Hi there!
The only supplements I've found highly beneficial both for gaining muscle while losing fat, for myself, is whey isolate protein powder (fav is Isopure brand in creamy vanilla and is versatile, I use in smoothies & oatmeal too), and amino acid supplement tablets (I like TwinLabs or Solgar brands the best for quality vs cost vs easy to take). I don't eat much meat type protein so whey to go for me. Get a divided shaker to take with you to the gym for on the way home. Oatmeal, low cal and high in protein. Legumes, beans n lentils etc., are very helpful for both health, muscle and feeling full, fiber, protein and great nutrition while doing what you'll be doing in getting fit.

I also take Dessicated Beef Liver tabs in the morning, the defatted kind from grass fed beef, usually from Argentina. Solgar brand is cost reasonable for high quality supp.

However, if you aren't lifting weights to the sets and failure repetition number, or using the circuit machines to the fail rep, and to failure is key, then the supps won't do anything but be like excess food, and you could possibly gain weight of the fat kind. Not what you want or need.

Learning when to use them is another story. For myself, I take the AA tablets, 3 of them, just b4 I begin any hard exercise around 45 min duration, no longer as it's counter productive and you can lose muscle...think of skinny runners legs, so the AAs are bio-available to muscles right about the time I'm finishing the exercise and when muscles need it the most, easy on an empty stomach too. A half hour after exercise after I cool off, I use the whey either in low cal smoothie or alone w water, or with a light meal such as oatmeal. O is a great food.

Recovery is quicker w less soreness, for me. The whole muscle building thing is hard work, but you will improve dramatically if you lift. Be sure to take your body measurements, as doing what you'll be doing, the scale number is NOT a true picture of positive changes, and that never changing number could easily make you think you see zero progress. Measure asap, to see real changes! Honestly? Your focus s/b on building muscles, and the whole body composition will change in the way you'd like. Toned and tight. You will lose fat along the way.

Trust in the process and patience is a virtue but its fruit is sweet.

I don't believe in fat burner pills. There is a billion dollar weight loss pill industry to the hopeful that they don't have to exercise much or at all to lose weight. The only true fat burner is your muscles, period. Your brain only burns glucose. So tune them muscles up by lift heavy, by listening to your body and build muscle that will burn fats, and keep cardio in the fat burning zone. HIIT training, which I do but don't overdo, has been proven to keep your metabolism up high for up to 24 hours. Overdoing HIIT can keep you awake at night, so if you do it, best to do it early in your day as possible.

Must start out moderately. It takes time, and 3 months for healthy peeps is called the tipping point where you will finally begin to see all your hard workout's results. Seriously, unless you're already fit, you won't SEE the change that quick, measuring is key. I can't stress that enough to keep you motivated to continue.

There is no magic pill. Coffee, or caffeine has shown benefits too. I like my espresso!!! I'm glad there isn't bc then we'd not be recognized for our will and dedication in getting strong and fit...having a lovely figure to show for it, is just a side benefit for the awesome feelings of hard regular exercise and affects every day all day for amazing energy that can easily take you from the all day work day and onto the dance floor and then just dance your heart out into the wee hours if you wish to do so! Or, house cleaning can become a breeze too! Effortless!

I highly recommend learning to use MyFitnessPal.com for tracking food (and exercises you do), always weighing and measuring, as most don't realize just how much they're under measuring food intake and cannot figure out why they aren't successful at losing weight. That said, it's difficult gaining muscle IF you are eating a calorie deficit daily. Get muscle, lose fat easily soon. Patience!

Sorry, this was so long. There isn't a quick pat answer to your Q's.

Feel free to PM me if you wish privacy for some Q's.
Cheers and be fit and strong, there's no other healthful option either.

forgot to say, HIIT is best method for breaking a weight plateau. I'm 64, I do it, and I'm not falling down dead yet, but I am feeling REALLY GREAT! Your body is willing and can do much more than you think, but the mind and thought patterns takes more time training to just do it. Meditation on gaining a strong will is powerful.

