If you’re someone who is looking to lower your levels of body fat and get as lean as possible, egg whites are likely a food that’s stocked up in your kitchen.  Egg whites are an incredibly high quality source of protein and contain hardly any calories at all which makes them a really terrific option as far as overall fat loss is concerned.

Let’s take a closer look at what egg whites have to offer you.

Major Nutrients Found In An Egg White:

Since the egg white is the primary portion of the egg that is going to contain the protein, you’re going to find that it’s a very rich source of amino acids.  In addition to that, some of the other nutrients that will be found in egg whites include riboflavin, niacin, folate, choline, biotin, magnesium, and a small amount of sodium as well.

Storing/Selecting

When selecting egg whites you have the option of purchasing the whole egg and dividing the yolk from the egg white or if you prefer you can also purchase just the whites in carton format which makes for quick and easy use when you want to have them.

Whatever option you choose, be sure that you are purchasing the eggs before their expiry date as the sooner they get to that date the less fresh they’re going to taste.

Egg whites from the carton can also be frozen for up to 3 months at a time but again, be sure to freeze them well before the expiry.  Then when you’re ready to eat them you can just thaw them out in the fridge overnight and they’re ready to be consumed.

Eat It With:

Egg whites can be eaten in any of the same ways you can eat a whole egg and are most often consumed scrambled or made into an omelette.

Some people also enjoy mixing egg whites with some oatmeal, protein powder, and cottage cheese to form a protein pancake, which they cook on a hot grill like any other regular pancake batter.

Burn Off An Egg White:

To burn off the number of calories in an egg white you would have to do:

• 2 minutes of jogging
• 4 minutes of weight lifting
• 5 minutes of walking
• 4 minutes of cycling

You arrive home after a grueling day at work. You kick-off your shoes, drop your briefcase and head for the refrigerator. As you grab the handle, thoughts of “what to eat” overwhelm your brain and as the fridge door swings open you hear a collection of voices yell out… SURPRISE!

[Anytime I stand in front of an open fridge for more then 10 seconds it usually leads to poor eating decisions...]

Not exactly the next Oscar nominee for best screen play, am I?

That’s OK – because what I really want to convey to you today is the surprising food choices you can make to lose weight faster and more effectively.

And don’t worry, I’m not going to get all exotic here and send you to some overpriced health food store looking for an African fruit berry. We’re keeping it simple and straight forward so pay close attention.

#1 – Scratch The Starch

When people hear starch, they think pasta and white bread and well… that’s it. But did you know starches include rice, potatoes, some veggies, oats, and the list goes on?

What’s even a bigger surprise to people is that the starches above are often considered “health foods”.

While they can be healthy, they can also pack on the weight very quickly if you’re not careful. Here’s a simple approach to get a handle on your starch intake:

A. Cut out starch entirely for 4-6 weeks.

B. Then slowly add them in a few days a week.

It’s a temporary sacrifice to help you understand how much starch is really in your diet and how to best manage it going forward.

#2 – Can The Sodas

Why sodas? I picked this tip apart in greater detail here but let me summarize the idea again. A recent study has revealed that people who drank diet-sodas actually increased body-fat when compared to those who drank sugar-sodas.

Huh? Come again?

You read it right the first time but if you need the whole effect here it is… SURPRISE! Your body cannot be fooled by aspartame and chemicals. Sorry, but that’s the truth. I can’t think of one nice thing to say about sodas so here’s a quick story:

I bumped into a friend from my university days last week and she looked great. When asked about how she dropped the pounds (obviously this was done with more tact and discretion:) she said her easiest food change was cutting out all sodas – diet, low-calorie, all of them.

Water was her new beverage of choice and if she needed to spice it up, she would throw in a lemon or a bit of Stevia (an herbal sweetener). Simple yet effective!

#3 – Raw is right at night

My grade school teacher would be doing cartwheels over this rhyming scheme right about now:)

Seriously though, raw veggies with your last meal or as a snack before bedtime will really help you propel towards your fat loss goals. One of my personal faves is red peppers because they’re sweet, but I also like variety. Carrots, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumbers have all been in my rotation.

Pretty quickly you’ll learn to enjoy these natural foods and the resulting fat loss makes it that much better.

#4 – Stay Hungry My Friend

I’m still waiting for “the most interesting man in the world” to do a fasting version of these commercials.

[Bench pressing women and arm-wrestling soldiers is just another day for this guy]

It takes a special person to be hungry, especially in a world of constant food advertisements. But intermittent fasting is something that really has helped me shed weight without the struggles of counting calories or following the next big diet program.

If you’re interested in losing weight but not tossing aside the foods you enjoy, then check out this article for a primer on fasting for fat loss.

And before you start labeling this as simply starving yourself, take two minutes to read up on what exactly intermittent fasting is and how it fits so well with your weight loss goals.

