Question about all the things to take

I was wondering what or if I should take or eat some supplements or powders or anything to help me along my way. I wish to get a little bigger and become very toned. I was pretty overweight and lost 40 pounds. Been lifting and running a lot. This is me below in this thread link. I would still like to lost around five to eight pounds of fat.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7993

Anyway, I take whey protein. One scoop with 1% milk every morning before workout and before and after on lifting days. I also take a complex c vitamin. One a day. I eat pretty clean and eat about 150 protein on cardio days and 190 on lift days.

I just wanted to know if anything else would help. Would creatine or anything else for that matter do anything for me? I bought a muscle and fitness magazine today and it is packed full of ads for different things. Is most of that stuff crap or would any of it help?

Thanks!!

Creatine wouldn't really help that much, and yes, if by is that stuff crap, you mean Muscle and Fitness then yes it is.

Quite possibily a mix of fact and ficiton, to fool the unwary.

Classic example. An companies advert in M & F, saying to the effect, "some athletes may claim in adverts, to use other peoples products, but they actually use ours." Bit confusing to say the least.

Take protein powders with Water not Milk

A: Milk increases Calories.

B: Milk increases Casein content.

C: Milk thickens it up more.

D: Milk increase Enzymatic activity in the Gut.

All things that could slow down the absorption, which Water won't do.

Hopefully that makes sense.

If you get any slight taste issues with the Water, you could experiment with things like Vanilla Essence, ground Ginger, ground Nutmeg or Cinnamon.

I tried drinking it with water one time and couldn't do it. It was really really bad. I will try it with your suggestions to see if I can drink it that way.

So is there anything else that I could take that would help me?

Not really, no. Just good ol' fashioned diet and exercise should take care of everything you need.

Also, I like to blend my protein with ice, water and fruit. No clumps, and it is tasty. My favorite is peanut butter banana and choco protein.

OK. If you guys say so. It just seems like with all that stuff out there, some of it must work.

I know most or almost all of that stuff is crap.

I had to laugh at one of the ads in that magazine. I don't remember what product it was but it showed a guy that looked a little better that I do now for a before pic. The after pic was supposed to be taken about two months later and the guy was totally shredded. Yeah right. I don't think you could do that with roids in two months.

Only thing I've seen in a magazine years ago, that may have done what you said, was a product caled Taraxtone, which is supposed ot get rid of excess water weight, and some black guy looking a bit bummed out, then after 3 days of Taraxtone, nice and ripped without that water weight, and looking well please with himself.

Saw what you're talking about myself, on a supplement companies site.

Thin woman, with a normal physique and brown hair, standing quite a way from the camera. After pic, tanned, sunglasses, died blonde hair, flat stomach etc etc.

Same thing for the guy. standing away from the camera, bit podgy, had a beard. After pic, tanned, sunglasses, crew cut, shaved off beard, ripped, looked like he had another 20lbs of muscle, which looked fake in both occasions.

Especially when both were right up close to the Camera. Only way you could have compared the mans photos, were to compare the noses, because even the Chin looked different without the full beard.

Same thing for her pretty much, comparing the Nose and Chin, obviously she didn't have a full beard.

Sometimes before and afer pics are real, but often they almost certainly are fakes.

Even if they are real, they are probably years apart and they say they are three months apart or something like that.


So just to be sure, you guys think there is nothing out there that will show me faster results or bigger gains? With all the products out there and all the money spent on it, surely some of it has to work, even if it doesn't work as fast or as good as the maker would claim.

You can use bodybuilding supplements to gain size, but barring Protein powders and BCAA's, most other supplements are either expensive trash, a bit pointless, better if you're very well built, like Creatine, or might work if you stack them with a Protein Powder, like HMB, but otherwise nothing really does it that well.

OK. So which ones would you recommend then.

Either of the above.

Some like Protein powders, some prefer BCAA's. I use a powder, but it depends on what you prefer. Some don't like powders, because of the taste.

Which supplements would you recommend? I already use whey protein.

The ones I just mentioned. Ethier a Powder or a BCAA.

Any of the supplements you take will do little anyway. Nothing can beat a solid routine and diet.

In order to get any benefit form anything anyway, you have to be totally 100% routine and diet. The cost:benefit ratio is pretty ridiculous. Save your money and buy a unicycle imo.

The ones I just mentioned. Either a Powder or a BCAA.

OK. Sorry. I thought didn't realize you were saying those are supplements.