I hear a lot of weight lifters take vitamins in order to prevent muscle loss and stuff. I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, is that enough or should I take vitamin pills? Also, does it matter what kind of vitamin pills I take? I have two types of vitamin pills in my house. A kind that's specially formulated for women, and a kind that's specially formulated for people over 50. I'm a 22 year old man, so would those vitamins screw up my system or are vitamins just vitamins? Also, what would be the best time to take vitamins?

I take Optimum Nutrition's Opti-Men. They are about $13 - $15 for a two month supply. So far they have been great.

You should get a properly formulated vitamin for yourself. Remember, it is a supplement, not a solution. It will help fill in possible holes in your diet that you may miss.

Do a search. There has been a tremendous amount of discussion regarding this. Here is an article about multivitamins:

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/cms/index.php?itemid=209

I hear a lot of weight lifters take vitamins in order to prevent muscle loss and stuff. I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables, is that enough or should I take vitamin pills? Also, does it matter what kind of vitamin pills I take? I have two types of vitamin pills in my house. A kind that's specially formulated for women, and a kind that's specially formulated for people over 50. I'm a 22 year old man, so would those vitamins screw up my system or are vitamins just vitamins? Also, what would be the best time to take vitamins?

Yeah, you should take vitamins to fill in for all the ones you didn't get in your food for the day. They are pretty cheap, you can go to Target or Wal-Mart or wherever and buy the in house brand for half the price. My jar of Target vitamins (comparable to Men's one-a-day) was only like $8 bucks after tax.

Taking a woman's vitamin won't screw up your system, it just won't give you everything you need. The biggest difference between men's and women's vitamins is that the women's have a smaller amount of each vitamin and almost none of the minerals that a men's vitamin has. That, and the women's has a lot of iron, which they need a lot of but us guys don't need as much.

I like to take mine at night right before bed, that way I can get most of my vitamins and minerals from the real food I eat during the day, and anything still lacking gets filled in by the pill at the end. :tu:

Yeah, you should take vitamins to fill in for all the ones you didn't get in your food for the day. They are pretty cheap, you can go to Target or Wal-Mart or wherever and buy the in house brand for half the price. My jar of Target vitamins (comparable to Men's one-a-day) was only like $8 bucks after tax.

Taking a woman's vitamin won't screw up your system, it just won't give you everything you need. The biggest difference between men's and women's vitamins is that the women's have a smaller amount of each vitamin and almost none of the minerals that a men's vitamin has. That, and the women's has a lot of iron, which they need a lot of but us guys don't need as much.

I like to take mine at night right before bed, that way I can get most of my vitamins and minerals from the real food I eat during the day, and anything still lacking gets filled in by the pill at the end. :tu:


I disagree with that. Too much iron is bad. Most men get more than enough iron from thier diet and don't need any supplementation let alone an increased dose.