I use the term “Interval Training” quite a bit on this site when discussing exercise strategies for fat loss. However, up until this post I’ve done a poor job in describing what the hell “Interval Training” really is.

If you’re someone who loves the fancy cardio machines and spends entire gym sessions in hope of burning loads of body fat, I’d suggest you pay special attention. What you’ve been doing up to this point may be sabotaging your fat loss goals while wasting colossal amounts of time!

[Long cardio sessions remind me a lot of this tricycle. Old, boring, and an inefficient way to get around the neighbourhood. Time to graduate to two wheels and start training more effectively with Interval Training.]

What are Intervals?

They are brief, high intensity periods of exercise (where you work out as intensely as you can), alternated with active recovery periods, (where you slow down just long enough to catch your breath).

It’s tough to pin-point the origin of this style of training but I can recall a good friend of mine even back in high school telling me about the grueling football practice he had just gone through where they would sprint for a short distance (100 meters), then jog the next 20 meters (the recovery period) and then sprint again. Sounds like intervals to me! So to call it new or ground breaking would be a tad misleading.

Why is Interval Training Effective?

The solution for fat loss lies in shorter, more-intense sessions. Two published studies from 2006 really sealed the deal regarding interval training as one of the best methods for losing fat fast.

The first study from The Journal of Applied Physiology confirms the body’s increased capacity to burn fat during high intensity interval training over a two week period.

Just as important, the second study from The Journal of Physiology finds similar adaptations in muscle and exercise performance using interval training as it does in endurance training. The guys doing the interval training were exercising for 2.5 hours while the endurance group spent 10.5 hours in the same two week period. Double Jackpot! Same results using less time! Need I really say more?

How to Do Intervals?

You would look rather silly running around your neighborhood, stopping and starting every 10 seconds, so let’s use an easy example that anybody can do regardless of their current weight: Walking on a Treadmill

1. Start with a 2 to 5 minute warm-up
Always nice to get your blood flowing and your heart pumping.

2. Now do 30 seconds of brisk walking
This should be done at a moderate intensity like that time you ran to answer the phone slightly out of breath only to hear a pre-recorded telemarketing message about debt solutions. Damn, I hate those phone calls!

3. Slow down and continue this pace for the next 2 minutes.
Welcome to the active recovery period. Your probably sweating a little but your coherent enough to call 911 and give them directions to your house (just kidding).

Congratulations, you’ve completed your very first interval!

This pattern will continue until you’ve completed 4 to 8 intervals. The number of intervals really depends on your fitness level, but I can tell you that doing this type of training for only 10 minutes will leave you feeling like you’ve ran a marathon and finished in first place. Great feeling of accomplishment! I suggest you always finish with a 5 minute walk to cool down and catch your breath before calling it a day.

If your interval workout seems too difficult or too easy, make changes by adjusting one of these four variables at a time:

1. Intensity (speed) of interval
2. Duration (distance or time) of interval
3. Duration of recovery period
4. Number of repetitions of each interval (4-8)

Of course, using a treadmill for intervals is only one example. You can perform intervals using:

- Any type of cardio equipment (treadmill, elliptical, stationary bike);
- A combination of cardio equipment (alternate between two or more types);
- Walk or run on a variety of terrains outside;
- Body weight exercises – use just one or combine a couple;
- Strength training – personal favorite and promise to detail it more in future articles;

Working harder for longer, but in a shorter overall period of time has really contributed to my own personal fat loss results and I’m confident it will for you as well. If your interested in more advanced interval progressions I suggest you check out our Turbulence Training review.

Author Craig Ballantyne has created some of the most challenging and rewarding workouts using interval training principles. Just imagine, you’ll never have to go back to long time-wasting cardio again!

Excuse me ‘mam… You have something dangling between your elbow and your armpit?

Ah, yes, it’s under arm flab!

Some women I know with a wicked sense of humor refer to it as “their wings” because their arm flab flaps and jiggles (say that 5 times fast) when they walk or jog. Cool, now I’m up to speed on what females call certain body parts when their talking amongst themselves.

Then… as I’m channel surfing I happen to see this infomercial:

[I know what your thinking and I want you to stop it! We're a PG-13 group here. By the way, who approved commercials for adult toys during the day?]

If products like the one above are making it past the cutting room floor then there must be some serious concern out there from the ladies about getting rid of their wings?

Before I go any further, this topic reminds me of Marty Web.

For those of you who have read Fit Over 40, by fitness author and expert Jon Benson, you’ll be familiar with Marty Web’s story. For those that haven’t, no problem. Here’s a quick synopsis:

She was the 59 year old housewife who was 80 pounds over her ideal body weight. Her wings were flapping in the wind with loads of arm fat. Marty kindly shares her story in Benson’s book of how she transformed her body and recaptured her toned, beautiful arms.

