Looking for advice!

ChrisShuster

New member
Long story short, I am trying to lose weight and gain muscle. I have always been a big guy, currently 5'11" @227lb. My diet is now (once again) a low carb diet. I have had great results in the past with low carb. Also I just started taking Hydroxycut hardcore. I take a multi vitamin, vitamin c and fiber in the morning and whey shakes between meals and after workouts. Should I be taking creatine as well? Is there anything else I could be taking or doing to speed up the results?
 
Chris,

Focus only on either fat loss or muscle gain at any given time as doing both at the same time is nearly impossible unless your taking steroids or you are a beginner to working out and dieting properly. If you attempt to burn fat and gain muscle at the same time you will essentially be taking two steps forward and one step back.

If you believe that you have an excess amount of fat then I would strongly recommend shedding the fat first and foremost, then focus on building muscle after you have achieved acceptable body fat levels. But focus on only one or the other. During either a fat loss phase or muscle gain phase the training is similar with the exception of calories and cardio. For fat loss, determine your maintenance caloric intake, cut it down by about 500-600 calories, lift weights, and do tons of cardio. I wouldn't cut your calories any lower than that simply because your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will drop. And if a low carb diet works for you then go for it. But how low is your carb intake?

As far as creatine, it is a muscle building supplement, actually one of the best and most effective next to food and steroids in my opinion. With that said, I would use it only during muscle gaining periods. It will make your muscles larger and will make you stronger, though. So if you want those effects then by all means go for it. But you will get the most out of it when you are training for muscle gain. Your other supplements look good. I like products like Hydroxycut and Xenadrine simply for energy and motivation for morning cardio. I wouldn't spend anymore money on supplements, though. For fat loss, it's all about eating clean and doing tons of cardio.
 
I just started the diet on Monday. Right now I am at 0 carbs with the exception of veggies and a little fruit. After this week I am planning on slowly adding carbs to my diet. As far as the creatine, that is what i was thinking too. I was going to wait until I lost some weight before trying to gain more muscle. I just didn't know if creatine would help me or not while I am trying to lose weight.
Thanks.
 
Low carb diets can be pretty hardcore and tough to stay on. They are not necessary for fat loss but can be beneficial for certain ppl for short periods of time. For long term sustained fat loss, keep a moderate amount of carbs in your diet as long as they are healthy (oats, veggies, brown rice, fruit).

The most important thing about losing fat is calories. Taking in less than your burning. And burning calories with exercise is far better than starving them off. That's why I don't recommend extremely low calorie diets. Slightly lower than maintenance and a lot of cardio. Good luck :fing02:
 
IMO nothing is wrong with taking creatine for a little energy/strength boost. But just a little heads up: You will GAIN weight so if you are a scale watcher you may be disappointed. But dont sweat it because its either water weight or muscle so its no biggy!
 
everything that was said in here is all you need to know man lower the cals you take in, lots of cardio eating healthy foods and your golden, and like blakkbwoy said you can take the creatine just dont watch the scale watch the mirror people freak out over the scale saying they havent lost a pound or they went up a pound, cuz creatine will bring on water weight and muscle weight so dont freak out about it man ok good luck on your journey!
 
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