166: What Supplements I Take And Why

Introduction 

You're listening to Biceps after Babies radio episode number 166.

Hello and welcome to Biceps after Babies radio. A podcast for ladies who know that fitness is about so much more than pounds lost or PRs. It's about feeling confident in your skin and empowered in your life. I'm your host, Amber Brueseke, a registered nurse, personal trainer, wife, and mom of four.  Each week, my guests and I will excite and motivate you to take action in your own personal fitness as we talk about nutrition, exercise mindset, personal development, and executing life with conscious intention. If your goal is to look, feel, and be strong and experience transformation from the inside out, you, my friend are in the right place. Thank you for tuning in, now let’s jump into today’s episode.

 

Episodes about supplements  0:47 

Hey, Hey, Hey welcome back to another episode of Biceps after Babies Radio. I am Amber Brueseke, and I am so happy that you are here. I never forget, and I never let myself forget what an honor it is that you are willing to come to the podcast week after week, And listen to what I have to say. It really is an honor to be able to record this podcast and I do not take it lightly that you are spending your valuable time with me each and every week. It really does mean the world to me. So this topic is one that is often requested. People want to know what type of supplements I personally take. Now, I recorded two podcasts, two whole podcast episodes on supplements, Episode Number 60, and episode number 61. Of course, we will link those up in the show notes. But if you have questions about supplements, I highly recommend going back and listening to those episodes. I put supplements in context, I talk about a lot of the most common ones that you're hearing about Creatine, Beta-Alanine, Pre-workout, things like that. And if you have a curiosity about maybe a certain supplement that you've heard about, go and listen to that episode because I break down a lot of those most common supplements. Now it is not an exhaustive list. I don't get into the weeds with supplements. So if it's something that's not super common, I even might not have talked about it. But I will tell you why in the podcast episode, I kind of talk about that. So I've already done that. That podcast has already been recorded. So many of you guys have already listened to that podcast again, if you haven't, I would suggest going to listen after this, you'll get a lot more context, in terms of where supplements fit in your journey, what supplements you can and maybe should be taking. And this is kind of a follow up episode just to kind of outline what I am doing with my journey. 

 

My personal supplement routine  2:54

Now, of course, I'm just sharing what works for me, I'm sharing what I am doing in my journey, that does not mean that we have to make the leap of logic that you should be doing the exact same.And one of the things that I teach often in Macros 101 and help clients to really realize is that your journey is your journey. And you need to have a plan that is customized to you. So that's what I've done is I've built a plan that's worked for me, and fits me and my lifestyle and what I want to spend on supplements. And you can and should do the same for you. So please don't come here and say, “This is not me telling you what you should do.” This is me just sharing over the years where I'm at with my supplement routine and it may surprise you.

 

When to add supplements in your routine  3:37

Okay, so this actually may be a very short podcast. Because, shocker, I don't actually take a lot of supplements. And I go into a lot of depth about why that is in episode number 60. But I will just share a little here about why that is. The biggest reason is because supplements tend to move the needle a very small amount. And a lot of people spend a lot of time and a lot of money on a supplement routine. And I think a lot of times it's just because it's easy. To some extent, you can just spend some money and take some pills or take some powder. And you're telling me that it's going to make my journey easier and faster and better. Well, duh, I'm absolutely going to do that. And so that's where a lot of people come in, they just kind of want to like, purchase something that's going to wish the problem away. When in reality, most supplements move the needle, a very small amount. And really those of you who should be focusing on supplements, should really only be the people who have already gotten your nutrition on track. You already have your nutrition dialed in, you already have your workouts dialed in. You already have your pre and post workout nutrition already dialed in, you already are eating a wide array of micronutrients. You already have the big movers and shakers solidified. And once you have those habits solidified, you have those big movers and shakers solidified, now if we want to start talking about, hey, what supplements can I add that like, can move the needle just a little bit more. That's the time to be focusing on maybe adding supplements to your routine, not at the get go. Okay, what you'll see is that the number of supplements that I actually take myself is very small. And that is because I would rather spend more of my time, more of my energy, more of my money on the big movers and shakers in my journey, things like working out, I'd rather pay for a CrossFit membership, than pay hundreds of dollars for a fat burner. I'd rather pay for higher quality food or more fresh food, than I would pay a bunch of money for a green juice. Okay, so that's just I would rather spend my time and money and energy on things that actually move the needle. And so the number of supplements that I actually take is very small.