Thank you so much! This is brilliant. I've been starting with warm up and cool down cardio and packing in weight exercises (not allowed near the weights till I build up core strength and work on my breathing)

It was confusing trying to figure out what to go for. It's taken a while for me to consider a serious body overhaul. I was once told "You wouldn't be as attractive with muscle".... I mean wth!? Needless to say, its about how you feel yourself and if you're happy.

I really appreciate your advice. I'll look it up now and we'll see how it goes.

The Herbalife drink regimen works well for me as a meal replacement and just to flush out any excess waste from the colon. It consists of:

1) A cup of Aloe water
2) A cup of tea (I prefer green)
3) A cup of protein shake

Of course, the foods we eat are integral. Lots of protein from meat, beans and nuts like almonds, carbs from veggies (except white potatoes, sweet potatoes are OK), avoid white processed flour, white rice and processed sugar like the plague. Fruit contains sugar but it's OK because it also contains fiber, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that help the body correctly process the sugar so it doesn't turn to fat.

To be told you'd not look nice with muscle from lifting, is wrong and just bad advice. Now if you were already muscle heavy, then I would say that's likely a valid point. I don't know your body fat % vs lean body mass weight vs total weight.

Here is a great book you could consider for info on women lifting weights which I have and is highly regarded by those women who lift. It's the best advice for women I've seen yet, and I thought I'd not learn anything, but I did. In fact, his book is spot on re women lifting weights:
'The New Rules of Lifting for Women: Lift like a man, Look like a Goddess' by Lou Schuler

I've been lifting weights regularly since I was 16 (40+ yrs?). I can honestly and easily say that lifting is the single most important thing you can do to have an extraordinarily beautiful figure, aside from real foods, but, this would be keeping your body fat % to a good %. Having that figure is nice, but your strength is far more important, as you will find out when you get there.

@koolman I respect your choices, and aloe is healthy. Many people these days due to our food industry very likely suffer from leaky gut issues and the myriad of ailments surrounding it. I'm not against detox herbals and some people may benefit esp in the beginning of their quest for better health esp if having had for the long term a poor diet without *real* foods. But our bodies when given the real foods, cleansing is done efficiently by our body itself without the use of the detox aids. It does depend on real food to do that, and it won't happen with manufactured foods eaten for convenience and quick cooking that are filled w additives that are not only addicting but unhealthy, along with shelf life preservatives and food coloring, it begs the question of is this real food?

If you research what the EU has banned from US manufactured food industry foods, it makes one ask, What does the EU know that Americans don't?

Our bodies know what to do, nio-chemically speaking, when given truly real foods and it's highly efficient at keeping itself clean and healthy, including the colon, but only if we do our part. I agree with you about the micro and macro nutrients & nutrition in fruit/veggies and they are necessary for health. But her questions were on protein for muscle growth for fitness. I stayed there in discussing protein and supps for muscle gains. I haven't eaten the white foods in years either. IMHO, plentiful water, natural food's fiber, and daily real exercise keeps our bodies clean, including the colon. Fiber, of the fruit/veggie kinds in the colon works like a scrub brush to keep the colon clean. Cruciferous foods...are esp awesome for health and dis-ease preventions.

Let's talk salt. The table salt we commonly use is so processed that our body will suffer from its use. It is a dead salt having zero benefits to the body, and just as bad as altered DNA in plants from the GMO realm. Our bodies haven't adapted to GMO food and can't use them as real foods just because of its altered DNA. Table salt is a most unnatural salt and is toxic to our body's cells. Sea salt, there are several varieties, is most beneficial to the body and our body knows what to do with it chemically.

The table salt? It's terrible and will cause many uncomfortable ills with long term use bc our bodies don't process it and will cause bloating and nerve pain, esp in legs, arms and belly, aka edema and all caused by salt (and sugars, the bad white kind, not talking F type sugars from fruits). Headaches will lessen greatly.

That toxic salt in used so heavily used in foods/drinks that we commonly buy because it is cheap for industry to use in foods, and most people are unaware of that connection. IF there was one thing I would, and I did, change for great health, it would be switching over to sea salt entirely for cooking and at the table. It takes one teaspoon vs a tablespoon in a legume recipe for equivalent salt taste. It is worth the bit of extra cost. The people I talk with have gotten dramatic health improvements and results in feeling better just from taking a leap of faith and doing the switch. A person has to do it to believe it. Switching, is convincing enough when you experience yourself the overwhelming benefits, esp as you become older. Younger bodies can tolerate those things easier bc they are still healthier and haven't reached the tipping point in health...yet. One day they will. I'm not about doom and gloom, but basing awesome great health on real foods and organic chemistry and overall healthful things. It does all add up.

