As Silock said, ordering online is the way to go.

Occasionally my gym will sell protein for about the same price.

Also, Target has some decent protein for about the same price/lb as ON Whey on BodyBuilding.com. They don't sell it in 5lb tubs though.

Self control.

All he is saying is that OTC fat burners are pretty much a waste of money. Go with silocks advice of making your own blend or just clean your diet up and lift heavy. You will see good results from that alone.

At your age, its worth getting your T levels checked. TRT doses will help with both fat burning and building some size. It wont get you HYOOGE, unless you eat vegan. But seriously, the shrunken ballz & acne thing only happens to kids that misuse & abuse. Going on long streaks while take way too much will shrink em', and the acne is from constant blood level fluctuations, meaning they don't know the half life of the chemical or when to inject. TRT doses are minuscule compared to what a lot of these morons are taking today. Your talking 100mg vs 750mg-1g/week, literally 1/10th of what it takes for the body to go nuts and complete tuck da boyz away.

Only thing I'm doing other than protein shakes is CLA.

Oh, and I benched 85 lbs last night!! New PR. I did five at 85 but probably only went all the way down twice...lol.

There's absolutely no reason you can't reach your goals with these two suggestions. Just work hard and eat right.

ROFL

Your trainer must be pretty awesome.

Hardy har har.

When I pressed it the first time, I was a couple of inches from touching my chest. I got it to my chest twice.

Man, there is no way to describe this situation that doesn't sound wrong.

ROFL

You know what irks me? I have a friend. She's actually the one who talked me into going to the gym with her when she joined last year. Now, she's the one person I can't talk to about workouts, weight loss, or nutrition with. She's one who always wants to have a cheat meal, or says that healthy can taste good (and posts a pictures of some oriental dish she made that has tons of sauce and white rice and such). She says that she refuses to give up food or say "I can't have that." You know what? She hasn't lost a single pound. Gee, I wonder why?

She's hosting another "carb party" in a few weeks. Anything with cheese or potatoes is definitely welcome. Part of me wants to just scream at her whenever she complains that she hasn't lost weight due to her body just hating her. Losing weight is more than working out! It's more than simply counting calories (and then having tons of cheat meals). I don't say "I can't eat that." I say "I won't eat that." I have a plan. I eat according to my goals. I'm not going to accomplish anything by cheating every other day.

Don't get me wrong. I love this friend to death. She just frustrates me when it comes to this. She said I should "save up my cheat meals" and come to her next party. Yeah, not happening.

/rant

I have a couple of friends like that. I don't understand them at all. One of them is just too lazy with no self control. The other one is just dumb as ****. At least the lazy one admits he's lazy. The dumb one constantly does the wrong thing, argues with me about how awesome it is & how I don't know shit, and then gets pissed when he remains disgusting and I keep improving.

I find that it helps to keep making new friends who have similar interests and goals. I'm not saying that you need to dump all of your old friends. I'm suggesting that you add new friends. If you are constantly are surrounded by people who set the bar low, you'll most likely lower yours.

Great advice. Thanks.

About a minute after I posted this rant, Supplement Superstores posted this on their Facebook.

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/...86680889_n.jpg

It's like they're psychic.

People like that are useful because they serve as foils and confirmation that you're on the right path.

Anytime you attempt a lifestyle change, there's going to be a certain amount of looking down on other people who haven't made that change or are going about it wrong. It's a natural part of the process, imo. People who quit smoking start to look down on those who still smoke. People who quit drinking, start to see drinkers as obnoxious. People who lose weight and get healthy, start to look down on those who don't/won't/can't. It's part of it. I do think that it's important that, while you look down on them, you also understand that their circumstances and path are their own and unique to them.

I try not to look down on her. It's her life and her choice. It just frustrates me whenever she makes comments to me about how I shouldn't ever say I can't have something. I don't preach to her, so I don't need her preaching to me. She posts this same advice to others on Facebook, but I don't comment on those posts either. I simply make sure that anything I post on my page lines up with the way I'm doing things. I did post a picture one time that simply says "I don't diet. I eat according to my goals." It was a response to one of her recent posts in a very indirect way.

Well said. It's all a part of living a healthy lifestyle. I'm sure most of you in this thread are passionate about your hobbies, which include working out, lifting, running, etc. You tend to eat, drink and generally adapt your overall lifestyle to fit that mold. I've been asked at BBQ's, "why can't i just eat like a normal person" when I turn down some pasta salad or something else I don't really need to eat. I just look around at all the other guys there.. "because I don't want to be normal".

Below is one of my favorite snippets from Dave Tate. I wonder how many of you have also been in this situation?

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Let's say you're at a table with seven people and everyone's ordering their food. You're at the end so you're ordering last. They're getting ribs, chicken strips, spaghetti, and whatever. No one in the group cares what they're ordering. The conversation stays the same. Then it comes to you and your first question is, "How do you prepare your chicken breasts?"

People start looking at you.

Then you order two plain chicken breasts with a side of broccoli with no butter or seasoning. The waiter writes it down and off he goes to the kitchen. Now everyone's looking at you like you're a freak.

They didn't care that your other friend was eating ribs. They didn't say shit when the guy ordered his chicken strips. So how is your meal selection any different? It blows my mind.

If you ordered something that was complete shit, no one would say anything. But because you ordered something to help you achieve a goal, it's a problem. And now for the next ten minutes you're having that stupid ****ing conversation.

"It's so easy for you to lose weight," they say. "I can't do it."

And you're thinking, really? Here I am at Outback Steakhouse ordering two plain chicken breasts and broccoli – which is gonna cost me 40 bucks by the way – and it's easy? This is something I want to do? You think I want to sit here and watch you ****ers eat wings and ribs? I'm here for your company, not to give you dieting tips you're not gonna listen to.