What should a woman take...

[janahbanana]

I don't really know anything about supplements and there are so many products out there, it's confusing to know which will work best. I'm female, 5'10 and 137lbs. I want to have a strong physique. I want to have muscle but without the bulky look of a body builder. I'm also desperate to lose the fat around my hips and lower abs. Anybody have any suggestions?

[bradshaver]

I am a 24 year old male; however, I happen to be looking into this area of optimizing fat loss for personal preference. There are several things that everyone should consider if they want to gain muscle and loose fat. One thing to keep in mind is knowing where and how to target the desired area of fat you wish to loose. Men typically store visceral fat in their upper body which is the bad fat that surrounds the organs and can lead to things like cardiovascular disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Women on the other hand tend to store fat in the areas that you described above (hips and thighs). Since this is generally a place women gain most of their weight, it is generally one of the lat places a woman looses fat. A product that I would highly recommend is CLA (either allmax or ultimate nutrition) which has been shown to stop fat cells from getting larger and stop the production of fat cell in the body. Another good product to take in addition to CLA would be green tea extract or pure ECGC with will help speed up metabolism and is a powerful antioxidant that can also be beneficial as an anti-cancer agent. Try and eat more smaller meals cause this will also help to increase your metabolism. By eating less meals your body is going to store it because it doesn't know when it will get its next meal so it will store it and inevitably slow down your metabolism. Combine this with a high intensity weight training program and your set! Hope this helps:)

[Cawz]

You sound like you're just starting out so you should mainly focus on your diet. Make sure it's completely strict, low carbs and fat and high in protein

use fitday.com to count your calories. Here's a few quick things you can throw together every day for cheap.

Breakfast:

2 eggs, piece of fruit, slice of peameal bacon, slice of multi-grain bread. water. - Most important meal, and the only time you want to consume carbs.

Snacks: veggies and dip, yogurt, fruit+cottage cheese.

Lunches: soup, tuna sandwich, chicken breast+broccoli and spinach.

Dinner: Chicken Stir fry (very easy and tasty). Steak, lean hamburger, salmon. Limit the carbs b4 bed.

Mix and match and try new things. Go to the gym 4 times a week for an hour and within 3 months you'll start seeing good results, no supplements needed. Drink a lot of water, eat a lot of chicken breast and do a lot of running/ or whatever cardio get's you the most exhausted.