 

Protein is a very satiating macronutrient 6:16

So let's start with the first supplement that I take. And I don't even know if, I guess this is considered a supplement. We're gonna call it a supplement. But the first one would be protein powder. So I do think that protein powder is the one supplement that even if you haven't gotten everything dialed in, you don't have your nutrition dialed in, that there can be some inherent value to having a supplemental protein powder, especially for people who are getting started in their journey. They're learning how to consume more protein, they're learning how to be able to hit those higher protein amounts. And there's and they need something to supplement with to be able to hit those higher number amounts of protein. Now, let's do a little backtracking. Because I think it's really important as we start to have this conversation about supplements that we understand the why behind things. So why is protein so important in your journey? There's a couple of reasons. But some of the biggest reasons are because: One, when you are in a caloric deficit, hunger is something that you are always trying to mitigate. And protein tends to be the most satiating macronutrient. Out of carbs, fat and protein, protein is the most satiating, meaning it makes your body feel the most full, on the least amount of calories. And that's because our body has to work really hard to break down protein and to be able to metabolize it and turn it into glucose or utilize it in whatever way we're going to use it. So our body consumes and uses a lot of energy for protein and then it also is just it's very satiating for our stomach, the way that it's broken down, makes us feel fuller on less calories. So number one is protein is a very satiating macronutrient.

 

2 reasons why we consume higher amounts of protein during caloric deficit  8:05

Number two is by consuming enough protein in your diet, especially when you're in a caloric deficit, you help to protect your body from breaking down muscle mass. When your body is in a caloric deficit, it's looking for energy, it's looking to be able to figure out where energy is going to come from because not enough energy is not coming from the food you're eating. That's the definition of a caloric deficit. And so your body is going around looking for where is it going to get energy from and where most of us want it to get energy from is our fat storages. But just because you want something doesn't mean that that actually happens. And another place that our bodies can get energy from is by breaking down muscle tissue. And most of us when we say that we want to lose weight, we actually mean we want to lose fat, like most people are not walking around being like, you know, what I really want to do is I want to lose a ton of muscle mass. Most of us want to lose fat. And we want to encourage our body when we're in a caloric deficit to burn fat, not muscle. And one of the ways that we can do that is by consuming more protein. It's almost like your body, so your body needs amino acids. Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. It's what our body uses to repair tissue. It's what our body uses to repair muscle, mass, ligaments, tendons, it's like what our body is repairing itself all the time because we break down things and then we repair it. And your body uses amino acids in order to do that. So if you are not consuming enough amino acids, your body has to get them from somewhere. And where is a source of amino acids? Well it's in your muscles tissue. So your body, if it doesn't have access to enough amino acids to do what it needs to do, our body will actually go to our muscle storage and pull from there and you're now losing muscle, your body's breaking down your muscle mass. So one way that we can prevent that from happening, especially in a caloric deficit is by eating a higher amount of protein. So that we're like if I hear body, here's a sufficient amount of protein. Please do not break down my muscle mass, please instead utilize the fat storage that I have in order to provide the energy that my body needs. And so by having a higher amount of protein consumption, we make sure that our body doesn't need to go looking for amino acids so that it can have ready access to those amino acids inside in our bloodstream.

 

2 reasons why we consume higher amounts of protein during caloric deficit  10:49

So those are two of the most important reasons why we tend to consume higher amounts of protein especially when you're in a deficit. And so when people come in to really starting to dial their nutrition, really starting to understand the benefits of protein, and starting to consume higher amounts of protein, oftentimes, there's a gap between the amount of protein that you've been eating and that you're used to eating and the amount of protein that you're now trying to intake. And it can be challenging for a lot of people to be able to hit those higher amounts of protein especially initially. And so a good protein powder can help to kind of bridge that gap, it can help to be able to help you hit those higher, you know consumption of protein in a more easily achievable attainable way. You have a scoop of protein powder and there's usually 20 to 30 grams of protein right in that scoop, and so it makes it very accessible, it makes it very easy and it can be a really good supplement to what you're already doing in terms of your protein consumption for the day. 