Water...our body is a chemistry run organic organism based on organic chemistry. "It is chemically impossible for a body to burn fat without the presence of adequate intake of water," said PhD chemistry professor. Water is the mechanism behind healthy homeostasis. Water is the body's natural lubricant. So many people around us suffer from chronic dehydration and they don't know why they feel bad generally or suffer morning or all day headaches or get/stay muscle fatigued, making exercise almost unbearable and unable sometimes to exercise at all. It's water (and electrolytes, aka salt n potassium etc.). Muscle cells depend on sufficient intake of water to slide the cells easily back and forth during exertion and will feel stiff and fatigued without water in abundance as a natural lubricant, not meaning over consuming water either. The 8 cups recommended? That's really a minimum intake for maintenance, but not enough water for an exercising person trying for burning fat.

Dead salt and white sugar, along with the other denatured white foods are dangerously unhealthy non-foods.

I love me a good sweet potato for taste and health and eaten plain it's wonderful. I can hardly bring myself to eat white potatoes, but... A nice quote, and I'm not overtly religious, but I see it as honest and inspiring, "God said, I gave you a fine healthful potato, yet you put unholy things on it, margarine, fats, bad salt, sour cream, and bacon bits then cheese etc...and that is not good for you."
I feel that people have lost the taste for simple healthful and wholesome foods unless they add those things to excess. A little goes a long way. It's not about deprivation, but about making truly good choices for your health.

LASTLY, for amazing core exercise for strength and fun, a weighted Hula Hoop, about 2.5 to 3 lbs, used for just a few minutes daily, you would enjoy amazing results for core, flexibility and balance training. Like any other skill to learn, Hula Hoop takes practice before it would feel like fun and it burns far more calories than walking and is a full body wotkout. I do a 4 lb Hula Hoop for about 20-30 mins daily most days. Again, unless you've worked up to doing it for longer and have done it, you won't know its true benefits. Those who would poo-pooh it are unaware. I'll be hooping when I am 100, barring other problems or injuries.

I do take my fitness and great health seriously, but I also enjoy doing hard exercise daily, while enjoying the healthy foods and my figure is aesthetically pleasing to look at, or so says the man in my life and my 93 yr old buddy at my local grocery store. He looks 65, quite handsome, fit and healthy and enjoys working a physical job there daily, a full time job at 93! Who'd a thunk that?

Not to overwhelm you, but I type fast. Typing is a big part of what I do daily.

Wow thanks again guys!

This is brilliant stuff. So much of it I hadn't fully considered before.

With the comments made on my appearance, I had stated at the time that I did not want to be overly muscled. Mostly healthy and toned. Apparently that was a no no :/
I'm not a big lass by any means, hourglass figure mainly. I never use scales as I do have a tiny bit of muscle and I know scales wouldn't be any use in this case. I just like the idea of seeing what I can do and feeling fitter and stronger. Seeing how my appearance would change too, though not the most important.

I definitely need to drink more water. As for table salt I never use it. I was considering things like simple chicken and broccoli meals for dinner etc. If I can get my willpower up to scratch and stick to at least four times a week walking to my gym (about 30 to 40 mins walk), an hours weight work and follow it up with a swim if I'm feeling okay, along with cutting out junk then hopefully I'll get better.

I've been in such a rut with other things at the moment that the idea of actually doing this and succeeding would be a huge boost to me.

Being a woman, unless you have more than an ample supply of female levels of testosterone, you will unlikely gain a huge amount of muscle, but only a few pounds no matter how hard you tried or how heavy you lift, but you will gain a nice strong body. It's a female genetics thing. If you took steroids, you could, like the female body builders do and gain a LOT of muscle. Don't fear the weight lifting. Do it regular for a few months and see what you think. The tone you will get, as well as the strength, you will be happy to have. The result will be feeling really good and being able to do tasks effortlessly that normally seem harder and gets you tireder at the end of the day. You know, that worn out feeling a few hours before bedtime? It doesn't have to be that way either.

