5 Reasons Supplements Aren’t Working For You

You might be a little confused after reading the title of this article. Isn’t this a supplement review site you ask? Indeed, it is and I am not implying that supplements don’t work at all.

The important part of the title is the second part where it says that they aren’t working for you. The vast majority of the supplements that I take work very well for me or else I wouldn’t be spending my money on them.

Over the years however, I have tried many supplements that haven’t worked very well or at all. A large part of the fault in that was mine while part of it was the companies producing those worthless supplements.

Everyone is quick to blame the company for producing an inferior health and nutritional supplement but often fail to realize that some or most of the blame often rests on their shoulders. Have you ever wondered why you failed to see results with a supplement?

Here are the 5 Reasons Supplements Aren’t Working For You

#1- Ineffective and low-quality supplements

I will address this one first and get it out of the way. Unfortunately, many supplement companies are out to produce a quick buck off of their customers.

Due to being wrapped up in their greed, these companies will produce a bogus supplement that they know will probably not work. They will fill these supplements with toxic and ineffective ingredients. Remember, they’re not regulated by the FDA.

These companies will throw a bunch of garbage ingredients into their supplement and call it a “proprietary blend”. Under the guise of a proprietary blend, companies are allowed to list the total amount of the ingredients they put in but do not have to list the amount for each ingredient separately.

This allows them to put in very little amounts of certain supplements for the WOW factor however, you have no idea how much you are actually getting. You are often not getting close to the recommended amount of these ingredients for it to be effective.

With low-quality and ineffective ingredients, it’s no wonder that supplements in this category do not work.

                                 (Most of these supplements belong here)

#2- You’re not taking them consistently

Now that I have covered the portion of the blame that the supplement company bears in the supplement not working for you, the rest of the blame is going to be put on your shoulders. Sorry, but I didn’t just pull these reasons out of thin air. I have made them all myself and realize the blame was mostly on me after I wasted my hard-earned money.

After a low-quality supplement, failing to take a supplement consistently is the biggest reason I see supplements fail to work for people.

Consistency is the key to anything but even more so with supplements. How can you expect something to work if you’re not taking it consistently enough to give it a chance?

For instance, people will complain that creatine doesn’t work for them however, when I ask them how often they are taking it they will sheepishly admit that they are only taking it here and there. Creatine needs to be taken consistently to fill your cells and stay in your system. Taking it here and there will not have very much of an effect at all.

This is applicable to all supplements. From protein to fish oil, you need to actually take these supplements consistently if you want to experience the benefits.

#3-You’re not taking them correctly

This is another major issue that I find with people. They will put a ton of effort into researching supplements and reading reviews but when they get the supplement, they decide that they are going to experiment.

For one reason or another, they don’t want to follow the company’s directions for taking the supplement. For example, people will often disregard the directions when a company advises them to take a supplement either on an empty stomach or with food.

They often do not think that this is an important detail in regard to the effectiveness of the supplement but they could not be more wrong. If a supplement company makes this type of recommendation, follow it because it has to do with how the supplement will digest and enter your body.

Some supplements digest better on an empty stomach while others digest better with a meal. Not following this one little detail can make all the difference of a supplement not working and it’s your fault for not listening.

Another area people like to ignore is the recommended time frame for a supplement. For example, a pre-workout or creatine supplement where it is recommended to take it within a certain time frame before a workout, 30 minutes prior etc.

People will do things like suck down a pre-workout and play video games for an hour. Then they decide to go and workout and wonder why the supplement isn’t working like it’s supposed to. It’s not working because you wasted an hour blasting martians and now it’s starting to wear off dummy.

#4-You’re not taking them long enough

Going along with consistency, many fail to actually give the supplement time to work. Supplements aren’t magic and rarely work instantly.

Many health and nutritional supplements need to be given a chance to work. You need to take them both consistently and for a period of time to feel the effects.

I can’t take fish oil for two weeks and expect to experience dramatic results during my next blood test. You need to do some research on the supplements you buy and understand the time frame in which they work.

Some supplements work very quickly, like pre-workouts, while some will take some time, like magnesium and fish oil. There are some supplements I take where I don’t expect to see the results until years down the road.

It all depends on the supplement. Patience is key with these supplements. Going off of that however, do not continue to take a supplement that is not working past the time frame it’s supposed to.

This can be a difficult thing to judge however, you have to keep an eye on your body and decide whether it is working or not. No point in wasting your money on something that is not working.

#5-Poor diet

No matter how many high-quality supplements you take, they are not going to live up to their full potential if you have an awful diet. Just like you can’t out-train a bad diet, you also can’t out-supplement one.

You can’t expect a supplement designed to improve your health and body to work if you are stuffing your face with fast food around the clock.

Sure, supplements can definitely help you in many ways by filling in nutritional gaps but they are not miracle cures. I think that many people give supplements too much credit and believe that they will work regardless of anything else they do to counteract those benefits.

You need to provide a good environment for these supplements to work. I’m not saying you need to have a perfect diet but you definitely need one that is fairly clean and healthy to experience the full benefit of the supplements.

You would not expect a brilliant garden to grow in a pile of sewage so don’t expect any major benefits when you throw supplements into a horrific diet.

Wrapping up

I know that some of you may have expected me to dump all the blame onto the supplement companies for the supplements not working.

I agree that it can be frustrating to hear that many of the reasons your supplements aren’t working are your fault. The good news about that is that all of these are relatively easy fixes.

Now that you know most of the main reasons that supplements aren’t working for you, you can examine your own habits and decide whether some or all of these are to blame for the lack of results you are experiencing.

Have you ever made any of these mistakes when taking a supplement? I would love to hear your comments and thoughts on these. If you also have any to add to the list that you have made yourself I would love to hear those as well.