What Supplements Do You Really "Need" - Protein, Creatine, and a Multivitamin

I get this question ALL the time, and I know why. We’re inundated by clever marketing from supplement companies 24/7 promising everything and anything under the sun.

Why I don’t recommend supplements to people

Because for most people out there just wanting to lose 10-30 lbs, and/or gain muscle, you NEED TO FOCUS ON YOUR NUTRITION (from real foods), TRAINING, SLEEP, AND STRESS REDUCTION!

OK, no more yelling for now.

But having said that, here are 3 supplements that can help you lose fat, gain muscle and strength, and generally stay healthy, backed by numerous studies.

If you’re not in the mood to read, just check out the graphics below. If you want to learn more, scroll on down!

Low-Risk, High- Reward Supplements

Protein

For any/all of the above-mentioned goals, you should aim for 20-30g of protein per meal to maximize a lot of important shit (this is the short version remember?). You can easily calculate a protein target with .8x your BW. Ex) I weigh 143 lbs so 143 x .8 means I should be ingesting about 115g or protein per day (once again this is an average, depends on my goals)

Multivitamin

I personally take the Smarty’s brand listed here, but any multivitamin will do. Extra points if it’s sex-specific. It won’t help a TON but also there’s no real downside, it helps round out your nutrition. If you’re taking Calcium sups, make sure to take them with a different meal for best absorption. I would highly recommend the Smarty’s brand for any woman of childbearing age (16- menopause) because it includes FOLATE (Dif from folic acid.. yes could be a whole other post)

Creatine

Tons of ways to start taking this, but the general daily maintenance rec is 3-5 g/day or 0.03 g/kg. There have been 120937829836187236 studies and there have been NO KNOWN SIDE EFFECTS either short term or long term. Yeah, even those myths about weight gain? Do it right and you can mitigate those. Positive effects include but are not limited to: increasing strength increased muscle mass, increased performance during maximal effort events, increased hypertrophy, enhanced and expedited recovery, decreased oxidative stress, increased VO2max, and enhanced glycogen synthesis. Once again, this is the short post.

SOOOOO I hope this helps. As I’m working on my final paper for my Sports Nutrition class, I was like hey, I should get my money’s worth and make some social media posts on this as well.

All jokes aside, as always, feel free to leave a comment or shoot a message over with any questions, comments, concerns, regurts OR if you want some more references!

Disclaimer

Do I really need to tell you I’m NOT a Dr and you should definitely run this shit by your own plus any of that other nonsense you’re thinking about?

-Antonia, CPT & RYT

Coach, Trainer & Your #1 Fan

Owner & Head Coach | A1 Fit Coaching