glucosamine and cutting?

V

virtualcyber

New Member
I been takin glucosamine for about 2 months ... I think it is helping me get cut.  Is anyone trying it for the same purpose?  Anyone?

stats: Went down from 206 lb (at 16% bf) to 184.  Lost some LBM. I don't know what my bf is exactly, but it is probably below 10%. I still cannot see the lowest line of my abs or the third serratus muscle.

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Background info: In the past there has been some discusion on whether oral administration of glucosamine can help fat cells produce more leptin.

There has been some research which showed that, in vitro, the administration of glucosamine to fat cells can stimulate more leptin production. So, the question is, is there a way to deliver glucosamine to our fat cells, to boost leptin?

I asked Lyle if oral administration of glucosamine can deliver it to the fat cells. His answer was no, citing poor absorption and bad blood circulation around fat cells.

Well, I did some more research and as it turns out, our body is pretty good at delivering orally ingested glucosamine to our blood stream (44%). So, if one takes 2 tablets of 1000 mg glucosamine per day, one can achieve the same blood concentration of glucosamine as that used in the research.

In addition, glucosamine has relatively long half life. It is 54 hrs -- so, even if blood circulation around fat cells is not too good, it is likely that glucosamine can be delivered to the fat cells in due time.

So, I figured Lyle is wrong, and decided to try taking glucosamine.
 
I had read your earlier reply. I posted here again on the same topic, not because I don't believe you, but because I did not understand in what context you used glucosamine.

Glucosamine is taken to help you during a cutting cycle, when you are trying to push that bf% down 2 more points. If you were using it during bulking, you may not notice anything. In addition, if you took it for less than 2 months, it might not show any result.

Finally, I don't know if you took glucosamine sulfate or glucosamine hydrochloride ... which might make a difference.
 
how much are you taking, virtualcyber?

i'm getting 1.5g of glucosamine sulfate daily in a glucosamine/chondroitin/msm supplement i've been taking since my tendon surgery.

i've leaned out, but i think it's more attributable to the fact that i added ec and cardio. maybe the small dose of glucosamine is helping, i dunno.
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (virtualcyber @ Sep. 03 2002,07:17)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">I had read your earlier reply.  I posted here again on the same topic, not because I don't believe you, but because I did not understand in what context you used glucosamine.

    Glucosamine is taken to help you during a cutting cycle, when you are trying to push that bf% down 2 more points.  If you were using it during bulking, you may not notice anything.  In addition, if you took it for less than 2 months, it might not show any result.

    Finally, I don't know if you took glucosamine sulfate or glucosamine hydrochloride ... which might make a difference.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
My original response included most of that info, but here's a bit more detailed repeat.

I was dieting, and had been for 4-5 months before starting to use it.  I was using glucosamine HCL at 6g a day, and only did so for about a month.  I stopped because I stopped dieting and switched to bulking.  I wasn't terribly lean--although it was lean for me--at the time(About 13-14%bf)  I'm don't see why, according to the things I've read, it would take 2+ months for it to have any effect with regard to leptin levels(Although, for tendon/cartilage repair, that time frame seems about right)  I haven't done that much reading on the subject, though, so perhaps you are correct.  I did not, while on glucosamine, feel a lessened need for refeeds, which was the primary method by which I judged its efficacy.
 
There have been some studies showing high doses of glucosamine to cause insulin resistence. If you have joint problems then it can be beneficial but i would stick to 1200mg/day.
 
Blood&amp;Iron

    The difficulty here is that because leptin level is not easily measurable (at least for ordinary bb'ers), I have no way of knowing if glucosamine is helping ... (It most likely is not working).

    In any case, you seemed to have been at bf range where glucosamine's effect would be difficult to detect.  At 14% bf range, if you lifted heavy, you should be able to gain muscle and lose fat without the help of glucosamine.  Also, if you were cutting, you should be able to drop bf without lbm loss, whether you were using glucosamine or not.

    In my earlier post, I mentioned taking glucosamine for a couple of months, because I was thinking about it in terms of cutting.   IMHO, losing &quot;naturally&quot; 2 - 4 lb of pure fat at very low bf% range takes quite long time.
 
Jon,

I have been taking around 4-6 g / day.

I have been stuck at about 188-192 lb for about a month, and suddenly I was able to gain strength and still lose weight ... I went down to about 184 lb (before regaining, lol)...

I have been taking the following supps (1) protein (2) efa (3) multi (4) r-ala (which I aded recently) and (5) glucosamine.

I was wondering if my recent weight loss _without_ strength loss could be attributed to r-ala or glucosamine. It looks more and more like r-ala was the real culprit ...

I am getting back on r-ala, starting Friday ...

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PimpC

I think I read about that ... I also had the impression that blood glucose level went up, which I thought, could be indicative of increased leptin level (could this be caused by glucosamine??) as well as increased insulin resistance.
 
</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (virtualcyber @ Sep. 03 2002,3:26)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">    In any case, you seemed to have been at bf range where glucosamine's effect would be difficult to detect.  At 14% bf range, if you lifted heavy, you should be able to gain muscle and lose fat without the help of glucosamine.  Also, if you were cutting, you should be able to drop bf without lbm loss, whether you were using glucosamine or not.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Nope, I have very bad genetics when it comes to bf% levels.  My natural bf% if I just train hard and eat healthily, but am not anal about every morsel of food I consume ends up being around 20-22%.  If I lose weight any faster than about 1/2lb every one to two weeks, even with the most conscientious approach, 60% or so ends up being muscle.  Unfortunately, I'm screwed on the diet front.  Luckily, I can put on size fairly easy(Relative to most) so things aren't all bad.  Anyways, my point is that relative to my setpoint my bf% was quite low, and would suggest lowered leptin.  I'm merely using the same gauge as suggested by people like Par Deus and Lyle McDonald, in that I became obsessed with food every 4th day or so, which would indicate my leptin levels crashing.  So I had refeeds every 3rd day.  Glucosamine did not increase the amount of time I could go without these symptoms appearing.  

BTW, for almost any trainee who's been lifting awhile it's pretty much impossible(iat least in my and several other authorities' opinions) to be gaining significant amounts of muscle and losing bodyfat simulataneously.
 
&gt; Glucosamine did not increase the amount of time I could go
&gt; without these symptoms appearing.

Gotcha. I guess that is the key.

&gt; BTW, for almost any trainee who's been lifting awhile it's
&gt; pretty much impossible(iat least in my and several other
&gt; authorities' opinions) to be gaining significant amounts of
&gt; muscle and losing bodyfat simulataneously.

I agree ... not that I am an &quot;authority&quot;
tounge.gif
 
Oops, that sorta came out wrong. I should have said: 'in my opinion and that of some authorities' Didn't mean to imply I think myself an authority, cuz it's pretty obvious I ain't.
 
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