Help with the aid of supplements?

N

n1ck88

0
Hi,

Just about to start losing weight and toning up and have seen lots of supplements that aid the process.

I accept that i will have to work hard to get to where i want to be but i know that these can help.

I'm going to be hitting the gym 4 times a week (mon,tues,wed,thur,sat) and doing 2x1 hour sessions of cardio and 2x1 hour sessions of weights.

A friend has recommended protein shakes, and any advice on this would be great. If these are suitable then great, which ones? If not which suppliments can i try and which ones work?

I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to this, i've been going to the gym for over a year but only half heartedly really and keeping me busy but now i want to give it a propper shot of starting to look better.

I've cut down on the amount of crap i'm eating and i understand that it's going to have to stay that way so to help myself gain my targets.

I don't really have a set goal to acheive but i just want to look better and feel healthier.

Thanks in advance

n1ck88
 
come on people,

any advice would be absolutely great!!
 
supplements are nothing unless your core diet/food intake is good/great to begin with.

protein shakes are an acceptable way to get in optimal protein levels when whole food sources aren't available or are simply cost-prohibitive (a 20g serving of whey protein is often under 50 cents, while 20g of lean chicken breast is over $1)

I wouldn't do more than 2 shakes a day, and more than half of your protein intake should come from whole foods: eggs, meat, fish, poultry, cheese
 
First off, you said you're going to the gym 4 days a week, then listed 5 days...

Where are you now and where do you want to be?

Are you looking to gain mass or lose it?
 
I think he/she wants to lose weight...

In order to find out if protein shakes are good for you, we need more details.

Actually, there is not much to work with....we need more details to answer any of your questions.

What is your food intake like? (quality of food)
How many calories per day do you consume at the moment?
How many grams of the 3 macros are you taking right now, per day? (carbs, fats, proteins)
Height/Gender/Weight?
What are your cardio routines like?
What are your weight lifting sessions like?

Answer all of these and I will gladly give you input.

supplements are nothing unless your core diet/food intake is good/great to begin with.
Click to expand...

Um, no. sometimes its the opposite, someone doesn't have the time/money to invest in proper food and invests in supps instead to reach a healthy balance. Supps are always there to help you, but you must make smart choices of course.

Eric
 
I want to lose weight.

I work out Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and do 2 cardio sessions per week which consist of 30mins on the Bike on a random setting. I then go on to 15mins of the cross trainer and do 15mins on the rowing machine. The whole time in which i'm training i can get through an excess of 4litres of water per day.

when i'm working with the weights i'm lifting different weights on different machines and doing 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps depending.

I'm male, 6ft 6 inches and prob. weigh about 105-108kgs

breakfast is cereal with semi-skimmed milk followed by some fruit around 10am
recently i have been eating low fat cottage cheese
Lunch consists of sandwich's on brown bread. some type of meat or tuna.
Tea consists of jacket potato with some type of meat or pasta and before i go to bed usualy some cereal with semi skimmed milk again.

I just want to know if there are any supplements such as a protein shake with low calorie content but high protein content? or any others you people know of?

Remember i'm fairly new to this so be gentle, Thanks :beerchug:
 
I can see that you're trying very hard with this and that you are serious about losing your fat.

How much fat do you have? Your weight isn't that bad for your height. What are your measurements? That would tell us more.

First off, I'm not a fan of low fat anything, especially if you're trying to lose fat. I'm a firm believer that if you eat a really good diet with good fats, your body won't want to hold on to the fat you've got. Fats and proteins help to lower the glycemic index of your carbs and holds your insulin levels/blood glucose levels a lot steadier. You're still getting Xgms of carbs, but the way your pancreas and liver deals with it is a bit different.

Straight carbs spike your insulin production immediately. Spiked insulin production tells the body to store carbs as fat (insulin is a storage hormone). So what you want to aim for is control over your blood glucose levels. The more stable they are, the quicker you'll lose the fat.

Our bodies do not have the ability to store large quantities of carbs as sugars (i.e., glycogen). Any excess carbs that we ingest will be stored as fat. Eating less isn't the answer. Eating smarter is.

FYI, your brain is a glucose hog. It will consume 2/3 of your blood glucose when you are resting. Only glycogen stored in the liver can feed your brain (60-90gms -- which is equivalent to about two cups of cooked pasta or three candy bars, and it represents your total reserve capacity to keep the brain working properly). The glycogen in your muscles is not available to the rest of the body (300-400gms). The glycogen stores in your liver are only available for a maximum of 10-12 hours. After that, you're cannibalizing your muscle tissue. So eat protein at every meal!

Just some suggestions:

1. I don't think your breakfast has enough protein. I would eat some meat first (choose a lower fat meat -- don't have those pork sausages!), then eat your cereal, but go easy on the carbs. I'm assuming you're not eating Fruit Loops, Lucky Charms or Cap'n Crunch ... :) The protein will keep your BG levels good until your snack.

2. With your mid-morning snack, you might want to add some cottage cheese to the fruit. That will stabilize your blood glucose levels until lunch time.

3. I think your late night snack has too many carbs/grains. Try having some protein instead.

4. Peanut butter and/or almond butter are very good fat sources.

5. Tuna is good, but it tends to get boring to your palate unless you put mayonnaise and wasabi in it ;) Mayo isn't the best thing on the planet ... so I use organic yogurt instead (you need the higher fat content yogurt so your tuna isn't runny). The wasabi paste adds a wonderful zing to the tuna. Makes it way easier to eat. I would take a nice piece of lettuce (romaine or whatever, not iceberg) and put my tuna salad on that and enjoy. Add some crispy celery to the tuna salad. It will feel better in your mouth because you'll have something crunchy it in. And the wasabi rocks!

6. I would try to eliminate the starches (bread and potatoes) from your diet except on your cardio days. Yeah, I know. Eliminate potatoes and bread? Are you crazy? Yes. Yes I am crazy. I treat myself to potatoes once a week. I cut them into wedges, toss them in olive oil, fresh garlic, freshly ground sea salt and fresh rosemary and then roast them up until they are puffed up and super crunchy. In fact, they're mostly air by the time I get to them, so it's a guilt-free indulgence! BTW, I leave the skin on because I love potato skins ;)

I'm not saying don't go out and enjoy yourself; just keep in mind that everything you put into your body will either positively affect it or negatively affect it.

Other than that, I really can't tell you much else. Basically, if you want to lose fat, you need to eat a good combination of protein, fat and carbs at every meal, eat 4-6 times a day, and go easy on dairy products and starches.

I'm sure there must be a dietician who can give better advice than I've given here (advice that makes sense!).
 
Is it worth giving a protein shake a go for a couple of months or would it be detremental to my progress??

HELP :confused:
 
Couple points:

1. ditch the 'machines' for weights. you want FREE WEIGHTS...period. there's only a few useful machines in the gym for hitting 'hard to target' muscles. stick to mostly compound exercises done with free weights.

2. a protein shake is no different than eating a piece of meat. its protein...shakes generally have less fat than lean meat though. As long as your protein shake doesn't make you exceed your daily calorie limit, its fine.

which leads me to...
3. you DO have a daily calorie intake figured out...don't you? ideally you should also know how many grams of protein, fat and carbs you want to take in per day, in order to maintain a slight caloric deficit, so the body burns some fat for energy.
 
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