What are supplements, and do you really need them?

KimmalyS

What are supplements? What's their purpose? Does one need to take supplements in order to build muscle?

DancingMoosie

Supplements are anything you take in addition to your food. I take vitamins, minerals, probiotics, herbs, and sometimes protein powder for various reasons. You do not need them to build muscle unless you cannot meet nutritional requirements through food alone. You (usually) need a calorie surplus and progressive lifting to build muscle.

cgvet37

Are they needed, no. Do I find some useful to me, yes.

30kgin2017

Thanks to FDA website. A dietary supplement is a product intended for ingestion that contains a "dietary ingredient" intended to add further nutritional value to (supplement) the diet.

Do you really need them, depends on your health, diet and goals.

I dont exclude food groups and eat a variety of food and have average goal to lose weight. I doubt I really need them. Though protein is a big one to keep an eye on to maintain muscle but my diet covers my needs.

My mum has osto, she NEEDS to take supplements even with a good diet.

canadianlbs

for lifting, there are different kinds of supplements. some are supposed to make you able to work out harder, some are more for helping you recover faster or to 'grow' more afterwards.

idk if anyone needs them. it depends on where you're trying to get to, and whether you're able to get there without them i guess. personally, i have quite a little bottle city on the corner of my kitchen counter, but creatine is probably the only one that i take more or less every day. the others are bcaa powder, glucosamine, fish oil and a couple of minerals.

jgnatca

Getting adequate protein in your diet will allow you to build muscle but for it to really grow you need to exercise it.

I get deep satisfaction from pushing my muscles to their current limit, resting, and doing it again. In a few days I will be stronger.

Strength training seems to be a little more linear than weight loss.

The only time I got weaker from added exercise is when I did not incorporate enough recovery time.

ninerbuff

As they are deemed "supplements", they aren't needed if you're meeting the nutritional goals you set for yourself. Taking extra supplementation doesn't give you "extra credit" for doing it.
Also, supplements aren't regulated by the FDA (hence all of them have labels displaying it). This COULD mean you're not getting any actual product that's on the label. Lots of companies use fillers with just a small dose of whatever they are claiming is on the label. And that's legal to do under the DSHEA.
It's hard to trust some of these fly by night companies, but if you can find a company that MANUFACTURES it's own product, you're likely to get more bang out of your buck.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

AnvilHead

There are a handful of supplements that are worth taking (depending on your individual needs). 99.999% of them are a complete ripoff and a total waste of money, and most of what they say in their advertising is outright lies.

If you're curious about what a supplement is good for (or if it's even good for anything), a great place to start your research is examine.com. It's a impartial, science-based supplement review site which doesn't sell any products and doesn't accept advertising from any supplement companies. Their findings are backed by scientific studies, and the studies are cited/linked so you can dig deeper into them if you're interested in doing so.

successgal1

Its extremely difficult to get adequate nutrition at a 1200 calorie diet. I'm talking about everything, not just protein. At my 1600 maintenance it would be easier but I'm not there. I take a multi vitamin, magnesium (needed for those muscles) and MSM for the sulfur. Its difficult for me to stay within my calories and get adequate protein since I don't like "that" much meat, or seafood, or soy, so I do almost daily, have a protein heavy drink. I like orgain veggie protein chocolate with powdered peanuts, post workout. And sometimes lunch in a rush is 170 nutritional drink. Robin's something or other. It supplements quite a bit in one drink. So yes, the point of supplementation is to fill gaps. Someone with a calorie goal of 2000 could easily have a well balanced diet that wouldn't require supplementation. Without thinking overhard about it. I did think overhard about it. Being well balanced at 1200 leads to diet boredom. I try to get the most nutrious bang for my calories, but supplement when I don't. The magnesium and MSM are vital for workout recovery for me.

DancingMoosie

I also don't think you would build muscle if on a 1200 calorie diet...Regardless of supplements

psuLemon

Before you even consider taking supplements, you need to ensure your nutrition and your training is in place. There is a priority when it comes to nutrition, as shown below. On top of addressing those variables, you need a good progressive overload lifting program: http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

If you address nutrition and training, then I would consider stuff like creatine monohydrate. The one exception is protein powder. It's the one supplement i would incorporate soon if you are struggling to meet protein needs.

kxbrown27

AnvilHead wrote: »

There are a handful of supplements that are worth taking (depending on your individual needs). 99.999% of them are a complete ripoff and a total waste of money, and most of what they say in their advertising is outright lies.

This all day every day.

OP - if you're thinking about what supplements are actually worth taking, look up a guy named Jerry Brainum. He's one of the few people on the whole internets who can be trusted when it comes to this kind of thing (IMO). He has some great info on creatine. He wants to educate, not sell product.

And if you decide to take something, look it up on Labdoor.com. They impartially test products for purity. If you're going to spend your money on supps it helps to know you're getting what you're paying for. You want to know your ZMA is actually zinc, magnesium and B6, not zinc, mercury and arsenic.

LeoT0917

ninerbuff wrote: »

As they are deemed "supplements", they aren't needed if you're meeting the nutritional goals you set for yourself. Taking extra supplementation doesn't give you "extra credit" for doing it.
Also, supplements aren't regulated by the FDA (hence all of them have labels displaying it). This COULD mean you're not getting any actual product that's on the label. Lots of companies use fillers with just a small dose of whatever they are claiming is on the label. And that's legal to do under the DSHEA.
It's hard to trust some of these fly by night companies, but if you can find a company that MANUFACTURES it's own product, you're likely to get more bang out of your buck.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

LeoT0917

Just wanted to correct some information posted earlier. Dietary supplements are absolutely regulated by the FDA, though the standards are not the same as for other FDA regulated items (drugs, food, cosmetics veterinary products, etc.)

Regarding labeling, Dietary Supplement product labeling requirements can be found in 21CFR (code of federal regulations) 101.36. By law, labels must include a statement of Identity, a net quantity of contents statement, an ingredient list, the manufacturer's, packer's, or distributor's address, and a facts box declaring the nutrients present in the product.

Regarding the comment "(hence all of them have labels displaying it)" relating to a lack of FDA regulation is not accurate". The FDA "disclaimer" relates to health claims that are made on the labeling which have not been substantiated by FDA.

Sorry just don't like some of the misinformation that is posted more frequently than it should be.

LeoT0917

That said, as the exact quantities of each individual ingredient is not a requirement, and some manufacturers are "clever " in concealing this info for some proprietary formulations. So you should be careful with your purchases as ninerbuff correctly pointed out.