 

My personal consumption of protein powder  11:52

So personally, I would say that I use protein powder I would say about half of the days, it's not something that I use necessarily every single day I will utilize it about half of the days oftentimes it's either in a protein shake, like I'll make a smoothie or sometimes I'll even just have a shaker cup full of protein and then mix it with water or milk and just drink that post workout. I'm not religious in this so it's not like every single day after my workout I always have you know a scoop of protein 30 minutes within that like anabolic window No, it's not how it is for me, I will do it some of the days and not some of the days it's not something that I have to do every single day. So I utilize protein powder. I enjoy it as a supplemental protein, you know how to consume protein, it's not the only source of protein that I have. But I would say probably about half of the days I have a scoop of protein and because people always ask I have used Ideal Lean for probably five years. I've used their brand for a really really long time. I am an affiliate with them because I've used them for so long so hey I'm sharing about it anyway I might as well get some sort of kickback in that. So I am an affiliate with them and if you use my code AmberB15. You save 15% on your order. So I really like them because they taste good. That's like a big thing for me because I really just like the taste of the brand. They have lots and lots of different flavors. I love their chocolate mint. I love their peanut butter chocolate. I love their white chocolate peppermint resyncing theme here. It's like all the chocolate. I do like some of their newer flavors. They actually have this Froot Loops flavor. I don't know if it's still there, but they had that for a while and that was actually really good. The red velvet is really good. So anyway, this isn't about my favorite protein flavors, but I do like Ideal lean and you may not like it, you may want to do something else. Awesome. Like there are tons of protein powders out there in the world. And so I would really recommend you know, trying a bunch and finding one that works for you. So that's a big one protein powder.

 

Creatine 14:14

The second supplement that I use, actually, I have to be really honest, I don't I'm not actually using it right now, but I have used it a lot in the past and the reason I'm not using it right now is mostly because I just haven't like restocked and that is the supplement Creatine. So Creatine is something that I've taken for years and years and years. Like I said, right now we actually ordered some. This is like a funny story, but we ordered some creatine and I don't know about you, but I order a lot of things on Amazon and so oftentimes I like forget that I ordered something and we're like constantly getting packages and I don't know my husband, I swear we keep Amazon in business. So I ordered Creatine and it was like several weeks later I was like oh Hey, I don't think I ever got that creatine. So I went and looked at my orders, and it said that it was delivered. And I was like, “I don't, I don't think that it was ever delivered.” And I opened up the order. And sure enough, we had sent it to one of my husband's co-workers. Like he had busted, like, sent her a book or I don't know something previously, so we had her address, like stored in our Amazon account. And I don't know how it got, that one got selected. But we say we had sent it to her. And so my husband ends up calling this co-worker and is like, “Did you like?” So the way that I ordered I ordered book supplements on Amazon, it's like, by far the cheapest, it's high quality. And so it's in this big white bag that says like bulk supplements on it and it's just like this white powder. And it says Creatine, but like if you don't know what creatine is, like, you're gonna see this bag and you're gonna be like, who is sending me drugs? Who was sending me drugs in the mail? And so, and of course, she didn't order it. So he calls her and he's like, “Hey, did you receive a big bag of like, white powder?” She was like, “Yes, I had no idea what it was.” He was like, “It's Creatine. It's a supplement. It's legal. No, we're not drug dealers.” But she had like, by the time we had figured in pieces all together, she had thrown it away. So full disclosure, I just like haven't ordered more. But I've taken Creatine for years. And if you've listened to 60, and 61, you know that creatine is one of the most well researched supplements in its effectiveness. And I kind of lay out in those podcasts who would really benefit from Creatine and who wouldn't benefit. And if you have questions about whether that would be you go listen to that episode, because I break it down. Because not everybody can or should be taking Creatine. But for many of us, it is a very beneficial supplement that we can be taking. And so I've taken creatine for years and years and years. And I'm not taking it right now. Because our stupid package showed up at our co-workers house and I just haven't ordered more. But that is something that I have taken for a very long time and Creatine is to help improve strength, it's to help improve output and speed. And as I've tried to add more muscle as I've tried to build my strength, that's been a supplement that I have added in. 

