Protein Powder, Weight Loss, and Supplements
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Supplements and Weight Loss Success
I’ll start this off by saying that no rule applies to every person 100% of the time. With that out of the way, let’s move on to today’s post.
One thing that annoys me more than any other is how supplements are pushed on people who just want to lose weight and improve their overall physical appearance. Now more than ever, personal trainers are joining in and trying to get their clients to buy useless supplements telling them that “you absolutely have to take this if you want to lose weight”. I have heard it many times before.
Now before I jump into why protein shakes and powders are not mandatory for weight loss success, I will first tell you some supplements that can be helpful.
- Fish oil – this has been talked about for years, and I’m not going to get into all of the health benefits that it provides. The point here is that it works. This is the only supplement that I think is a “must” for practically everyone. If you’re not taking a pharmaceutical grade fish oil, you really should start. (Just make sure you discuss this with your physician first, as they may think otherwise).
- Protein powder – this is not mandatory for weight loss and/or muscle building success. There is absolutely nothing magical about protein powder when it comes to losing weight or building muscle. I do use protein shakes on occasion myself, but that is because I have cut meat out of my diet, and I want a little “insurance” when it comes to protein, but I’m still not convinced that it’s truly necessary. If you eat meat and an overall balanced diet, then you don’t need protein powder for weight loss or building muscle. Forget what the magazines tell you, because more often than not, they own the supplement companies they promote.
I've gone into detail about protein shakes and weight loss once before, and you can check that out here => The Truth About Protein Shakes and Meal Replacements.
Many people use protein powders before and/or after they workout to stop catabolism and what not. Well, if that is why you use it then fine; just as long as long as you don’t expect it to make a huge difference. In fact, drinking chocolate milk after your workout will do the same thing, and it’s a lot cheaper. How hard you work in the gym, your consistency, and your overall diet will make a much larger impact on your body composition.
The problem with protein powders comes when people take it with the idea that doing so will help them lose weight and/or build more muscle. Once again, there is nothing magical about protein. If you want to change your body, then train hard and eat smart. That is the ultimate way to reach your goals, and it will save you a lot of money in the process.
One final note on supplements: most of them are worthless. Supplement companies are always coming out with the “latest and greatest” thing that is guaranteed to do this or that and they always have crazy eye-catching names. What’s more they want you to “stack it” with something else to make it more effective.
If you really need something to get you going before a workout, drink some green tea or a cup of coffee for a kick.
Don’t get tricked into thinking that some pill or powder is the missing link you have been waiting for that will finally help you achieve your goals. Just follow a great training and nutrition plan, commit yourself to the process 100%, and don’t stop no matter what.
Want to know something else about supplements? Most of them have a huge mark up price. I have read that some supplements that sell for over 60 bucks only cost about five dollars to make. Just something to keep in mind . . .
I don’t hate all supplement companies and think they are evil. In fact some of them are honest and really try to help people. Just do your homework before you make a purchase, and use common sense.
Oh, and one more thing. I once heard someone say that “if licking a frog before you workout helps you perform better, than do it.” With that said, if you believe that your favorite supplement truly helps you, then by all means keep taking it. Just know that nothing replaces a relentless attitude, dedication, and hard work.
What supplements do you take or have you tried? Did any of them work?
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Comments for This Entry
Thanks once again, Nia, for replying to my questions on your other old blog post.
Since your 'method' seems to have good results, I was thinking that you had to have *good diet* as well as training --and wondered what your experience was with supplements. So, I looked for your old blog entries where you wrote about that and found this old entry. (I admit I 'cheated' to find this entry --by limiting the Google search to entries with the word 'supplement'; In other words, I didn't have to look through each entry for it.)
In any event, you ask for feedback, and *my* opinion is that a multivitamin/mineral *is* good --but (and others agree with me here), instead of swallowing it, I prefer to chew it up in order to help it assimilate better and be absorbed. (Also, if you get a cheap vitamin/mineral supplement, it may have calcium carbonate, and this form of calcium is literally a rock --it is hard to dissolve the calcium out of it and into solution to be absorbed unless you have an acidic environment --and this would either have to use up some stomach acid that could otherwise be used to digest food --or, if your body pH is already acidic, this will help dissolve out the calcium --but at the expense of your health, since the body is supposed to be slightly alkaline --not acidic. Better form of calcium: Orange Juice with Calcium & Vitamin D added; usually something like Calcium hydroxide, calcium citrate, or tricalcium phosphate. easier to absorb, but, as such, they oxidize easier/quicker --in other words, go bad on you, so drink it up fast!)
Also, as you say in your follow-up post, I sometimes use energy shots -but I now steer clear of ones with caffeine, as I've developed (or discovered) an adverse reaction to caffeine --I try to avoid it altogether --and only once in a great while have a Red Bull or the like --no more than 80-100mg of caffeine on rare occasion --and usually none.
