Hi,

I'm currently on a cutting program and have started taking some supplements. I'm taking Glucosamine/Chrondroitin/MSM, multi-vitamin, whey protein powder, and an EC stack (25mg Vasopro, 200mg caffeine). My macronutrient intake runs really close to 40/40/20 and I have roughly a 1200-2000 calorie per day intake. I'm working on leveling my caloric intake to 2000-2200 per day (I weigh 240lbs and I know 1200 is too little). I don't know how "stigmatized" the EC/ECA stack is on these forums but I would like to know of any other supplements that would be beneficial to a cutting diet. I plan on cycling the EC (should I really incorporate Aspirin for the thermogenic effect?) stack on a 3-week basis (3 weeks on 2 off). I've seen people mention green-tea extract a lot. Would this be a good addition to supplement? Also, Flax seed or fish oil?

I just started taking the EC stack and can tell a slight difference in energy level (my cardio was SUPER easy this morning). However, I usually do a fasted cardio in the mornings and w/o any food I feel a tiny bit "light-headed" compared to usual. Do most prefer using the EC/ECA stack after/with a meal?

Hi,

I'm currently on a cutting program and have started taking some supplements. I'm taking Glucosamine/Chrondroitin/MSM, multi-vitamin, whey protein powder, and an EC stack (25mg Vasopro, 200mg caffeine). My macronutrient intake runs really close to 40/40/20 and I have roughly a 1200-2000 calorie per day intake. I'm working on leveling my caloric intake to 2000-2200 per day (I weigh 240lbs and I know 1200 is too little). I don't know how "stigmatized" the EC/ECA stack is on these forums but I would like to know of any other supplements that would be beneficial to a cutting diet. I plan on cycling the EC (should I really incorporate Aspirin for the thermogenic effect?) stack on a 3-week basis (3 weeks on 2 off). I've seen people mention green-tea extract a lot. Would this be a good addition to supplement? Also, Flax seed or fish oil?

I just started taking the EC stack and can tell a slight difference in energy level (my cardio was SUPER easy this morning). However, I usually do a fasted cardio in the mornings and w/o any food I feel a tiny bit "light-headed" compared to usual. Do most prefer using the EC/ECA stack after/with a meal?

Fish oil, 3 to 6 g a day. Make sure that it has at least 0.5 g EPA + DHA (so about 50%) per 1 g capsule.

BCAAs, 5 g x 4 times a day, two of those serving centered around your workouts (say, 5 g during, 5 g after).

Green tea extract, added to your EC stack, or take it during the weeks you are off your EC stack.

No aspirin to the EC stack. EC stack , 25 mg ephedrine/200 mg caffein, 3 times days (30 mins before a workout or meals).

Actually I will never do the EC stack ever again myself, and I wouldn't do it if I was you either. Just completely exhausted my adrenals and right now I have a hard hard time recovering from it (been 2 months and I am still tired all day). I would just use green tea extract.

Plus right nwo you will probably lose a hell of a lot of fat just by putting your diet in order, there is no really need to use EC unless you are at a very low bf % and having a hard time to lose this last fat %.


For green tea extact and BCAAs I would say to order from bulknutrition but lately they have been having bad customer service it seems. Well I have had bad experiences with them in the last 2 weeks.
Good luck.

Edit: and oh, some people will disagree but I would also had some creatine in it, spread over the day, again most of it centered around your workouts. To keep your workout intenses and minimize as much as possible muscle loss.

Punkchip,

I really appreciate your reply. Lots of good information there. I've had my doubts about the EC stack and I'm still "on the fence" about its use so I've only ordered a mininmal amount to try (enough for 1 cycle). I'll read up on the creatine as well.

Also, I appreciate your helpfulness in when I should take the supplements--with all of this information being relatively new I've disregarded that aspect somewhat.

Give our Fat Loss stack a try:

http://atlargenutrition.com/nutrition_detail.php?products_id=10

You get a FREE Fat Loss guide with your order. The guide is replete with valuable information on fat loss.

Chris

your largest concern are the calories....1200????..i eat that before noon......all the supps in the world arent going to help if your not eating/training correctly

your largest concern are the calories....1200????..i eat that before noon......all the supps in the world arent going to help if your not eating/training correctly
:tucool:

Even 2,000-2,200 is too low for someone at 240 pounds, in my very humble opinion. Look at it this way, you weigh almost 35 pounds more than I do and I take in more calories than this while cutting.

Let's work on the diet and training first, then talk about supplements. :)

:tucool:

Even 2,000-2,200 is too low for someone at 240 pounds, in my very humble opinion. Look at it this way, you weigh almost 35 pounds more than I do and I take in more calories than this while cutting.

Let's work on the diet and training first, then talk about supplements. :)


I appreciate the response so keep them coming. I'm assuming I need about 3800 kcal. per day to maintain my current weight. So, if I wanted to drop 2lbs. per week (7000/7=1000cal.) then I would need approximately ~2800cal. per day to accomplish this. Does this sound reasonalbe? Obviously (like everyone else) I want to see results as quick as possible but I feel a need (mostly for motivational purposes) to see a noticeable change. The scale doesn't need to move but I would like to be able to tell a difference with weekly/bi-weekly photos. My routine consists of 6/7 days of cardio and 5 days of weights. I'm attacking this pretty heavy but I'm afraid of burnout if I don't see noticeable results. I'm new to all this so I'm trying to feel my way out and research as much as possible (hence the seemingly newbie questions).

You don't want to generate your calorie deficit entirely with food restriction. You instead want to minimize the amount of deficit that comes from eating under base levels, and maximize the amount of deficit that comes from increased expenditure.

So, rather than cut 1000 cals per day, you want to cut 500 and burn an additional 500.

In general, the more you eat the better, the key is in raising the amount that you CAN eat and still cut.

You don't want to generate your calorie deficit entirely with food restriction. You instead want to minimize the amount of deficit that comes from eating under base levels, and maximize the amount of deficit that comes from increased expenditure.

So, rather than cut 1000 cals per day, you want to cut 500 and burn an additional 500.

In general, the more you eat the better, the key is in raising the amount that you CAN eat and still cut.


This makes A LOT of sense. I'm glad you posted this info. According to the tracker "thing" at fitday.com, I've been burning around 600 cals. per day with fitness activities. I suppose you could look at the caloric intake as food for muscle and by depriving your body of the amount of food it needs to create the muscle you are essentially negating your progress with and weights. Correct?

your sorta getting too technical...dont worry about how many cals ou burn through exercise...its almost impossible to really guage it....cut your cals by 500...do your exercise..the rest will take care of itself...trust me...if you want to be in it for the long haul you need to EAT....theres only so long you would last on a diet that low......plus if your lifting the calories help the muscles grow ...which helps you burn fat....it might seem counterintuitve to take in a large amount of cals...but that many cals of clean food is not going to hurt you ....plus think of it like this...your daily requirment is about one large pizza from papa johns...and i know ive eaten more than that in one day !!.....

if you adjust correctly you will see quicker results ..and you will know that those results are you burning fat...not muscle.....Trust us..