 

Effective programing plus creatine build muscle 17:25

Now, of course, Creatine cannot be a substitute for effective programming. So I get a lot of people who are like, should I be taking Creatine? And I always ask the question, like, what are you doing in the gym? Because if you're screwing around in the gym, or you're or you're completing a program that isn't actually progressively overloading, if you're programming changes all the time, if you're not doing the same lifts, if you're not tracking your lifts, if you're doing a lot of like HIT and actually not doing anything that's really building muscle or building strength not targeting that, then it doesn't matter how much creatine you take, like it's not going to magically built muscle for you, it's not going to magically build strength. So you have to make sure that if you're going to layer on adding Creatine that you already have effective programming in place that you're actually doing the things that are going to build muscle, you're doing the things in your programming that are going to build strength. And then again, creatine is just that, it's like that little last bit, the little last couple of percent that are going to be helpful to you. But always, always, always, it's always like let's get this, let's get the most important stuff on board and then let's add the supplements second. So Creatine is our second supplement that I have taken for a long time.

 

Pre- workout 18:35

And the last and this is it, this is it guys. The last and final supplement that I take is Pre- workout. So I do not like Ideal-Lean's Pre-workout. This is how you know that I'm actually honest and what I like because I'm an affiliate for them and I don't like their Pre-workout. It makes me feel like I want to throw up like every time I take it I get  nauseated. And when I said that on Instagram, not everybody but a couple of people messaged me and were like, Oh my gosh, I'm the same way. So I think that there's something in their formula that for whatever reason, just doesn't sit well with me. Some people have no problem with it. I don't like it. What I do take and do like is Legion, so is the brand and then the Pre-workouts called Pulse. I've used Pulse for probably six years, five years, six years, something like that. So I've used it for a really long time. I like that they actually tell you what's in the pre workout. So one of the sneaky things that happens a lot of times with Pre-workout is companies will use what's called a proprietary formula, meaning that it's secret formula that they use, they don't have to tell you what exactly is in it or the amounts of each of the like, you know, supplements that are in it. They don't give you the amounts because it's proprietary. It's hidden, it's secret, and I don't like that. I want to know what I'm talking about. I want to know the amounts because all of the things that are in pre workout have dosages that are, have been researched, like people have researched how much Beta-Alanine is actually effective. People have researched how much Creatine is effective, people have researched these things. And so I want to make sure that what I'm taking actually matches up with the research. So the sneaky thing that a lot of supplement companies do is they under dose, because it's cheaper. so the underdose on Beta-Alanine, or they're under dose on Creatine, and you don't know that because it's proprietary. That drives me crazy. So I really like that with Legion. You know how much Beta-Alanine, you know how much Creatine you're getting, actually, they don't have Creatine. They put it in their post workout. But you know how much caffeine you're getting, you know, how much of each of the things that you're getting, and I like that I like that transparency.

 

How can pre- workout can be helpful 20:49

And people ask all the time, like, do I need a pre workout? Here's the deal with Pre- workout, Pre-workout again, just like Creatine, just like any supplement, it's not going to do anything by just taking it. Taking pre-workout doesn't make you stronger, it doesn't make you faster, it doesn't like nothing, it doesn't inherently do anything, what Pre-workout can do is give you energy to push harder in your workouts. So like if you take Pre-workout and sit on the couch ain't gonna do anything. But if you take a pre workout and go to the gym, and that allows you to push a little bit more weight, do a couple of extra reps, push yourself a little bit harder than you can see over time, how that is going to compound and get you better results. And so that's what Pre-workout can be very helpful with.

