Everyone who says you don't need supplements is right, of course.
Whole foods in a reasonable diet with a calorie deficit along with a decent weights / CV routine will cause weight loss.
But......
Sometimes there is just not enough time or it is not realistically practical to 'go that extra mile' with the diet when there is an easy supplement solution. There is also the desire to try and maximise the effort put in to the exercise by taking something to help 'boost' your performance. To be clear, I am only talking about supplements like vitamins / fish oils / Whey protein / Creatine.
On a calorie deficit there is a good possibility that you may not be getting all the vitamins and nutrients your body needs so a good vitamin tablet is just a good insurance policy. Fish oils for brain / joint function amongst other benefits, Whey for muscle growth / repair and creatine to help boost endurance.
All of these things can be taken through natural food if the person concerned has the time / ability to purchase and store the items needed and is willing to make the effort.
For the rest of us suppliments are useful but they are just supplements and should only be used to boost an already reasonible diet. They will do very little on their own.
I would not buy from ebay and remember that supplements do not need to go through drugs testing so there could be anything in there. Go with a trusted source. There are a couple used by the members here which are meant to be good.
Ok, diet;
ok a typical meal would be something like:
breakfast:
1 bowl special k and or/ x2 fried eggs & bacon in brown bread
Special K is ment to be ok. Oats would be better. What type of milk ? Semi-skimmed is a reasonable alternative to full fat. I would stay away from bacon and egg sandwiches as much as I also love them. You can't get decent bacon over here so not too hard for me to resist. Bread is bad although wholegrain is better than pure evil
.Bacon is very fatty. You can try stripping the fat off but would be better giving it a miss all together. Eggs are good
.
toon_mad said:
dinner/lunch:
cheese & ham sandwich, brown bread / bowl of pasta/ or snack on nuts.
Cheese and ham with brown bread..... so fat with fatty meat on carbo rich bread........
. Go wholemeal rather than brown if you need bread. White meat is better like turkey or chicken (without skin). Pasta is ok but wholemeal pasta is better. Nuts are good but better as a between the 3 main meals snack.
toon_mad said:
tea:
anything goes really
...and you want to loose weight
. Need to get control of dinner.
toon_mad said:
bread is the killer for me, i have way too much. drinks normally are tea, cola, lager or diluted squash.
Me too and cutting down was difficult. More wholemeal bread / pasta would help if you really are having problems
Ditch all the carbonated drinks like coke / sprite / fanta etc. Sugar city although I found out this weekend Oasis with its 'all natural ingredients' has 2 servings per bottle and has more or less twice the calories of coke, of which all were sugar
.
I still drink highly diluted squash just to add a bit of taste to water. Tea and coffee are ok in moderation. Without sugar is better or try reducing sugar if you cant do without. Again go semi-skimmed milk if you need milk with it.
Other things to look at;
Fish, especially oily fish is good. Salmon, mackerel, herring and tuna seem to be favourites. Try for fresh if possible or tinned in spring water for things like tuna.
Olive oil is good for flavour and cooking as it is a 'good' oil to have.
Get the veggies in. Have a salad with a low fat dressing.
Veggies or fruit can be good for snacks between meals but watch the calories in fruit.
Try natural alternative sweeteners to sugar. I have oats with rasins to sweeten it up.
Tofu (bean curd) is good for protein but you need to add something for taste.
toon_mad said:
excercise:
6 miles cycling, mostly hills (but have had to stop of late due to nackered knee)
about 40 mins football every 2-3 days, walk roughly 20 mins a day. weights 1 hour each session with dumbells, every 2-3 days again.
Ok, so no cycling at the moment. Good to get back to after the injury has healed.
The football is good if it is an active game. Lots of stop and go is good. Post your routine for the dumbells and I am sure lots of good advice will come back.
toon_mad said:
i know a few things i could change, but if i could get benefits from supplements i will, ive never ever wanted to (i always thought its cheating), but im getting desperate now to try other things.
I think we all have a few improvements we could make and that is where help here comes in.
Take a look at fish oils, vitamins, whey if you are not able to get a decent amount of protein in and possibly creatine to help with endurance although from what I have read there is a reasonable number of people it really does very little for. Try it for a month and see how it goes. Get the diet sorted out. Count the calories in a record book for a month at least so you can see what you are putting in to your body and fine tune it from there. Aim for 1500-2000KCals a day, high protein, med carb and low good fats (you always need fats).
Post the dumbell routine
.
RB
