Alright then, time to be brutally honest. We do judge the books by their covers, and we do judge people by their appearances. A lot of people might disagree and quote that they do see the other side of things too. If you are one of those, great! If not, then you probably would relate to the words I quoted a line ago.

Time to relate – A lot of people who watch me in my daily life say, “Ah, he has got a lean body”, “Patla sa to hai (He is skinny), no wonder he can do 25 pull-ups in one shot , “I am not surprised to know that he runs fast”, etc.

The same lot of people then see me work out at the gym, and quite a few of them are honest enough to admit that I am among the hardest workers at the gym. Here comes the issue – the ones who do not see me work hard day-in and day-out, are quick to comment that I am nothing but a result of supplements. The minute I take my shirt off, (I do sense them going green with envy), but quite obviously, they have their escapes (the ones that they make to themselves) quoting – “Bleh! that’s just because of the supplements”.

Magic? A miracle?

People think supplements are magic. You take it, boom! You get the hot bod – you become the lean mean hot machine. And then, they feel they shouldn’t take it because it is not ‘natural‘. And they become anti-supplements person.

I know a lot of people who take supplements. Do they all have the same body? Have they all gone on to become the fittest people around? Well, let’s not stereotype things. You take the most expensive supplements, but if you don’t work out hard enough, you won’t see the results.

A message to those people who think I am who I am only because of the supplements I am taking – Let’s get real, buddy.

What are supplements? Do you even need supplements? Firstly, if you blindly answer a yes, or a no, please stop. Don’t make a fool out of yourself. There’s a good line of detailing that goes in before one answers this. In a nutshell, whether or not you need the supplements, largely depends on your end goal.

If you are a fitness buff, or an individual aspiring to get fit (either gain weight, or lose weight), you do need the supplements, provided your daily food intake does not cater your nutrition needs.

It is very unfair to quote that you don’t need supplements at all. We are not in early 1960s to quote something as silly as this. Back then, the Sports Nutrition industry had just started. Now, when it is booming as we approach 2020, we need to act a little more intelligent than we claim to be, or perhaps believe to be.

Let’s put things in to perspective – Why do you need them? Come again, please.

I won’t quote this for anybody else but me. Let me take my own example. I am an ectomorph – in layman terms, a hard gainer. Also, if I don’t work out for a couple of weeks and eat just my normal diet, I will drop my weights drastically. This is because my body has a very high metabolism. To ensure that I sustain my current weight, I need 2500 calories per day, and to gain weight, I need to eat 3500 calories per day for 30 days to see results.

A little more math – Let us consider my maintenance calories. Out of 2500 calories, my daily Carbohydrates requirement is around 1146 calories; I should get about 750 calories from Protein sources, and about 642 calories from Fat sources. Quick Maths (1g of Protein and Carbohydrates contain 4 calories each, and a gram of Fat contains 9 calories).

Quick check – How do I calculate my daily macro needs? This depends on your age group, BMR, RMR, PAL, etc. I will soon (November 20, 2019) be releasing a guide wherein you can calculate your calorie requirements too. 🙂

Won’t complicate this further and jump to the conclusions. To get about 800 calories (200g) of protein, it is improbable to get it from the daily foods. One egg contains 6g of proteins. Even if I consume 10 eggs a day, it only amounts to 60g of protein. And do note that eggs bring in a lot of heat in the body, and that can cause other issues like acne. Hence, I am forced to tone down my egg consumption to 6 per day. I can include foods like soya chunks that offer 52g of protein per 100g, but again, that comes with high oestrogen levels that can get my chest fats accumulated.

In the same way, every food item that I consume during the course of the day comes with some downsides. To ensure I get my maintenance calories in check, I tune in Whey concentrate in my diet. A scoop of whey gives me 24g of protein. Four scoops a day = 96g protein. Check. Remaining 104g, I can get it from my natural food sources.

This is just plain science. Before we quote anyone to be a product of supplements, it is very important to know that there is a lot of effort and hard work that goes in to it. Tell me a supplement that gets you a good body even if you don’t work out whilst taking it. I will stock up a fortune.

Claims?

You might claim that a person got that body only after they started taking supplements. Well, my friend, it is bound to be that way. Supplement, as the word defines itself, helps. When I add supplements to my diet, it adds up to the total caloric intake of my daily requirements, which is quite tough to meet with normal available food. And if I am meeting my requirements, I will shape up better. I can match up my daily intake by taking normal foods, but will mess up the macros. Taking in correct nutrients in proper quantities holds the key to shaping up well.

Obviously, there’s a lot to the story and I jotted this down hoping to get some information shared among those who I feel are still unaware of how things work. Don’t be stupid. Research, study, understand, before you speak. Don’t just grow old, grow up, maybe?

Even I always thought supplements were magic. And now, as I grow up, I feel the magic has always been there. The magic is me, my efforts, the hours of exercise I put in everyday, and the discipline. Talking of discipline, here is what my everyday schedule looks like.

P.S. Although I have a corporate job to manage, I do ensure that I respond to my emails every Friday. If you are interested in getting your custom diet plans or have any Nutrition related queries, feel free to mail me at tcfmusings@gmail.com, or DM on my Instagram handle nikhil_anand45@. Cheers!