do I need supplementation?

[lovelyivy]

Hello everyone!

I am not a hardcore bodybuilder, just someone who is trying to be healthy and look fit (not thin, fit). I am 5'4.5" and currently weigh in at 137 pounds. My BF%, last time I had it checked, which was about two months ago, was 20%.

My current goal is to lose bodyfat while maintaining muscle. I am happy with the amount of muscle I have (could always use more of course, but the goal is to make it easier to see what I currently HAVE).

Dietwise I eat fairly well during the wek, 5-6 small meals per day, carbs limited to fruits, veggies and whole grain foods during the week. I work out 5 days a week (Monday: weights, Tuesday: yoga, Wednesday; weights, Thursday: cardio, Friday: yoga and cardio). I don't eat an insane amount of protein, it's probably 20% of my calorie intake. I tried to eat more but it was just too expensive and difficult and made little difference in how I FELT. I couldn't choke down that much chicken so I just settled for a comfortable amount.

Currently I limit my supplementation to protein shakes, a multivitamin and Xenadrine (2/day during the week to fuel my workouts and help control my appetite). Reading this board I see a LOT of names floating around that are interesting- yohimbine hcl, l-glutamine, r-ALA and CLA popping up most often. My goals are really concentrated on losing the last stubborn pockets of fat - my inner thighs and left love handle (the right is fine. don't ask me why that is, maybe I just have a problem with perception, I dunno). Everything else is nicely defined IMO and just needs to be maintained.

I have a LIMITED amount of money and cannot afford something like mmmm yohimburn to pick an example out of the air. I am losing weight fairly steadily as is and don't really need anything drastic (doesn't mean I don't WANT to try it but I really don't NEED to). Are any of the above named supplements a reasonable investment? Seeing as how I have been doing okay on my own should I just continue as I have been going or should I add on?

All replies are welcome. Looking at pictures of people on this board I am just in AWE of how much the women here ROCK. Who SAYS that muscles don't look good on girls? They need to see some of you ladies! Whew!

 

[FitFossil]

Welcome to the boards! If protein currently makes up only 20% of your calories, I'd say increasing that would have any priority over additional supplements, especially if funds are limited. Protein accounts for @40% of my total calories (which isn't "high protein"). Weight training constantly tears down the muscle, and protein is needed to rebuild it.

Our protein requirements are much higher than the general (non-training) population. I include some protein in each of my 5-6 daily meals, and I never eat carbs w/o protein. For me that's about 20-30 grams of protein per meal, so I'm not choking down a large amount at one time. I didn't really "feel" the protein at first either, but my strength and training capacity increased when I started eating more protein. As I got stronger and was able to train even harder, I DID feel it, and then the results came quicker.

Not all protein sources have to be expensive, egg whites being a good example. Things like chicken breasts can be bought in bulk and kept frozen, same with canned tuna. Convenience foods like protein bars ARE expensive and often contain assorted junk. You're much better off spending your $$ on a good quality protein powder.

As for carbs, you should limit your fruit consumption, as your body essentially sees it as sugar. Your carbs should consist mostly of complex (for energy) and fibrous (for dietary bulk) sources. You can't beat old fashioned oatmeal as an economical and quality "complex" carb. Same with beans, lentil, brown rice. Most veggies like spinach, broc, carrots, peppers, etc are fibrous.

 

[JJFigure]

One of my mentors - someone who's been lifting for 50+ years and has guided a lot of BB'ers believes you only need to supplement three things:

Protein
Creatine
Glutamine

Now, based on MS's and W6's posts on Glutamine, you can probably cross that off your list if you're not dieting or in the middle of flu season. Since you are dieting, you probably want to include it.

I personally DO like yohimburn, but I'll only use it pre-contest, and even then, only after I drop some of the initial body fat.