 

Two types of pre–workout 21:37

Now there are two types of pre workout there is pre workout that has caffeine. And that's typically what people think about when they think about Pre-workout. But there's also what's called non-stim. Non-stimulatory-pre-workout and that is caffeine-free. So some people like to take a caffeine-free-pre-workout, my husband's one of them. And that doesn't have any caffeine in it. But it has some like vezo dilators, it has some of the other things that are in Pre-workout that allow you to push a little bit harder and do a little bit more. So if you're someone who is sensitive to caffeine, or you don't want to be adding another caffeine source, you can try out like a pre-stim, or sorry, a non-stim-pre-workout. But I like the caffeine I work out at 5:30 in the morning. And so I like to take that Pre-workout before I go and workout and I do feel a difference in the intensity that I can bring to a workout. When I have pre-workout on board. I do try to cycle it somewhat so that I don't have to have it. And so I do try to cycle it off sometimes. But I do really like having that Pre-workout on board before I go to my 5:30 class. It's like I feel the difference absolutely on those days when I don't take it.

 

Keep your supplements simple 22:56

So that's literally it. Those are the supplements that I take, I don't take any pills, I don't take any greens, I don't take any, I don't even do BCAA's. That's something that BCAA's can be helpful for some people. But I personally don't utilize BCAA's on the regular, that's not something I use. So there's a lot of supplements that I don't do. Like I said, I keep it basic. I have kind of tested around and tried things out and see what works for me and what I like. And I focus most of my time and attention and energy and money and everything on the big things that are going to move the needle in my journey, my nutrition, my workouts, what I'm eating, the micronutrients I'm getting. Things like that are going to really move the needle, I focus way more on my time, energy and money on those things. And then, again, those supplements are the last couple of percent. And I have a couple of those that I add, but I do not spend loads and loads of money on supplements. I keep it really simple. And that's how I like it. So to kind of wrap up this episode, this is not me sitting here telling you what supplements you should use. But encouraging you to take a critical look at what supplements you are currently taking,  Spending your money on, And having that reevaluation of if you are trying to use supplements to counteract the big rocks like to try and overcome, maybe your nutrition is not very onpoint, maybe you don't have really good workouts and so you're trying to utilize supplements to overcome that. When you just spent that same time and energy and money that you're spending on the supplements on the things that actually move the needle, how much further would you be in your journey. supplements are just that they supplement. They are not the rocks, they are not the foundation of the reason that you're going to get results. They're that extra couple of percent.

 

Use the code AmberB15 to get  a discount when you buy Ideal-lean 25:03

So that's it. Those are the things I take. And I hope that it was helpful to hear a little bit about that decision making process of some of the products that I use, of course we will link up everything in the show notes that I referred to. I am an affiliate for Ideal-lean, that's the only thing I affiliate for. So like the Creatine I recommend, the Pre-workout I recommend, I'm not an affiliate for those brands, I just kind of share what I like and what I figured out works for me and but if you do order through Ideal lean I, I first of all, thank you for those of you who use my code, it does make a difference you know, I do get a kickback from that. And that code I got is AmberB15. And they have lots of products. I just really love their protein powder and that's the product of theirs that I use the most. I don't really use a lot of the other stuff, but they have lots of lots of other supplements. If you're curious and you're wanting to support the show. That's a great way to do it. So that's it. That wraps up this episode of biceps after babies radio. I'm Amber, now go out and be strong because remember my friend, you can do anything.

 

Outro

Hold up, sister friend. Do you love Biceps after Babies radio? If so, the best way to say thank you is to subscribe to the podcast and leave a review on iTunes. I know, every podcaster wants you to leave a review, but it's because those reviews help the podcast to reach more people. And I do truly want to know what you think. If this particular episode resonated with you, will you also please share it? Either send the link to someone who would find it valuable or take a screenshot and post it to your social media and tell your friends and family why they should listen. Make sure you tag me @biceps.after.babies so I can hear your feedback and give you a little love. And you know, if you aren't already following me on Instagram or Facebook, that's the perfect time to hit that follow button. Thank you for being here and listening to Biceps after Babies radio.