

Given that the diet/blood lipid theory has never been proven, I'd not waste any time worrying about the cholesterol in your eggs (or diet). Your body produces 3x as much cholesterol as you ingest, and up or down-regulates it as necessary. Mounting evidence indicates that the whole dietary cholesterol leads to heart disease theory (two theories, actually) is bogus.

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You're right in that there is a controversy- with significant studies done supporting what you're saying.

But there's two sides, one of which says to limit your cholesterol so you'll be healthy and won't die, the other of which saying not to bother because you'll be able to eat egg yolks (most other foods high in cholesterol are also high in saturated fats so you wouldn't want to eat them anyway).

I'd never condemn or even criticize anyone for their dietary choices, rather I condemn my government for making me pay for their heart surgery and triple bypasses in liquor and tobacco taxes, while they aren't paying for my chemo and liver transplant with their relatively untaxed burgers and soda

Personally though, as someone who is not a formally educated expert, I prefer err on the side of caution and listen to my doctor and friends with nutrition and food science degrees. Egg yolks every day just aren't worth it for how much I enjoy them- but often on weekend I'll go crazy whip up a greek omelet with the yolks left in

Stubblefield said:

For losing weight, nothing beats eating primarily meat, whole eggs, and vegetables.

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I was talking about nutrition, not dieting.

For short-term fat burning, it's true that you can trick your body into burning more fat by cutting out carbs entirely and eating a high-fat diet. But it's unsustainable, unhealthy, and unproductive- the vast majority of people using crash diets put the fat back on. Maximizing weight loss long-term means leading a generally healthy lifestyle (I say "generally" because who among us would want to live a long, healthy life without scotch, cigars and risky sex? ).

I started working out December 25, I was 40lbs overweight, on March 25th my six pack was showing and I gained a ton of muscle mass while dropping all the fat. All I did was Rippetoes workout plan, pure compound lifts, and I ate 6x a day, my meals all having 25+ grams of protein and my carbs consisting of quinoa, wheat bread, and beans. In assistance to the lifting routine, for the first month I ran 3 miles every day, after the first month, I began running both morning and night, then on the third month, 4 miles as fast as I could twice a day. in 3 months doing this, I dropped 40lbs of fat and gained 10lbs of muscle, no P90x transformation can even compare to my before and after, eat well, lift hard, and be smart.

Pebcak said:

SOME Fat=good.


99% of the fat is in the yolk (yes, you need to eat SOME fat),

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Fixed that for you.

First, take a look at how you operate. What I mean is, are you someone who loves organization or are you somewhat casual? If you're somewhat casual, counting calories, measuring portions and such won't work for you and its really not a way to live. My personal method is no portion bigger than my fist, no seconds and I do the following: 4 proteins, 4 carbs, 3 dairy, 3 fruit, unlimited vegetables and 1 fat each day.

Second, read some basics on nutrition. Food you would consider a vegetable may actually be a carb such as peas and corn. Fruit is fattening and portions should be watched. Only half a banana is a full serving. Also, read labels. For example, you walk for 45 minutes and hydrate with a sports drink that has 230 calories. You burned less than that on your walk so your sports drink turned your walk into a weight gainer.

Third, focus on the cardio. The above and taking up running took me from 238 to 145 and I'm 5'10".

I forget who said it, but H20 is your best hydration. The only time I do a sports drink is on my long run days.

I will stick by my 3 egg whites to 1 egg yolk combination is the best of all worlds.

Gentlemen,

Since posting this thread, I've continued on my excercise routine and upped it a bit.

Now I'm shadow boxing 10-12 full rounds
doing 100 pushups
50 burpees
and incorporated weightlifting into my weekly routine.
I also started jogging.

I've maintained a healthy diet. Some tips of which I picked up from this thread...thanks guys.

And I'm happy to announce my current weight is 226.5 lbs.

Nothing like good ol Cardio and Strength&Conditioning
Sweet Deal.

