Best supplements for a beginner?

[DeWitt]

Hey guys/girls today starts a much needed change in my life. Male 25, 280lbs at 5”11 I used to be 220 and extremely active but needless to say I blew it. Prepping for the week with meals and have a workout routine ready to go. I just wanted to know the best supplement for the long road ahead. I need something for the energy to get me back into the swing of it all. Thanks for all who reply.

 

[Aleksandar37]

Don't over-think it. Just start and make modifications along the way. Stick to the basics and get your diet in check, then worry about supplements later. Your energy will increase as you start exercising and losing weight. If you start over-analyzing every little thing, you may end up not starting at all...something is better than nothing.

If you need help with diet or exercise ideas, don't hesitate to reach out here.

 

[hairygrandpa]

^^^^ That!

 

[Wobmarvel]

Hi, great that you looking to make changes to improve your quality of life.

A lot of guys here will say you don't need anything just now only strict diet, calorie deficit and a decent work out protocol. And they would be right.

If it is simply energy you need then it doesn't come more basic or affordable than caffeine. Pills are cheap and they would be a start. You could take that a step further and use a caffeine based fat burner such as Bloodshr3d or Fitmax. Besides that a simple protein powder could help you get the protein you need whilst maintaining a deficit but if you have nailed the diet with actual food then stick to that.

Best of luck.

 

[DEVANS89]

Food and diet is one of if not the best for a beginner.


Then, a solid training program

Then start adding maybe a preworkout or a strong black coffee


As a beginner just nail the basics

Then add the ‘luxuries’ after

 

[LeanEngineer]

Like others have said it's all about the diet and your training program. As a beginner you just want to build the foundation. After you do that you can throw in some natty products. As you're building your foundation you can throw in protein powder to help you hit your protein intake, multi, fish oil, and creatine if you want.

 

[Masterzen]

Save your money for healthy food.
Use caffe as preworkout ( on empty stomach) and u r good to good

 

[HIT4ME]

DeWitt - you didn't blow anything. That's life. It's not like we arrive at being ripped one day and don't ever have to worry about it anymore. Everything we earn, we can lose as well. You have to just get back at it!

Like Aleksandar37 said - don't over think it. Just do the basics and do them right! Weight never comes off the way you expect. It's going to take work and TIME. And it's not going to be smooth or easy. But your choice is whether or not you want to make it simple or complicated. Given that it's already hard, I think your energy is better spent coming up with ways to make it simpler.

Create a simple meal plan that you can stick to. Stop eating out. Start making your own food. Weigh everything that goes past your lips. Keep your exercise realistic. I think it is really easy to get hyper-motivated in the beginning and try to exercise the weight off and you will wind up wearing yourself out with max efforts for minimal extra weight loss.

And fill yourself up with lots of cruciferous veggies and lean protein - egg whites, lean chicken, even lean beef, etc. You can eat 4 steamed bags of broccoli a day and 2 pounds of chicken and be under around 1700 calories. Not that i'm recommending that a strategy, just trying to highlight that you don't have to "starve" if you are using the right foods.

 

[muscleupcrohn]

As everyone has mentioned, a solid diet with sufficient protein intake is paramount, as is a solid training protocol. A pre-workout doesn't hurt, and the energy and/or pumps may help you get the motivation to get to the gym if that's something you struggle with, but even just coffee is fine too. As for staple supplements for beginners, or anyone really, creatine is solid. Good old creatine monohydrate is fine, you don't need a fancy form of creatine if you tolerate monohydrate. Betaine anhydrous is another solid daily-ingredient with benefits somewhat similar to creatine. The two of them are both very safe and affordable, and do not need to be cycled, so you can just take them every day and not worry about it.

 

[DeWitt]

Wanted to say I appreciate everyone for the replies. Right now the plan consists of morning cardio before breakfast and afternoon weights. Lean meats hitting on a mostly protein diet, keto/atkins in a nut shell but I also understand the need for some carbs. Nothing processed, I went ahead and got some caffeine and a multivitamin to help balance things out. Again thanks for the reach out and I will keep you all updated on how it goes. Life changing is the realization versus a month fix.

 

[superman2113]

So long as your diet is on point like everyone else said you will lose the weight, but that's not what you were asking advice about, soooo... Diet check

Supplements I would suggest considering you already grabbed some caffeine I'll leave pre out of it as well as the multi. Next get some betaine and choline these two work in perfect harmony helping you lose fat while preserving the muscle you do have. If you wanted more than that I would say grab some creatine and beta alanine. These of course are just the basics. Do you NEED them? Heck no, but would the help recovery, muscle growth, as well as aid fat loss? Yes!

 

[DeWitt]

Update for you guys since I’ve started. Caffeine is really helping give me the energy I need. Waking up 7am for faster cardio for an hour then hitting weights at 4pm. While haven’t measured on the scale don’t wanna till next Sunday but a lot of the bloating has gone down and I have a lot of energy throughout the day. Sore but it will go away in time shows how out of touch I am. Again appreciate the advice guys.