NOTE: My apologies to anyone who found that summary offensive but I just wanted to paint a quick picture of the situation. From this point forward, we will substitute wings for more descriptive terms, promise.

Leaving out the tear jerking moments, here are the basics of what she used to melt away the body fat, especially on the back of her arm.

Nutrition

A common misconception about body fat is (especially on the back of your arms) you can turn it into muscle.

Ha… I wish!

Fat doesn’t turn into anything. It can be used for energy or for the creation of soap products to supplement Tyler Durden’s income for Project Mayhem (Fight Club on cable this past weekend… I couldn’t resist).

Low insulin nutrition is vital to lowering your body fat. Eating more protein-rich foods, foods that are not processed, and plenty of vegetables are the corner stone of keeping your insulin levels low and in check. I’m starting to sound more primal everyday!

For ladies, the “back of the arm” bodyfat is often the last bit to go.

Work Those Wings

I mean, train your triceps!

Women (and guys are way more guilty) often mistaken biceps for being bigger and better then triceps.

WRONG!

The triceps are the foundation of any good looking toned arms. But to work them you need to work all three heads of the muscle- long, medial and lateral head.

Sure there’s a ton of different machines to use at the gym but you can still get work done at home with a classic body weight exercise called the push up.

Craig Ballantyne, author of the Turbulence Training system, has many different workout programs that include the push up and other cool bodyweight exercises. If your interested, check out our review of his program here.

Push ups are great for working all three heads of your triceps but here’s a few tips to bring you past the beginner stage:

[Really, I have to get a new video camera and demonstrate this stuff. It's inexcusable! For now, you'll have to settle for these grainy animated gifs from my buddy Roddy over at myfit.ca]

On Your Knees

If you cannot do a push up with your legs straight, start by doing them on your knees.

But don’t rest there!

Work your way up to straight-legged push ups (see below) for maximum benefit to your triceps.

It’s All in the Hands

Do a set with your hands facing away from your body, a set with your hands facing toward your body (fingers pointing toward you) and your final set with your hands in the “normal” push up position, facing the same direction as your body.

This will work the three heads effectively and keep you and your triceps pumping!

If your looking for inspiring stories about struggles with weight loss then check out Fit Over 40 Review. By my last count there were over 50 stories just like Marty’s above about the tribulations with fat loss and living a healthy lifestyle.

Ever looked in the mirror after six months of hard, intense training, and utter the words, “this isn’t worth it“? It’s happened to me on a few occasions and it’s painfully disappointing.

Busting my butt, working out HARD 4 days a week with cardio on my “off days” seemed like a good plan. Hell, more then a few books and programs told me this was the only way to lose body fat and achieve great results in the gym.

Wrong!

It’s the classic “more is better” mentality, or what’s better known in the fitness world as over training.

[Yes, we all like the burning sensation during and after a workout but too much of a good thing can be detrimental to your fat loss goals and could be a sign of over training!]

Sounds pretty strange to say your training too much but trust me, it’s very real and can become a dangerous obsession.

Researchers have identified more than 130 signs of over training, including elevated heart rate, changes in blood-lactate levels, hormonal imbalances, and weakened immune response.

Throw in the mood swings and change in attitude that is often associated with over training and it’s amazing this topic isn’t talked about more in the mainstream.

At the gym I’ll hear men and women constantly complain they can’t lose any body fat after training five days a week for 60 minutes. That’s 5 hours a week!

Almost the equivalent of one work day a week in a typical office environment. Absolutely nuts!

I personally know fitness pros and athletes who exercise 50% less and they rely on being in the best shape possible for their livelihood!

Let me put it another way.

Do you pop a handful of aspirins for your headache thinking the more you take the faster your pain will go away?

Of course not!

So why do people apply the same logic to fitness?

Only a certain amount of exercise is required. Beyond that, you’re wasting valuable time and energy.

How do I take it down a notch.. or two?

1. Shorten the length or frequency of your workouts

Space your workouts farther apart or take days off for rest and recovery. Instead of 60 minutes, try 30 minutes.

Doing the same amount of work in less time always gets my blood flowing and it allows for the same intensity but more recovery time between workouts. Efficiency is the name of the game!

2. Nutrition and what you eat

Half the battle starts in the kitchen, not in the gym or on the treadmill. Meals that include lean protein, and low glycemic carbohydrates (think vegetables and fruits), and fats (yes I said Fats, read why here) will supply the body with all the nutrients it needs to maintain stable energy levels inside and outside of your workout sessions.

Eating smarter and training less is way better then training all the time and eating 8 times a day (another crazy obsession to avoid) just to recover in time for tomorrow’s workout.

Fitness expert and author, Tom Venuto does a great job exposing all the lies about training too long and why this is not the best way to achieve the results you and I want in his book Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle.

Check it out if you want some more evidence as to why this obsession is killing your fat loss progress and how to rebound and break on through to the other side.