The increased energy is awesome. I can't live without it. I won't, because I choose to lift and be strong. Today I danced to an album for ~~30 mins, as I was on my way back from the bathroom, the music hit on a great song in my CD rack, and there I go, off to la la la dance land. It wasn't in my plan for the day, but hey, I went with the flow of inspiration and the need to move, and it felt really good. I did Hula Hoop for 12 minutes out of the time too.

Agreed, WhyN--protein, protein and more protein! I love chicken and wild-caught fish like flounder, salmon and cod. Helps me build muscle, makes me feel good and is FAR easier to digest than red meat like beef and pork.

Hey koolman!

Re protein, I agree !!!
Last week, I finally convinced the hubs to only buy antibiotic and hormone free cage free chicken for roasting myself. He was buying the big store rotisserie chickens for years, which I've never eaten even if free to me and he was suddenly wondering why.

Really? After nearly 20 yrs? Do you even believe I had never said anything about that chicken...aka crap food--non-food?
Nah...I have...repeatedly.

They are totally unhealthy and just terrible, so overloaded with insane amounts of salt, chems, antibiotics n hormones and excessive amounts of bad salt, numerous additives and flavor enhancers etc etc etc.

They have 5x the amount of salt, to me tastes like brine! Which I finally proved to him, him who doesn't like salt? Yah, right. I am a convincer, that's for sure.

I promised him I would roast em FOR HIM me own darned self, he now loves then the way I roast them, they R $3 cheaper too, and his feet aren't puffy at end of the day and achy. It's been 11 lovely days now, and I WILL eat that chicken, and have. Then I make my amino acid loaded muscle building low cal low salt bone broth for energy, hair, nails, joint discs, skin collagen and more...a zero guilt treat that has too many benefits to ignore.

sorry, I got extremely excited...and rambled on a bit...!
I'm just in love with my healthy strong body! Nothing feels better than true health either!

So since my post, I've been in the gym regularly, started with some good supplements and gone a while with no junk food, snacks or fizzy drinks whatsoever. Feeling a bit sick today with being without that stuff I guess. However I'm starting to notice some good changes physically already :)

It takes a certain amount of time for your body to adapt to not having those "addictive" things. It may take several weeks for you to get past those uncomfortable physical feeling so much better after you've fully detoxed from certain addictive additives too. Those yucky feelings are likely caused by a bit of physical withdrawals of those addictive things, esp salts and sugars from those unhealthy foods. Could be sooner, since you're younger, also that you feel very good after getting past this stage. But I promise you, you will feel far better after the body does the cleansing of those substances from your body.

Try to stick with the clean eating. It's not easy always to just say no. Clean diet means nothing man made or manufactured foods.
Fruit, sweet potatoes,veggies n lean meats at highest quality you can afford. Try to buy hormone n antibiotic free foods you cook yourself...roast chicken n. other clean foods. Frozen veggies are always best versus canned. Learn to limit carbs as much as comfortable too.

You CAN do this...trust the process and respect your body, it will only be as healthy as what you eat or put onto your body's skin. SKIN, is a whole new conversation.

Keep doing it, it works..

@Hurtforlo.......Good Morning! I just got back from a early walk--IN THE POURING RAIN with an UMMMMbrella. It was just too nice, also refreshing and renewed my spirits and feelings of living in this dried out desert lifestyle. I had my breakfast after.

I was wondering how you were doing this past week? Are you still on your plan? How is it working out for you--the supplements, what did you end up using?

Hey! That sounds grand :) I'm definitely no stranger to rain here! Haha
Yeah still working away. I'm learning how to use barbells properly today.
I started out 183.4 pounds and so far I'm sitting around 173.6 pounds.
I can't remember the names of the stuff I'm using but I'll look when I get in later :)

The muscle is starting to get there too. Need to do much more cardio than I am though

Great news! Keep on going...it only gets better! Cucumber or lemon or lime water is a great water to drink for after workout soreness. I won't live without it. They neutralize the lactic acid buildup in muscles from exercise that causes soreness. Esp lifting soreness.