Body Builder Supplements - How to Choose The Best Supplements For Your Muscles and Effective Weight Loss

What Are Body Builder Supplements?

A supplement is defined as anything to supplement or add to the diet. Before the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was passed in 1994, supplements were considered to be vitamins, minerals, and protein. You could not get chromium picolinate, DHEA, or certain amino acids without a prescription.

After this act was passed, the definition of a supplement changed and now includes vitamins, minerals, herbs, botanicals (excluding tobacco), and dietary substances that could be used to supplement your diet by increasing total dietary intake. Now, U.S. laws seem to be more liberal than anywhere in the world.

Body Builder Supplements - Highly Recommended

The following supplements can and will help you if they are added to the diet properly. Again, I only recommend using these supplements to be added to your diet.

Body Builder Supplements - Whey Protein

• What is Whey Protein? Whey protein is a by-product from cheese manufacturing and is the most preferred form of protein available.
• What does whey protein do? After whey protein is broken down, it supplies your body with branched chain amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle.
• Who should take whey protein? Everyone should take this supplement. It promotes the overall health of your body.

Whey protein has the highest biological value of any protein (The higher the biological value, the more protein that can be used by the body). It has a biological value of 100 (100 being the maximum), the highest of any protein. I highly recommend using this supplement because your body needs protein to build muscle. It is also good for adding into fruit smoothies, pancake mix, or anything that is mixed.

How Whey Protein Helps

Whey protein isolate is the highest quality of protein, providing you body with essential amino acids such as branched chain amino acids that are needed for your body to recover from your workouts. Whey protein is also extremely low in fat and lactose.

Best Time to Take Protein

The best time to take protein is at night and in the morning. Your body naturally breaks down protein at night when you are resting. To help prevent the loss of this protein when you rest it is a good idea to have a protein shake an hour before you go to bed or first thing in the morning.

Body Builder Supplements - Meal Replacements

What are meal replacements?

Meal replacements are self-explanatory. They are small packets, usually shakes that provide your body with all of the nutrients that you would essentially get if you had eaten a meal.

Do you need meal replacements?

Meal replacements are for people who are always on the run, but remember you still need actual meals to provide you body with minerals and nutrients.

Have you ever tried eating six meals a day? This is where meal replacements can help. It would be virtually impossible to prepare six meals everyday, unless you are a chef where you cook and eat all day. It has been proven by every credible bodybuilding expert that consuming a high of amount of small frequent meals increases your metabolism, energy levels, and exposes the anabolic affects of insulin. I personally consume one meal replacement everyday and I recommend you should do the same.

These low fat high calorie meal replacements can help you get the calories that you need while keeping you waistline trim. They also help you get your daily vitamins and minerals so you don't have to take a handful of pills everyday. Meal replacements powders can be a vital part of your success.

Body Builder Supplements - Energy Bars

In earlier times candy bars were our choice product for energy bars, this all changed when Powerbar introduced its first product line in 1987. Now, many other Powerbar clones are trying to promote a healthier life. This new market segment now includes products like:

1. Power Bars
2. Clif Builder’s Bars
3. Steel Bars
4. EAS Myoplex Deluxe Bars
5. Detour Bars
6. More Bars

These bars have a great amount of nutritional value. They have been found to increase performance when eaten before exercise. Some even taste like candy bars. You can take these bars with you when you exercise because they are small and convenient.

Should these bars replace fruits such as bananas, oranges, or other carbohydrates that contain essential nutrients?

No. Although the nutritional value of these bars is high in vitamins, carbohydrates, and protein, eating engineered foods has been show to have negative long-term effects. Replacing your diet with these bars can result in an even lower intake of the fiber, carotenoids, and other health-protective phytochemicals found in fruits, veggies, and whole grains.

I am not saying never eat one again, because I would be a hypocrite. I eat Power Bars after I workout, but I also eat bananas and fruits after working out. I would urge using these bars in sports situation and for pre and post workouts. I would not recommend replacing your diet with these bars as snacks; they are more expensive and not as good for you. Energy bars easily cost $0.70 per 100 calories. In comparison, raisins are only $0.18 per 100 calories; bananas, $0.20; and granola bars, $0.28.

HOT! Check out the Protein Bar Finder You can search for protein bars by price, grams carbs, proteins and much more. This is a great bodybuilding nutrition tool.

Body Builder Supplement Overview

I recommend these supplements:

• Whey protein
• Meal replacements powders
• Energy Bars
• A good multivitamin

Supplements are intended to be added to the diet, not to replace it. Whey protein should be taken by anyone who wants to improve the look of his or her body, lower his or her body fat, and get stronger. Meal replacements can make dieting very easy. Eat energy bars as a pre or post-workout snack.

Body Builder Supplements - Order

Now that you are almost ready to begin the program, I highly recommend that you order supplements. Supplements will make dieting easier and will help improve your results. I am not big on the hype that supplements get, but these supplements have helped me in the past. I give them my highest recommendation.

1. EAS Myoplex (New Formula)
2. Optimum 100% Whey Protein
3. AST Multi Pro 32X Multivitamin

Click here, if your looking for some deals on all your supplements.

To make this plan work for you, it is going to take preparation and dedication. No one said it was going to be easy, but if you have some sort of direction you will end up achieving your goals, whatever they may be.

Every week on Sunday, I look in my refrigerator to see what foods I need. I go through the next seven days in my mind and write down the food I need in the chart I have created.

Monday for my first meal, I am going to have an omelet so I need some eggs and vegetables. Then I am going to have a tuna sandwich for my next meal. For meal three, I will have a grilled chicken sandwich. The meal after that is easy, I will drink a Myoplex shake. When I get home, I will cook some low fat burger and make a hamburger. Then before bed, I will have some peaches and cottage cheese. So when I go shopping I will need to get these items:

• Eggs & vegetables for my omelet
• Whole grain bread to make sandwiches
• Tuna fish and fresh chicken for my sandwich
• Box of Myoplex
• Low fat hamburger meat (I will buy 8% lean ground beef)
• Peaches and cottage cheese

Now when I go to the store I know what I am going to buy, well at least for the first day of the week. Therefore, I will have to plan for six more days (Five more days of dieting and my free day). Sundays are my favorite because I eat donuts and fried chicken all day, but that's just me, you can eat whatever you want on your free day.

Have your meals ready when you need them.

I have heard this same phrase from many people: "I just don't have time to do all of this, I work all day." That's fine, Everybody has a job of some sort. We all have different breaks in our day or work different hours, but we have to plan so we can make sure we get what our bodies need. If it were easy to eat six meals a day and exercise, then everyone would have a great body.

But its not, so we must do more than the average person because we do not want to look average. So take advantage of these breaks and eat your planned meals at these times. Here is an example of a 7-day meal chart that will help you plan what you need to eat:

Here are some examples of what you can eat in the morning, noon, and night. Be creative with your recipes. The following items are foods that I like and that I eat when I am on the 12-week diet. These foods ideas should be homemade. You will get the most nutritional value by doing this. Here are the meal ideas:

Since you will be eating six meals a day, I recommend two items a day from each category:

Morning Ideas	Afternoon Ideas	Evening Ideas
Omelet Fruit & cottage cheese Pancakes* Toasted bagel with eggs Low fat muffins* Bagel & cream cheese Oatmeal Fruit smoothie* Breakfast burrito Shredded wheat cereal Waffles & poached eggs Fat-free turkey bacon & eggs Egg salad sandwich Egg & avocado toasted sandwich French toast with sugar-free topping	Chicken salad Chicken stir fry Chicken fajita wraps Low fat chicken pizza BBQ chicken sandwich Bean burrito Soft tacos Taco salad Low fat beef nachos Tuna sandwich Tuna & crackers Chicken burrito Chicken  wraps Chicken quesadillas (low fat cheese) Baked French fries and hamburger	Vegetable pasta Fajitas Fresh turkey & stuffing Meatloaf Shrimp pasta Beef stew Beef stir fry Chicken stir fry Broccoli, chicken, & rice Lean shiska bobs Chicken & dumplings Chicken pasta primavera Orange roughy Top round steak & scalloped potatoes Broiled chicken & steamed potatoes

Note: Items with an (*) asterisk next to them should have 1-2 scoops of whey protein added to the mix so they carry enough protein for that meal.

Final Thought

Congratulations, you have made it this far. Remember, only you have the power to use the information that you learn. I was prompted to write this because I am surrounded by so many people that are constantly seeking out weight loss information. I know exactly what needs to be done and I want to show others. Good luck!

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