What Supplements Should You Actually Take?

What supplements should you take in 2021?

Ahh, supplements!

The most common concern everyone has when they first their fitness journey.

“What supplements should I take?”

While everyone thinks supplements are the most important thing when it comes to your fat loss journey, it’s actually the least important.

Now I am not saying that supplements don’t have their place, because they do. But there’s a hierarchy of importance that needs to be considered before jumping the gun and putting all your concerns into what supplements you need to go out and buy.

This hierarchy of importance starts with your calorie balance. How many calories are you consuming in a day? Are you consuming enough based on your goals? If you are trying to lose weight, are you in a calorie deficit? How are you with tracking? Are you being consistency?

Mastering your calorie balance is the most important thing to consider when it comes to optimizing your results.

Next we have to consider your macronutrient breakdown. How many grams of fat, carbohydrates and protein are you consuming a day? Each macronutrient serves a purpose based on your goals and having a sufficient amount each day is critical

Now we need to consider your micronutrient breakdown, as well as your water intake and fibre intake.

After that it’s important to consider your training program, how much cardio are you doing, then your meal timing.

And once all of those preceding factors have been considered, now it might be time to look into supplements.

Again, supplements have their place. But worrying about what supplements to purchase before you have mastered everything else I mentioned above is like buying a horse saddle and saying I will worry about buying the horse later. You need the horse to ride it but you don’t need the saddle.

So having said that, assuming you have mastered everything we discussed, now it’s time to step it up a notch.

What supplements should you take?

This can be quite overwhelming for a lot of people because of the amount of supplements available, the number of companies and how much we are truly bombarded with supplement sells. The supplement industry throughout the world continue to increase, with the global market valued at $20.7 billion in 2012 and over $30 billion in 2019.

So how do we distinguish what supplements are going to be optimal and what supplements are going to be a waste of money?

Firstly, it’s important to do your research. When it comes to the company, are they a reputable company? Some companies make unsubstantiated claims concerning the efficacy of their products. In addition, some companies have actually knowingly placed banned substances in their products to enhance their effects. As a consumer, doing our research when it comes to supplementation decision making is crucial.

So do your homework regarding the company.

Once you have established which companies you feel most comfortable with, now it’s time to decide what supplements to take.

Before I get into what supplements I recommend in the order of importance, I want to encourage you to check out examine.com. It’s such an excellent resource when it comes to doing your own research regarding supplements. It’s a website that simplifies the latest scientific research of nutrition and supplementation. So any new hot supplement product that hits the market, examine.com is a great place to see if it’s worth the hype or not.

So what supplements do I recommend?

Firstly, a multi-Vitamin.

A multi-vitamin provides the body with essential nutrients. If you are consuming adequate calories and adhering to a flexible diet you should be getting a healthy dose of nutrients via food; however, as you begin to reduce calories over time it becomes harder to obtain an adequate amount of micronutrients and a multi-vitamin would be extremely beneficial at this stage. Regardless, supplementing with a multi-vitamin has no harmful implications and may have a small health benefit to long-term users.

Next is a fish oil supplement.

The fish oil is probably one of the best general health supplements available. It's list of benefits are endless and for this reason, and should be consumed daily if you aren’t already eating a lot of fish during the week. Make sure your fish oil supplement has an adequate dose of EPA/DHA. You want to aim for 2-3g of EPA/DHA per day.

Whey Protein Powder!

Whey powder is an excellent supplement if you struggle to get an adequate amount of protein from whole-food sources. This supplement should be used to help achieve your daily protein targets. Having multiple servings per day is safe and has no impact on short-term and long-term health. Now a lot of people always ask me if they can take collagen protein instead? And I would advice taking it instead of whey protein powder. While collagen is a great supplement to aid in stronger nails, hair and skin. It is not a complete protein source like whey protein powder is. So feel free to take collagen protein, but I would recommend you take it as well as whey protein powder versus instead of.

Vitamin D

Vitamin D3 is very important especially for my fellow Canadian friends during those winter months. Having insufficient amounts of Vitamin D in the body can compromise the immune system, which can be extremely detrimental to anybody who is training hard, dieting, or performing any type of activity at a high level.

Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine Monohydrate is one of the most tried and true supplements for enhancing performance, primarily intensity, strength and recovery. Creatine is naturally produced in the body. We get creatine from food sources (ie. raw meat). However, it is extremely difficult to increase creatine stores to such levels without supplementation. Creatine monohydrate is one of the most researched supplements and is perfectly safe to consume. Now please don’t get creatine mono mixed up with other creatine products on the market. A common one is creatine HCL promoting less water retention. For a bit of homework, go to examine.com and do your research regarding the implications of creatine HCL. Just because a product is marketed a certain way doesn’t make it true. Again, always do your research.

Branch Chain Amino Acids (BCAA)

BCAAs are the building blocks of protein. If you are consuming an adequate amount of protein than they are not necessary and will yield virtually zero benefit. If you are not consuming meat products (ie. Vegetarian or Vegan) than you are not consuming adequate amounts of the amino acid, leucine. Therefore, supplementation would be highly recommended. As well, if you are in a situation where you may need to train fasted, it is highly recommended that you consume BCAAs prior to or during training.

Pre-Workout

Pre Workout should be used sparingly to increase performance during resistance training. I would avoid using it everyday to reduce your tolerance rate. When it comes to selecting a prework, this is where your research regarding the company is going to be extremely important.

And those are my go-to supplements. Of course there are probably others that can be beneficial. So don’t just take my word for it. Just make sure you do your research.

If you feel like taking glutamine is optimal for you, then go for it! It doesn’t hurt. Just be cautious of outrageous claims and please just save your money when it comes to fat burners and waist trainers.

Hope this was helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions!