which are the best supplements for toning and definition?

What’s your training look like? That’s the thing that will tone and define your muscles. Supplementation isn’t needed at all.

What they said ^^

I'd call that cream snake oil, but it probably won't hurt you either. It just hurts your wallet. Seems inexpensive enough, but it's not giving you a flat belly.

Beccalouise09 wrote: »

yirara wrote: »

Supplements don't tone you. Toning means having visible muscles. That means you need to build muscle. Which means doing strength training. If you have a large amount of bodyfat you might not appear muscular because the fat covers them. So you need to lose weight, which requires a calorie deficit. None of those supplements can do any of those things for you.

They've been making things a lot easier, and the gel and cream has been helping me keep a slim stomach so I'm not sure if I'm going the right way about things. Maybe I need to cut out the powders? But then I won't be able to have my protein shake of peanut butter powder, whey protein and chocolate bar blend...

By all means continue with the protein shake as it sounds like something you enjoy that will also help you meet your protein macro.

As to the rest, I used to work for a company that produced and marketed cellulite cream, pre-workouts, etc., and can tell you that your money would be better spent on a personal trainer or something along the lines of making sure you are getting the most out of your workouts.

Toning and definition is primarily about the work you put in, and the patience you show in doing it long term.

Toning and definition is not much about creams or pills, which have minimal or zero physical effects. (I'd say that that's especially true of ones that are marketed to do things that there's no good research evidence suggesting that a treatment even exists for, such as losing cellulite. To the extent supplements are useful at all, it's probably best to understand your personal needs, which supplements are effective for those needs, and use those . . . not a compound of many substances that makes very dubious marketing claims like cellulite-busting or slimming/firming.)

One of the kinds of work to put in is understanding good nutrition, and getting it. Oversimplifying, that means an adequate amount of protein, an adequate amount of healthy fats, and a truckload of varied, colorful veggies/fruits for micronutrients and fiber. Of those, the most important for your goals is adequate protein. If a protein supplement helps you get adequate protein, that's fine, keep using it. (Food is usually a slightly better source of nutrients, since it's natural selection tested for human thriving, but relevant supplements are better than deficiency, of course).

The other kind of work is a good, progressive strength training program. Rather than just going around the gym doing machines, your time and effort investment would be better rewarded by one like those discussed in this thread:

http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

. . . or hiring a well-qualified, experienced personal trainer, if you can afford that.

When it comes to supplements that have some scientific basis as actually being helpful for definition and toning (indirectly, in most cases), there's good information in this thread:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10637410/beneficial-supplements-which-ones-are-right-for-you/p1

. . . and at this web site:

https://examine.com/

IIRC, the thread mentioned above suggests there's value in some of the ingredients in some of the supplement compounds you're using, but other ingredients are sketchy (probably won't hurt you, but don't do much).

The web site is a membership site for more specialized supplement information, but offers quite a few research summaries for free. They're generally regarded as evidence based, and neutral (they don't sell supplements, just research summary reports, and related information, basically).

Follow a good strength program, get good nutrition (especially but not exclusively protein), and focus there. Supplements of some types can augment that (for example, some compounds contain caffeine to perk up your energy during your workout . . . coffee would do roughly the same thing) . . . but they're of secondary importance for sure compared to program and nutrition.

Best wishes for success with your goals!

I'm a little confused. What exactly are your goals and how do you think these products can help you?

You are spending a lot on products that aren't necessary just for normal exercise, health, fitness, and looking good.

Even the creams, they only work if you lose fat at the same time, so it's impossible to say if the cream helps or just losing that fat is helping.

You say you are in financial trouble, but all of these things are expensive and won't help you get any kind of significant improvement in your results unless you are hardcore into fitness and trying to push your body to produce maximum performance.

If you are just trying to be a normal person with a nice looking, healthy body, then start with an excellent diet, and do consistent, challenging exercise.

No supplement will ever make you look "toned". That look comes from a combo of big enough muscles under little enough fat for them to be visible.

Back in my body building days, I had a ton of muscle, but if I let my fat build up too much, I looked kind of "chunky", not "toned", because the muscle just made me look bigger, not muscular when it couldn't be seen under the fat. But when I cut the fat, the muscles popped and I looked super "toned".

Then I got injured and lost a lot of muscle, but still had fat and looked "curvy". Then I got sick and lost a lot of fat, and without muscle I looked "skinny".

So "toned" is just a balance of fat and muscle.

FTR, I never took any supplements other than protein to get that "toned" look. I took a high calorie protein supplement, mostly just to get extra calories in because it was hard to eat the extra thousands of calories a day I needed to make gains. Otherwise I didn't bother with anything, I just put in hours and hours into the gym.

Still, I never looked overly muscular. I never cut my fat too low because I never got around to competing, so despite being crazy strong, I never looked anything beyond just a fit "toned" woman.

So narrow down your goals a little more. Decide how little fat you want to aim for, and device how much muscle and strength you want to aim for. It's the combo of those two that will result in you looking "toned".

Be warned though, it's very difficult for most women to put on a lot of muscle. I'm lucky, I gain muscle bulk very easily for a woman, so as long as I have low fat and I'm exercising, I always look super "toned" and fit. But my sister works out so much more than I do now, and she always just looks "thin". She's twice as strong as I am, but she'll never look "toned" or strong, she's total ectomorph, and looks like someone who could be snapped in half. Ballerinas look sturdier than she does.

If she carried more fat, she wouldn't look "toned" at all. Her mighty, but small muscles would disappear underneath it. Meanwhile I can carry a decent amount of body fat and still look like I have athletic arms and shoulders because of the visible cuts of my larger but weaker delts and biceps.

For women, genetics will largely decide for you how muscular you can get (without steroids), which will largely determine how "toned" you can look and how much fat you can pull off carrying while still having your muscles visible.

You kind of have to work with what you've got. My sister will never look like a "toned", curvy, j-lo type like me, and I'll never look like a lean, willowy, Gwenyth Paltrow type like her. No matter how we diet or exercise.

So don't let a bunch of BS marketing confuse you, and stop wasting your precious money on products that won't make much of a difference even if they do work. Even a single session with a good trainer is worth more than all of those products, and will cost you less.

Try to gain muscle and try to lose fat if you want to look more "toned", and accept that at a certain point, your genetics will have a major say about the limits of what you can control about your body composition.