Nice Job!!! That's about 10 pounds in 5 weeks! More importantly I think with the weight training you've added muscle so your body fat percentage is probably down by a few percent more then the weight conveys.

If you would be so kind to keep us updated on your progress. Also, I wouldn't mind seeing what type of figures you are lifting in the Big 3 (Squat, Bench, Deadlift), that is if you are doing them.

commanderkeen said:

I wouldn't mind seeing what type of figures you are lifting in the Big 3 (Squat, Bench, Deadlift), that is if you are doing them.

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I am doing 2 of the 3. Squats and Dead Lifts. I won't embarrass myself with the weight. Its lighter than heavier, but obviously enough to make the difference without causing me to burnout.

I don't have a bench at home, and I workout in the garage.
I compensate for the lack of the bench with pushups, curls, and various other weight excercises such as lat raises and cleans. I'm not getting all yoked up (yet) but I am getting some solid mucle where there was flab before (biceps triceps, thighs, calfs). I'm planning on confusing my system once I show signs of plateau by focusing on the core muscles.....

I have a long way to go still, but to put it into perspective I'm down to size "Large" polo shirt. I used to wear XXLarge.

Good work!

Barbell bench press is highly overrated IMO. Too many guys go crazy on it and get all wrapped up in the numbers. I personally think that with good form, and I repeat, with good form, optimum number of sets and maximum intensity, dumbbell presses are as good or even superior to barbell bench. You don't need a rack just a plain flat Ben h which you can build or improvise or buy quite cheaply. Just keep your arms tipped slightly outward so the pecs do their share of the work... Otherwise you trash triceps but don't fully stress pecs. I also do not like to extend fully to elbow lockout because that creates a rest point. Ymmv of course but it seems to rock, to me. You can go to failure without a spotter or safety bars, just dump the dummies. Give it a try and I think you will be delighted with the results.

Calories consumed - Calories burnt = Change in weight.

Not much more to it really. Reduce your consumption compared to your activity and you will get where you want to be.

You may want to do warm-up, weights, cardio, cool-down as an order to get more out of cardio. There is a reason sports teams do this general order: weights burn up a lot of free sugars in the body, and makes your body have to perform better in the long term. Up to you, but it may at least be a routine change that helps keep interest.

Divide your diet up across the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and sensible snacks in between. Without changing your calorie intake many people can loose weight just by eating at appropriate times.

Permanent weight loss is about lifestyle change, and changing to a healthy sustainable lifestyle.

Best of luck. Weight loss is not an easy road.

I am 250# and 6' tall. I could stand to be 60# less. I just want back into size 34 pants (about 210#). These size 40's are not where I want to be.

Phil

Pkrankow said:

Calories consumed - Calories burnt = Change in weight.

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It's a little bit more difficult then that in practice because the calories burnt is an unknown. The two other figures can be calculated quite accurately, which of course can then be used to calculate approx calorie burn (but even then, after the fact). The figure, however, fluctuates, keeping all-else constant, with body chemistry and is influenced by uncontrollable factors. This is where eating nutritional food, and controlling stress come into play.

Lifting weights. It adds muscle, which in turn increases your basal metabolic rate. The basal metabolic rate is the base rate at which your body consumes calories for basic metabolic functions. In other words, it is the rate at which your body consumes calories when at rest.

In other words, the more lean muscle mass you add, the more calories you burn through out the day. This in addition to the calories you burn while working out.

In addition to weight lifting, try some High Intensity Interval Training. Look into doing 20 seconds of ultra high intensity (170% of VO2max) exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. Repeat for 4 minutes. This method also has an anabolic effect - adding to your lean muscle mass.

Lately, I've been doing three sets of HIIT while lifting. Through them in every few exercises. I was already in pretty good shape. Adding these is really helping shed those last few, stubborn pounds.

Lastly, eat plenty of protein to keep your metabolism stoked and your muscles growing. At a minimum 20-30 grams when you wake up, another 20-30 after working out and 20-30 before bed.

Dang! ALOT of good advice in these last few posts. I will definitely put most of it into effect!

thank you gentlemen.