Nutritional Supplement Reviews by Real People Like You

So anyway, I woke up around 11:00 today, went to sleep at 3am. I had hunger pains, I thought that was odd. I ignored them and went back to sleep. I decided I get 9 hours sleep since my muscles were still sore from 2 days ago when I worked out some muscles I hadn't done in a while (I've been working out for a bout a year and I had hit a plateau. I hadn't lost or gained or increased strength in around 3 months). Anyway, I awoke again at 12:00, the hunger pains were gone. I was thinking, sh-- my metabolism is down now. I got ready and went to the store and purchased Hydroxycut. Got back to my van and took 4 tablets, the full dosage. I didn't start of like they recommended (foolish 18 year old I know).

Well, it says to eat 30 minutes after, so I drove to the gym and waited in car for 10 minutes. In that time there was a little thing in my throat. Hard to explain, it wasn't really bad, easy to ignore and I took one drink and it went away with one swallow of water. Then I took apart my ham sandwich and ate only the ham. It was covered a bit with fatty mayo and mustard. I noticed a little more energy at this point, nothing spectacular. Just a little but more alert from the caffeine. I would have gotten the same effect drinking a cup of coffee.

I started working out as normal. And I noticed that even with my normal weight lifting, I was breathing heavy and starting to sweat (this may be why people who do a lot of aerobics found it hard to get your breath, as it already seems to make you breathe harder). I actually liked that effect of it. I didn't feel like I was dying. I felt great--like I was getting cardio at the same time. I even jumped on and off the treadmill through my workouts to keep my breathing heavier, but never taxing.

Usually I start getting sluggish in my workouts and tired out before the set finishes or before my muscles feel taxed I just stop. I worked out for 2 hours and 15 minutes. The only time I stopped was when I was thinking what else to do while leaving things to do on other days and not overworking out. I did a lot more cardio than usual. I'm home from the gym now and I still feel energetic. My heartbeat is normal, but I have energy. I still haven't felt any negative symptoms at all. My hands aren't steady, but that's no indication. They were always horribly unsteady and they're no worse than usual.

I'm debating taking another dose before my next meal. I've done my workouts but yet it says to spread through the day, like take another 4 or something. Maybe I'll take a lower dosage or maybe I'll take the full and go snowboarding. This stuff is great. I'm curious about the Ripped Fuel and how that compares. I've read one post that ripped gives you more energy, but hydroxycut made him lose more weight. I've a feeling that ripped is just more powerful (hence the more severe bad reactions), but both of these are most effective when you 1st start taking them, and he probably started taking hydroxycut 1st and that's why he says better weight loss results. I'm 6"3" and 166 pounds (I drank 4 cups of flavored water prior to taking the pills). After the workout, I was 164. Must be from water loss or more likely a messed up scale. I sweat more than usual (I never sweat), but I didn't stain shirts or soak clothes or anything.

I've tried Multivitamins: work nice just keep you healthy.

Vitamin C: This actually helped my acne a bit (it's now almost gone) but that could be that I'm leaving the acne stage as well and taking prescription acne med (though that seemed to not be entirely effective for the longest time).

Vitamin E: No idea, same as C. Did em at the same time so one or the other or both.

Miracle Grow: It's a liquid vitamin with amino acids. Not really sure if it has a better effect than the multivitamins since the changes are subtle. The 1st bottle I had tasted OK, but the second bottle tasted HORRIBLE. At this point I'm not sure if it's worth it.

I've tried L-cartine, supposedly helps the body metabolize fat. It doesn't seem to have help at all (it's also in Hydroxycut), waste of money.

HMB supposedly helps the body synthesize protein better. This didn't seem to have any effect. Waste of money.

Creatine Powder: It works a little. Nothing amazing but it does help muscles I think bulge a little more, but maybe from water retention. It did let me lift longer and do more sit-ups before failure though. The bad side is it caused my acne to flare up a bit. I still have the large bottle (the powder bottles are huge) and don't plan on using it anytime soon. Unless I'm quite confident it won't cause my acne to return, I won't be finishing the bottle, and if I do manage to finish it, I won't be getting it again. It might be worth it I suppose if you're looking for every little edge you can get, but most people stop lifting before they actually reach complete failure anyway just because of lack of energy and this doesn't help for that. If you're low on cash, skip it

Cell-Tech something or other: It's Creatine packed with sugar and a trace of something else (it's sell point is the creatine on fast delivery system). They say to take creatine with a sugary liquid like juice, but I never did. Sugar tended to cause my acne to build up, probably from getting my kidneys more work. I got this by accident. Actually I can't remember why I got it. I always read the backs, maybe at the time I was in a short phase of the sugar won't affect me or something. With all the sugar in this stuff, it packs on 300 calories per serving as well, and that's all from sugar, not very good. It does taste better than regular creatine in water, but I've gotten used to swallowing it fast. My trick has been to not use much water so it's relatively dense, then just shoot it fast. Then drink he rest of the water as normal. Same result with this as the creatine above, though I think I was more tired with this one coming down from sugar highs. This is a complete waste of money.

Protein Bars: Waste of money, 31 grams of protein, 8 carbs 270 cal. I get more calories, about the same carbs and less calories eating lean ham. The bar I had tasted awesome though. I've tried a few and couldn't even finish them. This was a cookies n' cream bar, very good. I'd eat this if I just wanted a candy bar without the guilt. Other than that, it's a waste of money (I really like peanut butter, but the peanut butter bars tasted horrible to me). Milk also has some nice protein if it's the lower percents or skim it's worth it.