your doctor is an idiot. any doctor who says "creatine is bad for you" is a fucking moron - think about this. Doctors prescribe pharmaceutical drugs all day....drugs that cause horrible damage to your body, addiction, and in some cases death. But creatine...which has no side effects and no long term effects....he says is bad. Hmmm...total idiot.

Anyway - the only time creatine becomes bad is if you take a ridiculous ammount of it - like 50-100g a day for months straight. This is an impossible ammount to take though. Creatine is taken in 5g-10g doses every day. Creatine is found in red meat primarilly...but in order to get 5-10g of creatine through red meat requires eating like 5lbs of red meat a day which is a bit excessive.

Creatine is great stuff, and there are no long term effects, side effects, or anything bad that comes from it. however, it will make you retain some water - so do not take creatine if you are going to cut before a contest or if you are looking to shred up for summer.

My first time posting on the fitness forum but I figured it seemed worth posting and getting advice from what I've seen. I am about to join the military and want to drop some weight to meet their needs. The one thing that is stopping me from running a lot though are the pains on the side of my lower legs and my calves. They are really sharp pains when I walk/run. Is that normal at all?

My Stats

6'2"
215 Pounds
19 Years Old

We don't have room to set up our old weight station so I only do french curls right now but I am only focused on losing weight to meet the 203 lbs that they want me to get. I run 30 minutes a day but it seems I only maintain weight. Here is normally my diet plan:

Meal #1 (Breakfast): 2-3 Eggs
Meal #2 (Lunch): Salad w/ Fat Free Ranch (Nothing Else)
Meal #3 (Snack): Celery & Carrots
Meal #4 (Dinner): Various things from spaghetii, burgers, etc.

I know I should toss more food on the diet list but I am not sure how to properly do it with an exercising program to lose weight. If you could give a bit of advice, I would appreciate it

Hello -

wow...well first of all let me tell you this - the pains you are feeling are NOT normal. You might have bonespurs or some kind of musculoskeletal problem. I would highly recommend seeing a doctor or chiropractor and having xrays taken.

Secondly - your meal plan is completely messed up. it is exactly the way it SHOULDN'T be....what you're eating and when is absolutely horrible for losing weight.

Ok let me help you out here::

first of all, you need to eat every 2-3 hours.

meal 1 - 3 eggs, 2 slices of whole grain toast, fruit
meal 2 - grilled chicken on top of a salad - olive oil and vinegar as dressing NO FAT FREE RANCH
meal 3 - 1/2 lb lean hamburger patty, brown rice, and mixed vegetables
meal 4 - Sliced meats and cheeses on top of a salad
meal 5 - 1 can of tuna, raw vegetables, handfull of mixed nuts
meal 6 - 1 cup of cottage cheese with mixed nuts


The idea is to get enough protein throughout the day...as well as limiting your carbohydrates especially 4-5 hours before bed.

What's your take on high fructose corn syrup?

High Fructose Corn Syrup is only the following::

Glucose
Fructose
Corn Syrup
Enzymes

Now - by themselves each of these individual components isn't very harmful. Corn Syrup isn't good for you no matter what, primarily because it is a refined carbohydrate that has usually been created from genetically modified corn to begin with. In addition during the syrup making process, the corn is broken down by being exposed to heat and chemicals. This completely voids there being any good nutritive properties from the corn itself.

So now lets look at the facts -

Glucose + Fructose = each simple sugars
corn syrup = high calorie, high simple carb
enzymes = null...no effect
misc chemicals = potential harmful effects on the body

So over all High Fructose Corn Syrup is not as BAD as people say it is....but at the same time it IS by far the WORST sugar-based sweetner you can get. If you had to choose between any sweetner (white sugar, brown sugar, honey, evaporated cane juice, etc) - high fructose corn syrup is by far the overall worst.

In addition - scientific control groups being studied showed that people consuming High Fructose Corn Syrup gained more weight than people consuming sugar when consumed in the same ammounts. The gain was small, but in the world of health and fitness, every little bit counts.

I would avoid HFCS unless you have it VERY occasionally (once a week or so).

Easiest ways around it - Don't drink soda (switch to diet), don't eat sweets (cookies cakes pastries ice cream), read the labels of what you buy and only get real whole foods...none of these processed junk.

good to know

~thnx

Sorry if this was asked already, but what would be the best way to lose fat/bulk up?

5'5, 150ish.

Rotation between weightlifting and cardio? Also how long does it usually take to see results?

Edit: Thanks for any info.

This post was edited by -= Vendetta.inc =- on Oct 13 2008 06:29am

In order to LOSE fat...and BULK up...you are going to have to do a standard Cutting/Bulking cycle.

Given that you're about 5'5' 150...I'd say that cutting at this point is out of the question. Do an 8 month clean bulking cycle. That means eating about 500 cal more than you burn a day but from clean sources. That means no sugary foods, no fast food, no fried foods...just clean good stuff - like lean meats, complex carbs, and veggies/fruits.

Make sure to eat every 2-3 hours.

Drink only ice water, nothing else (however you can drink 100% juice or chocolate milk right after a workout to force insulin levels to spike in your body yielding an anabolic reaction)

Lift hard - do a 5x5 plan for those 8 months.

Once your 8 months if up, you will have expected to gain about 20 lbs, some of which is fat and water. Now for the next 4 months, you will CUT.

This involves taking in 500 cal less than you are burning every day - also doing at least 1 hour of cardio every day 5 days a week....30 mins of which is at the end of a workout.

example::

Go to the gym, do 30 mins of cardio, then hit the weights for an hour, then finish with 30 mins of cardio.

As far as the weight routines go, stick to failure sets...that means do moderately heavy weight, but literally force out as many reps as you can for every single set.


Lastly...no carbs 4-5 hours before bed....also reduce your carbs during the day to no more than 100-125g. Take in more protein and good fats to compensate. You can also get a good fat burner like lipo-6, jet-fuel, or atrophex.


there are tons of posts on this thread already with more information about this exact same thing...but this should help!

Alright cool, got any exercise idea's? I got weights/a treadmill and stuff like that at home, any suggestions would be welcomed.

please search through the thread...there are literally dozens of plans I have posted already with people in your exact same situation...let me know if that helps