Which supplements are a waste of money?

Fat burners are the one Nikkiey has the strongest opinion on. She sees women spending $50, $60, even $80 a month on products she describes as almost entirely caffeine, with a label designed to make you feel like science is working for you. The stimulant is the only ingredient doing anything; the rest is window dressing. Her view is that they can spike cortisol and disrupt sleep, which makes body composition harder, the exact opposite of what you paid for. If caffeine helps your workouts, she says, drink coffee.

Greens powders get a second takedown on Ep. 215 from guest Jordan Syatt, a strength coach. He says the popular greens powder he tried isn't even as good as a standard multivitamin, at something like 50 times the price, and wonders if people dropping $100 a month are partly convincing themselves it works. His answer is blunt: eat the vegetables. It's better for your health and your wallet, and if you don't like them, there are endless free recipes and tools to make them taste better.

None of this means supplements are useless. Nikkiey explains that her own turnaround came from running labs when she was doing everything right and her body still wasn't responding, then using supplements as targeted support for what was actually missing, not as a shortcut. Creatine, for example, is one she calls among the most researched supplements available. That's why biotin only makes her list unless you have a deficiency. If you suspect one, work with your doctor and test rather than guess.

The pattern underneath: if nothing seems to work, it's rarely that you need another product. It's that the foundation isn't there yet.