Question about multi-vitamins

ReneeJ814

I've been on this weight loss journey for a year. I've hit plateaus before, but this one has been the longest. I had been taking green coffee bean extract to try to boost my metabolism, but that didn't help too much. So over the weekend I went to GNC to find something to help me. I told the guy who worked there what was going on. He said that the coffee bean extract wouldn't help me and that raspberry keytone probably wouldn't help me either. He said that he is a personal trainer and that he had several clients who had the same issues as I do and he recommended that I get the GNC Women's Ultra Mega Active. Here's what it includes with info (this comes directly from the box).

1. Women's Ultra Mega Active without Iron (multivitamin)
2. Energy Enhancer - "This clinically proven thermogenic formula helps to enhance your metabolism and improve your ability to burn more calories. Includes a powerful combination of ingredients designed to help give you the extra boost of energy you need in your busy day."
3. Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) - "A naturally occurring fatty acid derived from safflower seeds. This clinically studied CLA enhances your diet and is a healthy source of natural energy."
4. L-Carnitine - "An amino acid which helps to facilitate the metabolism of long chain fatty acids. L-carnitine is stored in skeletal muscles where it is needed to transform fatty acids into energy for muscle activity."
5. Calcium 600 - "This bone supporting caplet combines 600 mg of bone building calcium and 400 IU of vitamin D-3 to enhance calcium absoprtion."

There are 30 packs in a box and I'm supposed to take 1 pack a day. Each pack contains 2 multivitamin caplets, 2 energy enhancer caplets, 1 calcium 600, 1 L-Carnitine, and 1 CLA. I started taking these packs Monday and I take the whole pack after I eat breakfast. Monday it really helped and I felt fine. I took them yesterday and I felt fine until I went to bed. When I got into bed, my stomach felt a little weird, kind of like I had indigestion. I took some Pepto and it eased off a little while later. When I woke up this morning, I felt fine and took the vitamin pack again, but I've had that feeling of indigestion off and on all day. My stomach doesn't really hurt and I don't feel sick; it just feels irritated. After I eat something or take some Gaviscon or Pepto, I feel fine. So, my question is, does my stomach feel funny because of the vitamins, or do I just have a bad case of indigestion? I was thinking that maybe I shouldn't take them all at the same time; maybe take half of them after breakfast and the other half after my mid-morning snack. Would that make a difference? I don't want to stop taking them because I can better control my appetite and I feel a lot better, but if this is too much for my body I guess I really should stop. Advice please!

now_or_never13

That looks like just far too much to be taking.. especially all at once. Get one good multivitamin and just take that if you diet lacks proper nutrients. A lot of the vitamins in pills are just excreted by the body.

Until you are done what you purchased (if you can't return them) take half in the AM and half in the PM.

Melo1966

How active are you? If not a runner or lifter you do not need that much. Just take one pill a day. What is your calorie goal per day and how long have you been doing low cal? Your body has gotten use to what you have been doing. You need to up your calories to maintance for atleast a week to re-adjust your metabolism and then you go lower again but not as low as what you were when you stalled because your body needs more food not just vitamin supplements. Upping your workouts will help too.

auddii

If you're looking to break a plateau, a multi-vitamin isn't going to help. Take a look at this thread. Some of the most useful information starts about half way down the first page (see quote below).

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/888495-what-is-a-plateau-and-does-it-really-exist

my take on plateaus:

1) If you are really eating at a deficit, they don't STOP weight loss, they slow it. It is your body's way of conserving energy to make the most of your intake, but your body can't overcome thermodynamics and magically produce energy.

2) Most people on here think they are plateaued because they aren't taking good enough measurements over a long enough period of time to tell the difference.

3) If you are eating at a small deficit and manage to slow your metabolism enough, you CAN stop weight loss, but only because you aren't eating at a deficit anymore. IE - typical TDEE = 2000 cal; losing weight at a 125 calorie deficit; manage to slow metabolism by 125 calories; new deficit = 0 = maintaining weight.

4) People tend to no recalculate their BMR often enough, which can cause a perceived plateau because you don't need as many calories now.

5) No plateau can't be broken by reducing calories again.

6) eating more to lose weight works in some cases, but is abused considerably on this site.

chimp517

Some people just do not react well to certain things. As far as returning I am pretty sure you would have no trouble returning a GNC product back there as they have a good return policy even if you have used some product.

ReneeJ814

Thanks for all your help. Maybe I need to increase my calories instead of decreasing them. I take measurements and have body fat testing done in addition to weighing myself. The good news is that even though I'm not losing weight, I'm still losing inches and my body fat percentage continues to go down. I guess in the long run that's all that matters, not so much the number on the scale.