help with shakes and supplements

[charrismo]

hi everybody.
I want to start the body for life program on monday
the only thing is i dont know what shakes and supplements would be good for me

my main goal from this program is to lose over 15 pounds

I am female.
height: 5 feet 3 inches
weight: 149

This is my first time on the BFL and was wondering which shakes supplements are good.
I was reading some success stories and everybody has taken something different e.g ( myoplex/ myoplex lite/ AdvantEdge RTD Shakes/ Myoplex Carb Sense RTDs/ Thermo DynamX)

i honestly dont know if something is better depending on your goals e,g whey is better if you want to build muscle right?

so any suggestions are more than welcome

thanks
karishma

[Chris]

This is a very common question and unfortunately doesn't have an easy answer. Basically the shakes will make getting your 6 meals per day a whole lot easier. You can pick just about any of those myoplex shakes and be fine with it. I would probably recommend original or lite for you. Another option is to buy a tub of whey protein and have a small portion of carbs with it (i.e. fruit). Myoplex already has a balanced portion of carbs in it. But doing the whey + carb method can save a few bucks.

Other than a good quality multivitamin, I don't recommend anything else. You may include some things later if you wish, but IMO most supplements are a waste of money early on... Basically diet and exercise will get you 95% of the way to your goal, while the supplements can get you that extra 5%.. but it doesn't make sense to spend a lot of money on that 5% until you get the 95% out of the way first. Make sense?

I don't class whey (including myoplex) as supplements though. This is a convenience.
By supplement I mean things like creatine, fat burners, various amino acids, energy pills, etc.

Good luck!

[charrismo]

hi chris,
thanks for replying....

it does make sense to hold off on any supplements till i achieve the 95%. will help me assess how i am doing and will also help me save some money.

i think i will get a small size pack of both myoplex lite and whey ( + some fruit for carbs) and see which i prefer. Esp where taste is huge factor

also i really like ur signature "half ass effort gets you half ass results"...i think i am going to print this and stick it in my cube....or better yet write and stick it in my cube so that i can relate to it more.....

thanks again and keep your fingers crossed for me

[bluexj]

Hey charrismo.... do a search and you will find some great ideas for protien shakes on the forum. My reccomendation is 100% Whey by Optimum Nutrition. The strawberry is great...

Thy this... 1 cup of skim milk 1 scoop of strawberry whey, 4-5 ice cubes and a handful of frozen strawberrys Blend in blender

--or--

1 cup skim milk, 4-5 ice cubes, 1 scoop of vanilla whey and 1 or 2 tablespoons of natural peanut butter. Blend in blender

[charrismo]

is whey a good shake when your trying to lose weight...??? or is it good when you want to gain muscle...??

i plan on doing BFL first for weight loss second for muscle gain....( i know it goes hand in hand....muscle gain help stimulate weight loss)....hence all the confusion

[bluexj]

Yes, whey(protein) is good when you are trying to lose weight. Balancing your protein intake with your carb intake will actually help boost your metabolism.

[Chris]

Whey is also for gaining muscle mass, but you just drink more of it when doing so. Follw the directions on the package and you'll be fine. If it's a whey for gaining, it will say so.

[winnie]

I feel the need to plug CLA, since Lo isn't around right now.

Unfortunately, I have no objective way of demonstrating that it actually works, other than the fact that I take it and I have had good results. I could also have probably taken an equivalent amount of corrugated cardboard and had good results, too.

Still, it might be worth looking at. It won't make or break a challenge, for sure.

[KingV]

I think you're overthinking this issue, though, when you're first starting out it does seem confusing. For me the most convenient is Myoplex Original. But most women I know use Myoplex Lite, it has less calories and less protein, but is also a smaller portion size. As for the different types of Myoplex Lite, the Powder is the cheapest and has less sodium than the ready to drink. It also tastes worse. The ready to drink chocolate flavor is very close in consistency in taste to Yoo-Hoo chocolate drink. The powder just doesn't really taste all that great. It tastes sort of similar to the freeze dried astronaut ice cream you may have had as a kid, but in liquid form.

Out of the powders, I find the chocolate to be the most edible and the Strawberry creme to be by far the worst.

Whey works too, and you can make your own meal replacement shakes, but I find the tub of whey to be sup optimal for mixing at work. It's a pain in the ass to get Whey Mix all over your desk.

[BatesOKC]

My wife and I are starting on Monday too! I also have a question about the shakes mentioned in the BFL book.

I shop at Sam's Club alot and the premixed shakes seem to be over $1 each. But I noticed I could get the 5lbs of EAS Whey Protein for about $28. Can we mix the Whey protein and get the same effect as the premixed shakes while saving money?

[Chris]

yes, you sure can! that's what i do

[winnie]

Apparently no one else likes the powders. I personally think the powders taste better than the "Ready to Drink" shakes. I'm a bit tired of the vanilla, but the chocolate ones to me taste better than their RTD counterparts.

My last box of shakes was a mixed flavor thing, and most of the flavors were pretty tasty.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by winnie

Apparently no one else likes the powders. I personally think the powders taste better than the "Ready to Drink" shakes. I'm a bit tired of the vanilla, but the chocolate ones to me taste better than their RTD counterparts.

My last box of shakes was a mixed flavor thing, and most of the flavors were pretty tasty.

Oh me too... I think the RTDs taste yuck! Bleck!

Hurray for powders!