I have tried to cut down big-time, major-league on soft drinks, since they contain 30-45 mg of caffeine depending on the brand of soda (which has negative long-term side-effects), *and* phosphoric acid (which leaches calcium from the bones and blood), *and* sugar (which is probably not totally evil -but not good either --especially in high amounts).
So, in my view, one or two good vitamin-mineral supplements per day *chewed up* are probably good to help supplement/counteract our bad diet --especially in light of the fact that even fruits & veggies grown nowadays are grown on land that is probably deficient in soil minerals & micronutrients --because the farmers don't rotate crops and/or because farmers are greedy and don't give the land a 'Sabbath rest' to recuperate.
First, a Biblical reference, and then a scientific one: They agree -as you would expect: God is not a dummy when it comes to science!!)
Leviticus 25:4, KJV, Holy Bible:
But in the seventh year shall be a sabbath of rest unto the land, a sabbath for the LORD: thou shalt neither sow thy field, nor prune thy vineyard.
Now the science (put the phrase "rotating crops" in quotes, and enter into a search engine)
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=%22rotating+crops%22&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=c4fb31827b26355d
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=AjpNq64zXcB8mTSPFcSnNtGbvZx4?p=%22rotating+crops%22&toggle=1&cop=mss&ei=UTF-8&fr=yfp-t-701
Rotating the crops, of course, allows the soil to not get depleted of the micronutrients specific to one crop --since the next rotation would probably use different micro-nutrients. God's method of letting the land 'rest' effectively rotates crops, since you would have weeds grow up in the 'rest' year –more proof that the Bible is not stupid when it comes to science; Whether it's a person or your soil, we all need rest & relaxation (and recuperation).
So, my view is that a vitamin/mineral supplement would probably help a little bit. That is my view on vitamin/mineral supplements. Does it make good sense? Thx in advance,
Gordon Wayne Watts
LAKELAND, Florida, U.S.A.
Thanks, Gordon!
After I saw your endorsement of fish oil (and saw that as an exception to the rule of a vegan diet), I became curious as to whether Flax Seed Oil (e.g., a 'vegan' oil) would be a good or better substitute, and -for what it's worth -here's what I found out:
Both are a good source of Omega-3 fatty acids, but that "flaxseed oil contains only alpha- linoleic acid (ALA), which is the parent compound from which other omega-3 fatty acids are derived. This leaves it to your body to do the conversion to the other forms it needs, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). The problem is that the conversion is not always that efficient, and the body often uses the ALA for extra energy, leaving less for conversion to the other types. Fish oil, on the other hand, contains the other forms and delivers them directly to your body with no conversion necessary..." source: http://www.shirleys-wellness-cafe.com/flaxoil.htm#difference
This claim is supported by this website:
http://www.supplementquality.com/efficacy/fishoil_flaxoil.html
which says that "Since one needs ALA anyway, and the body can make all the other omega-3s it needs from ALA, does that mean flax seed oil is a better source than fish oil for one’s omega-3s? Not necessarily.
The body uses various enzymes to convert ALA to other omega-3s, and the process is not very efficient, especially as one gets older. Estimates of the rate of conversion range from 5% to 25%. In order to make sufficient amounts of EPA and DHA, one needs to consume 5 or 6 times more ALA than if one relies on fish oil alone...Another consideration is that ALA competes metabolically with the other essential fatty acid that the body cannot make for itself. Linoleic acid (LA) plays the same role for omega-6 fatty acids that ALA does for omega-3s: The body uses LA to make all the other omega-6s that it needs...By competes, we mean that when LA is oversupplied in the diet, the body makes more of the LA-derived fatty acids than it needs, and not enough of the ALA-derived ones."
So, in short, while there is a greater mercury contamination risk from fish oil, it is offset (how much i don't know) by the benefits described above.
A similar situation is found when vegans have trouble getting vitamin B-12 and are tempted to eat meat. Well, meat does have more B-12 than most (or all?) veggies, but supplaments can be taken.
I suspect (but do not know for sure) that the lab could synthetically *make* a 'vegan' form of EPA and DHA.
What do you think about that possibility -and also the vegan method of simply using Flax Seed Oil instead of Fish (or Krill) Oil?
Gordon-
Yes, it has been shown that flax oil is a good alternative to fish oil, but fish oil still has some properties that flax does not. However, there are some vegan oil blends that are just as good. I believe one is Udo's Choice oil.
I haven't taken fish oil in a while, mostly because I got out of the habit. But I will probably start taking something like Udo's.
Thx 4 the heads up, Nia; I always suspected there were non-animal ways to procure and obtain such oils found in Fish Oil that Flax oil might be missing.
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