I strongly believe adequate protein is the key to a successful diet plan - if you're lifting, you should aim for at least 1 gram/lb of bodyweight to get an adequate supply digested. Trust me, I've tried to diet with smaller amounts of protein, and a higher protein approach has always been more successful. I'm not as hungry and recover better from training. FitFossil gave you some great suggestions for lean protein sources - it really doesn't have to be very expensive, especially if you avoid the bars.

 

[vinylgroover]

Personally, i don't use supplements.

I've had enough digestive and bowell problems in my life that i'm not interested in putting any more synthetic substances in my body, which is what supplements are.

It seems like you've answered your own question when you said you were happy with your results thus far.

If your finances are tight, you have to evaluate whether it's worth your while spending your money on supplements or whether you would rather spend it elsewhere.

I disagree with Fitfossil on limiting fruit intake. I think too often the bodybuilding community overlooks overall health and well being in favour of 'packing on muscle' and keeping bodyfat in check.

Fruit may not provide much in the way of muscle building blocks, but it is a very important source of antioxidants and vitamins which are vital for a healthy digestive system.

 

[lovelyivy]

Thanks everyone for all the help!

I definitely need to bite the bullet and effectively use the protein shakes that I bought. My problem with that is probably that I'm TOO Cheap to want to use a whole can that cost me 20 bucks in one week instead of stretching it to two. But then again if I am not going to use it effectively then I might as well just throw my money away completely.

I will probably have to add a little more flexibility to my diet as I am really trying to keep calories down and including more protein means that I might have to sacrifice some of my whole grain fiber intake (I really like fruit and if I'm eating a yummy red d'anjou pear then I ain't eating an Oreo!). So it might be fiber one instead of whole grain bread in the am, and I'm off to find good recipes using black beans (the only kind I like) and lentils (which I've never eaten). Also of course the challenge to find a variety of brown rice that I can choke down (cutting out white rice was soooo difficult. Being West Indian it was a MAJOR staple in my diet, brown rice seems a poor substitute at best).

I really want to not only lose weight but be more fit and from what I've seen/read supplements, if wisely chosen, can be a real investment in your progress. I will be looking into glutamine and creatine. I am not too sure about the latter, but glutamine is something that I am really interested in purchasing if I can find a quality, inexpensive place to buy it.

You guys have definitely given me some homework to do when I get home from work tomorrow! Thank you for your time!

Ivy

 

[lovelyivy]

Good post for your first time out.

CORN. I've said before and I'm saying it again.

LOL, some of you folks that have been around for a while will remember some of my post on that

I love corn but I always thought they fed it to cows and pigs to fatten them up? All that starch? Have I been wrong all along about this most delicious of vegetables?

 

[lovelyivy]

update

Hey all!

It's only been about a week since I posted the original message, and two to three since I started with the program I had detailed. I didn't end up buying a supplement, I decided to wait until the second week of March and see how far I got doing what I was doing before spending my money. I DID increase the amount of protein I take on a daily basis though and have been fairly consistent with it. The protein shake does contain l-glutamine so I just rely on them for my glutamine supply right now (protein shakes are still VILE though, I think I read somewhere here that they're supposed to be healthy not taste good).

I have gained about 1-2 pounds so far, despite my calorie restriction, but it most definitely is not fat (it could of course be water fluctuations). My arms are much more defined and I can see my abs MUCH MUCH more clearly then when I started, mostly in the upper ab area. My love handles have gone down some. Still seeing no real changes in my lower body (well not NO changes. my muscles are harder, but in terms of fat loss there is no change in size that I have noted), but that is generally the last place I lose weight (I am genetically blessed in that I gain muscle fairly quickly, but cursed because when I gain weight it goes RIGHT to my hips and inner thighs). I finished my Xenadrine and have decided to try NYC, mostly because of all the good I have heard about yohimbe. I will give that another two to three weeks and see if there are any further changes.

In about a month I MAY invest in some yohimburn df, if I am still unable to lose that stubborn, stubborn inner thigh fat.

Thank you all for your help.