Supplements as a miracle? Keep your feet on the ground.

You may be surprised by an article with such a headline on our website, but many people have the completely wrong idea that supplements are some kind of miracle pills and pills that will solve all your weight and body condition problems.

What prompted me to write this article was a real situation that happened at work (at the gym). There was a lady there who didn't exercise, she was just flipping through magazines and eating a bag of chips happily. She came to me with a magazine, open on a page with an advertisement for a fat burner. She put it in front of me and said "it says here that it burns fat, do you have something like that and how much does it cost?" We didn't exactly have a product pictured, so I offered another, gave a guide price and added the sentence "but of course the key is proper diet and exercise". The lady rolled her eyes in dismay, closed the magazine and said "Oh. Well, thank you."

These are exactly the moments when I wonder how people actually think it works. You just pick a berry, then you can eat like a cattle, lie in front of the TV and be a dick. You're gonna get a couple of protein shakes, do some dumbbell workouts, and you're gonna have muscles like Arnold. Two scoops of bcaa and you can work out three times a day, seven days a week. You just buy it and it works for you! Supplements are a great help no matter what your goal is, but it's definitely not a "magic bean" that will give you results without work! Supplements are definitely helpful, but it's not a miracle.

First and foremost, figure out WHAT your goal is and WHAT you are willing to sacrifice to get there. Because if you want to lose weight but you don't want to eat healthy and move, I'm going to have to disappoint you, but you just can't. Although the fact is that some of the ads make it seem like it's really just about buying the product and using it, but that's a marketing ploy by companies to attract attention and encourage purchase, which is obviously succeeding. Set a realistic goal and get clear on how to do it. The foundation of any physique change is diet. This should be very rich and varied so that you enjoy eating healthy and your efforts don't come to a halt when you're just plain annoyed.

A slimming diet can include pastries, it can include good quality chocolate as a sweet, you can have ice cream, fruit in the afternoon and feel free to have carbs for dinner too! The main thing is to find a way that you enjoy, but also gets results. Take the time to buy quality food that is really food, that is, with the simplest ingredients and as fresh as possible. Next, take the time to prepare your food. Don't underestimate this part, because the rule "he who is prepared is not surprised" applies more than you might expect. Prepared food means you'll be in control of your intake while only eating really good quality food and not some tempting looking crap bought in a hurry. If you can master this comprehensive step, you're halfway there. How long to hold out? Preferably forever! Note that I'm not writing about no weighing, no fanatical counting of every bite you put in your mouth...I'm simply talking about intuition and using your wits. Learn to feel what your body is telling you. Give it a QUALITY diet, keep an active regime, get enough rest and your body will return this care in the best way you can imagine - HEALTH. The time of fanatical diets, be it fasting, no carbs, no fat, no everything, herbs, apple and I don't know what else, is hopefully over, now it's just cool to do it with reason and do it with joy. Cook healthy meals full of colour, make food that you look forward to, that is nutritionally rich and that you eat with gusto.

Another important step is to add movement to your life. Any. You don't have to force yourself to run if you hate it. You don't have to go to the gym if you don't enjoy it. Just find movement that you enjoy, if it's just going for a simple walk! Being on the move is extremely important and beneficial. If you add some more challenging movement, sculpting your body will go even easier. It's all hand in hand.
Healthy eating, exercise, enjoying life.

When is the right time to start supplements? Ironically, any time. You can't say for sure. There are those who can go their whole lives without them and look great. Supplements are a great help, but they will never do the job for you. Before you include a product in your diet, study what it is used for and think about whether you really need it. Don't foolishly buy every thing you see others have.

Essential supplements include fish oil and a good quality vitamin, which should actually (in my opinion) be part of a staple diet as well. Then another could be protein, bcaa, or whatever is appropriate for your sporting activity. Nowadays, you don't have to worry that buying protein/bcaa is just "stuffing chemistry" into you and it has no significant benefit. The time when it was said that proteins are like steroids and that they are harmful to health is over, thankfully. I consider quality whey protein to be one of the best sources of protein. As for a burner, I would exhaust all reserves from your diet and diet first. Then I would start considering a burner, which is usually really the last resort. The basics are the above - food, exercise, sleep, determination, willpower and enjoying what you do. A burner does NOT burn fat by itself, not really.

How do you dose the supplements? Again, this depends on your goals, your overall regimen, your athletic load, and so on. You'll find plenty of useful articles on our site about individual supplements to make it easier to choose, and also to explain what they're actually for.

Supplements may or may not help you to get results. Don't buy every single thing you see unnecessarily. Many times you have exaggerated expectations that don't meet reality. Think with your head and don't want everything right away. Patience, willpower and determination are what you really need.