Anyone know anything about "Animal" ?

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It's been an ongoing struggle to get my fiance to do this lifestyle with me. He eats SO much carbs right now and is rounding 280 and just gaining more, and little by little I get him to eat better things but it's not without a fight. He's starting to come around, but this weekend said he would lay off the carbs if I let him get "Animal" Apparently it's something that GNC sells. He claims it's just vitamins and that it's healthy, but I'm not so sure and was wondering if anyone had any solid info on it? I told him that I'm perfectly okay with him doing protein powder but Animal I'm not so sure about til I looked it up. He has a time demanding job that he works about 75 hours a week and is sometimes barely home for 4 hours at a time. He doesn't eat while he's out and he does alot of overnight where he sleeps at his patients house to help with personal care, so the protein shakes would help him with that. I don't have a problem with that and I WANT him to be as into doing this as I'm trying to be.

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  • Swissmiss
    Swissmiss Posts: 8,754 Member
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    I would check out the ingredience in animal. GNC can sell items that are not good. I bought a combination vitamin from them and got quite ill.
  • dmpizza
    dmpizza Posts: 3,321 Member
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    I am not a fitness expert, but I was confused by the label at the GNC website.
    No mention of calories, but I doubt its zero.
    Probably expensive though.
  • secretlobster
    secretlobster Posts: 3,566 Member
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    Why are you in a position to disallow him to try it if that's what he wants to do?
  • Bronx_Montgomery
    Bronx_Montgomery Posts: 2,287 Member
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    Don't know what this animal is but if he works so much and has a demanding job he needs to do a better job of eating healthier. The more crap he eats and the more stress he puts on his body will only have an unfortunate end. I can understand if he can not workout but he can def eat healthy and take heart healthy vitamins.

    Also maybe you can help by prepping or helping him prep his food for the day. If he goes to work without bringing anything then he will just eat garbage all day. the best thing to do is get plastic containers and make sure he has many of those with different well portioned foods.
  • duell55
    duell55 Posts: 12 Member
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    Animal is a brand of products marketed towards the weightlifting/bodybuilding types. They have a lot of different products from weight loss to pre-workout formulas, to post-workout recovery. Any idea what he wants to get? Regardless of supplementation, it's hard to be healthy working 75hrs a week.
  • SickSkilz
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    If the only options are to lay off the carbs AND take these or do neither, I guess the former is a better option. Barely. Most of that stuff from GNC is full of crap.

    But there are a million better options. I'd recommend lower carb otptions like peanut butter or a small ammount of dairy which would curb his appetite.
  • chellebubblz
    chellebubblz Posts: 84 Member
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    Why are you in a position to disallow him to try it if that's what he wants to do?

    Because he's my son's father and he already has heart problems and I'm not going to sit by and watch him take something that will kill him. Like I said in my original post, I have no problem with him taking anything that is healthy but if it's something that may be harmful to his heart like alot of the supplements on the market, why would I risk letting my son lose his father over that?

    I will definitely look into the ingredients in the supplement. I believe the one he mentioned was called Animal Pak, I'm reading through the reviews on it now. And through a quick glance I didn't notice anything in it that was a red flag. But then I'm not really experienced in supplements so I wouldn't know if I saw it probably.
  • TexasTroy
    TexasTroy Posts: 477 Member
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    "Animal" is a PAK of vitamin supplements....something like 6 or 7 different tablets in one packet that is taken daily. The nutrition content is everything from your average daily multi vitamin to loads of amino acids. Basically, it has everything under the sun as far as vitamins are concerned. Some, if not most of the "vitamins" in it are 10 times what is recommended for a healthy adult....no this wont hurt anyone as most of the "overdosed" vitamins are water soluble which are flushed out of the system once the body reaches its requirement ( everyone's requirement is different-based on the diet of the individual, height, wt..ect ). One might gain a lil bit of energy from this supplement-especially if the diet is lacking nutrient dense foods. The amino acids ( in large doses ) that this supplement has are , as we all know, the building blocks of the body but again, your body will only store what it needs and will get rid of the rest. "Animal" will help with recovery from workouts but then, so would a well balanced diet. I used this product many years ago when I was bodybuilding and whether or not it help is hard to tell...I was already eating properly. For someone like your husband it definitely would not hurt as it sounds like he isnt doing anything else to help his nutrition efforts. However, a solid nutrition plan is the best place to start. BTW, no im not an "expert" but Ive learned a few things in my 30 years of working out and 10 years of working in the fitness industry. Bottom line is, its not gonna hurt him and since it seems like he probably has a stressful job "Animal" could help..if nothing else, it might make him want to get into eating better and working out. Keep in mind though, with "Animal" and many other supplements your probably looking at a whole lot of expensive urine. Protein shakes or meal replacement shakes are good to start with-I use them to replaced breakfast.
  • homeport51
    homeport51 Posts: 198 Member
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    The real answer here is that you can only be responsible for yourself and your own program. He will do it his way when he is ready and no amount of nagging, begging or threatening is going to change that. As my mother always said... "Keep your eyes on your own plate."
  • chellebubblz
    chellebubblz Posts: 84 Member
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    Naturally I can't "disallow" him as someone else said LOL he's a grown man, he will do as he pleases. But he does value my opinion on things and if I tell him I don't trust the safety in the product then he won't use it. If it will help him and it's healthy, then I'm all for it. I don't agree with his philosophy that HE NEEDS a supplement to lose weight. I believe in the "eat right and exercise to lose weight" but he has it in his head that his body is different and it won't work for him...

    He is going to eat better and we are getting some exercise equipment in the basement he can use during his time home even if it is only a little bit. He's willing to make the changes, he just wants this in addition and I'd never heard of it. I've heard of things like Hydroxycut that has landed people in the hospital and I didn't want that for him..

    Thanks for the info :)