Hydroxycut: Yes or No ?

[TangLangCh'uan]

just looking for people's opinions on "hydroxycut" and some of the other "weight-loss" supplements out there. despite training 6 days a week and having a physically exhausting job, i seem to have flatlined when it comes to losing weight. i was considering give hydroxycut a try, but i've tried a few other supplements with little or no results. any advice on this or other supplements would be appreciated, along with any tips on how i could break my weight-loss plateau.
-christopher

[Ming Yue]

Try jolting your diet, go high lean protein and no simple carbs for a couple weeks, or go high complex carb and low fat for a while. Either method will work for weight loss, as long as you're burning more cals than you're taking in.

quit eating sweets and sodas entirely... that may make a difference too.

[red5angel]

Tanglang - no offense to you but more often then not when someone claims they are doing what they can to lose weight, but they aren't losing it, they usually aren't. The very first thing you need to do is re-evaluate your program, and most likely make a few adjustments. Some key things are to:

1 - Figure out how many calories a day you need to take in to maintain weight loss.
2 - Make sure the foods you're eating are generally "clean" - fruits and veggies, chicken and fish, lots of whole grains.
3 - check to see how many calories your burning regularly compared to how many your taking in.
4 - Vary your program somewhat. I'm not a big fan of what Ming Yu suggests, although it definitely works, because those are short cuts and short cuts fail more times then not. Ideally some people have to take short cuts to get down to a particular weight, but you have to make sure that you're on your way to living rigt, more then anything else. Vary your workout by changing routines every couple of weeks or so. Spend some weeks going hard, and others taking it easy and going light. Things like that. Try to find an extensive list of exercises that you enjoy and rotate through them, mixing that rotation up.

Your diet should be varied as well. You can choose to go high carb, low carb, high protien, low fat, or whatever the flavor of the week is, but it's better to just figure out how many calories you should be taking in, and then balancing that out with the most nutritious meals you can.

supplements are a joke in my opinion unless your training for something that's pretty extreme like body building or olympic level competition.

[Chief Fox]

Red's right. A great way to see what you're doing wrong is to start keeping a food journal. Write down every thing you eat and the bad stuff or not so good stuff will become obvious.

A great way to do this online is to start an account at http://www.fitday.com They have a huge database of foods and also allow you to create custom foods. It keeps track of all your protein, carbs, fat and calories. It's really a great resource. And it's free!

I supplement protein sometimes because you can only eat so much chicken, tuna, egg substitute and cottage cheese.

[ewallace]

Are you changing your routine up, or doing the same things over and over? If so it's like walking into a room that has a funny smell (like Red5's). But after a few minutes its not an issue. Body adapts the same way.

Now, I do go on cycles of and ECA stack (Ephedrine, Caffine, and asprin). I DO NOT RECCOMEND THIS FOR ANYONE.

Royal Dragon and I had this conversation a year or two ago. The Ephedrine is pure Ephedrine (well, with some guophensin sp?). I fully agree with taking hydroxycut off the shelves. Especially the one with Ephedrine in it.

I do take ECA stacks for about a six week cycle, then give it a break for a few weeks. However, I know exactly how my body reacts to it, and you have to work up to the recommened level. There was a study by harvard med school that backed up the findings that 25mg of ephedrine, 100 mg (i think) of caffine, and 75mg of aspirin are shown to increase metabolism and fat burning and had a definite advantage.

But the problem is that people would take it, and then go in the hot sun and exercise (primarily pro atheletes). That's where most of them that you heard about died. But most of those also were from hydroxycut or similair. You have to understand that the typical ECA stack raises your body temperature by approx. half a degree. That doesn't seem like much, but it also gets your heart beat going a bit harder. Bottom line, I do not recommend it for others, but if you do it, first do your homework.

[red5angel]

If so it's like walking into a room that has a funny smell (like Red5's).

I only smell like that after a night with your girl ;)

[mickey]

Greetings,

Hydroxycut? No.

I recommend digestive enzymes and fat metabolizers. Should be taken with meals.

Bromelain, Papain (enzymes)

Lecithin Granules(fat metabolizers): Lecithin can be mixed with juice. It will make it taste soapy. Don't worry, it won't kill you.

mickey

[Vash]

No. If it comes from Muscletech, it sucks.

And I would try cutting your training down to five days a week, or at least varying the intensity of your workouts - even (especially) your MA.

[JadeMantis]

Its a no for supplements for me, just never appealed to me.

Lots of fresh veg/fruit, chicken, tuna, fish, pasta & rice. High protein, complex carbs, lots of fibre & water.
Do a search on google for the nutritional values of food, theres some good sites out there.I found this page interesting http://heartspring.net/list_of_high_protein_foods.html

Cut out all the naughty but nice things like fast food, sweets, chips, crisps, cream cakes etc

Then lots of cardio to get burning those cals off. HIIT works well. Running / skipping / shadow boxing all good.

You'll put on some muscle but you'll burn off more fat.

This seems to be working for me. Got a little to lose round the old luv handles.

Cheers JM

[TangLangCh'uan]

thanks for the advice everyone. i'll stay away from hydroxycut, and work more on upping my cardio training and continue to watch what i eat. i'll probably give the lecithin granules a try too.

-christopher

[FooFighter]

I do not see the harm in any legal, science based, and safe supplementation as long you're doing what is the "primary". If you arent doing the right things first then supplementation can be a complete waste of time and money and it can be dangerous. If you have a holistic and healthy diet free from commerical junk, a proper exercising routine, and quality rest and recovery, then prehaps supplementation isnt a bad idea.

Personally I would work on the primary things first in my own bodyfat loss goals, then focusing on some fat/weight loss supplement. In my humble opinion, there is a whole $$$ market for those who are looking for quick results and I personally doubt any person or company who promise quick money, healths; etc. So BUYER BEWARE! There are no silver bullets/pills in weight/fat loss or any health and fitness goals, just right choices, proper effort, right movitation, and self discipline.

Best of luck in your weight/loss goals.

Your friend,
Bao

[ewallace]

Also, don't make drastic changes in your diet. That usually won't last. Cut out the nasties one by one. I think it takes something like 19 days to form a habit, and that's what you want. So in a nutshell, don't go on a diet, change your diet. And, look up "Fat to Fire" on tmag.org. That's a heck of a program. And, if you can handle it, 400 meter sprints are good too, except I got about 100 meters and almost had a stroke. Good luck.

I do take supplements, Ultra One multi vitamin from Nature's Plus, Epa and Dha essential omega 3s, and folic acid. I also drink protein shakes from EAS called MyoPro whey. I reccomend the vanilla, so you can throw a banana in it. Most protein shakes taste like horse pucky but the one from eas aint bad at all.