 

[Rockslide]

Don’t worry about the scale in the first month. It discourages a lot of people. As you are starting an exercise program you may increase your weight at the beginning as your body accommodates by storing intramuscular water and glycogen. Keep the diet dialed in , at a definite 500-1000 cal a day deficit and you will have definite physical appearance and scale changes by the 60 day mark.

You may find the basic supplements like creatine, beta alanine, and betaine helpful in supporting strength and exercise intensity while in a caloric deficit. Keep in mind that 1) creatine will likely cause H20 retention and is going to make you gain weight on the scale. 2) you are going to have rapid performance gains from simply starting a program, so other than adding a few reps each set , or shaving a little off your mile time , you may find it a better bang for your buck to save on the supplements and spend on quality food, sports massage, things for your mental wellness and quality of life etc. It is always reccomended to do thorough research on any supplements you ingest, and be seen yearly by a physician. You are responsible for what you put into your body and while many supplements are safe for most people, some relative benign supplements can be dangerous for select people. An example would be someone who had underlying chronic kidney disease taking creatine and eating a very high protein diet.

It may take some experimentation with different foods, time of meals, etc to maximize your in the gym performance and keep the belly full to resist the urge to binge on food while trying to diet. Some foods are better at this than others.Remember 1.5 lbs a week weight loss ( approx 750 cal / day deficit) is 72 lbs a year ( although as you lose weight your metabolism will slow and make it harder to run higher deficits for prolonged periods of time and you will plateau out or start dropping muscle.

Congrats on the start of your program and good luck.

 

[R1balla]

Hey guys/girls today starts a much needed change in my life. Male 25, 280lbs at 5”11 I used to be 220 and extremely active but needless to say I blew it. Prepping for the week with meals and have a workout routine ready to go. I just wanted to know the best supplement for the long road ahead. I need something for the energy to get me back into the swing of it all. Thanks for all who reply.

Keep it simple. Since you posted in the supplement section I won’t post about diet and training but please understand that supplements can only do so much. Diet and training are key.

As far as supplements go, just stick to the basics for now until you establish consistency with your new lifestyle. The basics include protein, creatine, aminos, pre workout, fish oil and a multi vitamin. Remember, you don’t NEED any of these but they def have their place.

For pre workouts, are you wanting a stimulant?

 

[Hank Phisot]

I think creatine is the best supplement, but it's just my opinion

 

[cubsfan815]

I think creatine is the best supplement, but it's just my opinion

For beginners definitely. Keeping it simple and not complicating it is key at first. Products like IntraMax and the discontinued Ergonine offer creatine plus other beneficial ingredients.

 

[Old Witch]

Lots of lean meat, especially lean red meat for nitrogen. Creatine, glucosamine; you won't get enough of that through diet alone unless you're eating truckloads of cow knees or something and they do actually help a lot.

As far as energy, some people say Creatine is a stimulant but... Anyway you can use methylcobalamin and coQ10, for a light boost of clean energy. Or something like Chaos and Pain Cannibal Ferox AMPED "Face Melting Nootropic Complex" which will have you climbing the gym wall.

 

[muscleupcrohn]

Lots of lean meat, especially lean red meat for nitrogen. Creatine, glucosamine; you won't get enough of that through diet alone unless you're eating truckloads of cow knees or something and they do actually help a lot.

As far as energy, some people say Creatine is a stimulant but... Anyway you can use methylcobalamin and coQ10, for a light boost of clean energy. Or something like Chaos and Pain Cannibal Ferox AMPED "Face Melting Nootropic Complex" which will have you climbing the gym wall.

Why would a beginner need glucosamine? It’s not for muscle growth, and there are better options for joint support.

Anyone who says Creatine is a stimulant is wrong.

 

[Old Witch]

Why would a beginner need glucosamine? It’s not for muscle growth, and there are better options for joint support.

Anyone who says Creatine is a stimulant is wrong.

Well, training will eventually wear out the joints, better to supplement early. Glucosamine helps with the strength of the tendons themselves. What's better than glucosamine by the way? MSM?

Yes they are very wrong.

 

[muscleupcrohn]

Well, training will eventually wear out the joints, better to supplement early. What's better than glucosamine by the way? MSM?

MSM is one option that seems to be better and actually works for athletes. Boswellia is also a good option as well. There are a few more, but that’s what comes off the top of my head ATM.

 

[HIT4ME]

Why would a beginner need glucosamine? It’s not for muscle growth, and there are better options for joint support.

Anyone who says Creatine is a stimulant is wrong.

Honestly, and I dont take any joint supplements unless I am using Orange Triad so I may be biased to some degree, but why would ANYONE use glucosamine? I dont think I have ever seen it have any real impact on people with joint issues. Straight collagen may be as good. Haha. It just seems to me that it's been used in every supplement for so long that HAVE to put it in or people dont buy it...the marketing self perpetuates.

To the OP..
Like everyone is saying, KISS. A high quality diet, creatine, and maybe some additional protein powder for convenience is all you need as a beginner.

Don't forget, quality food should provide you with A LOT if chemicals that your body needs for energy - not just calories but vitamins, minerals, and loads of chemicals you haven't even heard of. You can get creatine, ferulic acid, betaine, etc. Just from diet alone.