I'm in the same boat as you. I weighed 155 (!) going into my freshman year of college. During that time I starting to workout. I used protein everytime I worked out, just a tub for $45 that I got at my gym. Eventually I couldn't gain because of my school schedule, stress, ****ty cafe diet, and pretty limited equipment at my school's gym. So I took the plunge into creatine.

I used creatine for about 4 month, and put on 13lbs of muscle in that time. I was frickin ripped, but as soon as summer came around, I got off of it simply because it was too expensive (I took Creadex which is around $50 at GNC). I never got addicted to them or whatever, I think that's impossible. It helped a ton, and if you do, drink alot of water (I always had a water bottle in my hand). There were no side affects besides a empty wallet and being thirsty alot. And the best thing is, is that if you stop, you will still hold onto your muscle you gained. I lost probably 5 lbs on average since then but that is because I've been slacking since work is taking over my summer and I come home exhausted from work.

If you can have a good diet and get the sleep, you probably wont need to use anything besides whey protein. I used creatine though, it worked, I was happy, so take a look into that if you want.

 

Yeah i just simply didnt have time to workout last summer. Too busy puttin in 60-70 hours a week in. I know I have a poor diet, but for some reason i'm able to eat what i want and still stay at the same weight. I'm beginning to drink more and more water. I've had 1 sprite in the last 3 days. The rest has been water. So not too bad. I've been going and getting scoops of crunchy peanut butter when I feel like I need a snack ha. I'm trying to consume more protein and fix my diet ha.

 

So i've been lifting for what a month now? I've been thru 1 tub of Whey Portein(finished it yesterday). I've seen huge improvements. On bench I'm now repping my old max from a year and 1/2 ago. I'm only doing it like twice but I still know if I was to max it'd go up. I bought some creatine and a new tub of protein the other day. Hopefully i can keep gaining. Lifting really starts to become fun once you get past the struggling stage!

 

BTW does anyone have any suggestions on how to thin up a protein shake. I suspect once i switch over to using water rather than skim milk it will thin up a bit but like todays was so thick i could barely drink it. Not to mention i'm not a chocolate lover and thats all they had so i had to get the chocolate kind.

 

^ Yup - switch to water and it'll be way different Otherwise you'll have to thin it out / make a higher water to shake mix if you still need it thinner, although I doubt you will.

 

If you take Creatine, which is a great suppliment, make sure you cycle it. About three months on, three months off. Creatine is created by your body as well, so if you keep pumping your body with it, your body will stop creating at. For recovery, I load Branch-chained amino acids about an hour before my workout. Your muscles get sore becuase the cells start burning sugars instead of 02, that creates lactic acid. Amino acids help put that process off.

Never heard of the pickle juice thing, but I'm going to try it, I cramp up way more than I would like.

 

Yeah i need to get one of those shaker cups to help mix the protein but once i go back to school (monday) I wont be able to run home and throw it all in the blinder so i'll have to use water fountain water. And yeah I just started using creatine this week. I've loved it so far. Great taste and you can actually feel it.

 

Was stated before, but use Whey powder before my workout and stay away from Soy Protein.

I also drink an EAS protein shake right after working out.

I agree with the earlier poster. 2 hour workouts are too long! 3 sets of 10 for everything and you should be done in 45 minutes to an hour.

 

I've tried a few supps from Controlled Labs and they worked well for me, most recently I tried Animal Pump which I liked a lot.