Bad experience with VPX Syngex protein

Last month I had a really bad experience with VPX Sports Syngex protein. I had decided to buy it because the protein was on sale for a cheap price and I had no problems with it previously when I tried their Cookies & Cream flavor.

I ordered two 5 lb jugs, one of each flavor: Chocolate and Vanilla.

When I first started using it, I had the worst stomach irritation/discomfort and diarrhea. I had never experienced anything like this before! It felt like I was urinating out of my ass!

I continued to use it for the next few days thinking that it may have been something else. But every night after I took the protein, I experienced the same symptoms. Immediately after discontinuing the use of the Syngex protein, the symptoms went away so I was confident the Syngex protein was the cause of my troubles.

This is how I felt

I searched some forums to see if this had been reported before and did find others that experienced the same thing, but also others who did not. I wondered what could be causing this horrible reaction in me and certain others but then not everybody?

I wrote to Nutraplanet.com where I ordered the protein and described my problem and they told me they don't accept returns on opened items...Damn. This was all they wrote back to me:

"You are free to return any UNOPENED product for a full refund."

Pretty good customer service huh? So now, I have two 5 lb opened jars that I can't return and can't use :(

I decided to contact VPX on their facebook page and described my experience with the Syngex protein. They responded with a comment telling me to email them. I emailed them and got a quick response back from Jon Owoc.

I ideally just wanted a refund, but they offered to send me a jug of their SRO protein, which is lactose free, zero carb, whey protein isolate (they suspected it might have been the lactose in the Syngex that caused me troubles but I can drink milk, eat ice cream, and drink other whey concentrates just fine, so I disagreed with the cause). 

I doubted they would have refunded me for the money I spent elsewhere for the product so I took them up on their offer for the tub of SRO protein and also let them know my problems were not due to the lactose and maybe I had gotten a bad batch. They did ask for the lot numbers on the jars I had and said they would let their production know in case they run into similar issues in the future.

A few days later I received a package in the mail from VPX and I was happy to see they sent me a 5 lb jug of their SRO protein, a 2 lb jug of their Protein Rush product, and a box of their Zero Impact protein bars!

Thanks VPX!

I'm happy to report the SRO Protein causes no issues for me so I am actually able to use it!

I haven't tried the Protein Rush yet, but the VPX Impact bars are pretty good and cause no issues either.

This one bad experience won't prevent me from using VPX products in the future, but my bad experience with Nutraplanet customer service definitely gives me second thoughts about ordering from them again.

This is the first time in my plus 10 years of taking supplements that I've actually tried to return a product. It's too bad Nutraplanet couldn't do more for me considering I've been a long time customer and have spent thousands over the years, but I'm sure glad VPX was able to do something for me. Thanks for the great service VPX!

Bulking is Done! - 22 Weeks Bulking Progress

After 22 weeks my bulk is finally over! After the holidays, I honestly couldn't wait because I was tired of being fat and couldn't wait to start cutting! Although it felt good at first to eat "bad" foods again, it got old pretty quick. Foods that I enjoyed while cutting started not to taste as good anymore and it got to be a chore to down it all. 


The end result of my bulk?... 19 lbs gained in 22 weeks. I didn't quite gain the 1 lb per week I set out to do, but I think that was probably a good thing. After 8 weeks, I started to feel like I was gaining a lot of fat so I may have subconsciously started eating less and consciously implemented more no carb/cardio days.


People may think I'm crazy, but I definitely enjoy cutting a lot more than I do bulking. After reaching low bodyfat percentages, it's difficult to be fine with being any fatter. 


Here are my starting and ending measurements:

	Starting	Final	Difference
Weight	164 lbs	183 lbs	+19 lbs
Chest	41.5”	43.5”	+2”
Shoulders	49”	50”	+1”
Arms	15”	15.5”	+.5”
Neck	15”	15”	+0”
Waist	31”	33”	+2”
Hips	37.5”	39.5”	+2”
Thighs	23”	24”	+1”
Calves	16”	16.5”	+.05”

Obviously, I gained inches everywhere on this bulk, but I"m happy with the 2" inches gained in on my chest measurement since I did put an emphasis to improve it. I'm also happy with only gaining 2 inches in my waist, which is down from the 35" inches I was at the same time last year. 


One thing I didn't mention in my previous progress post is that I removed my leg days from my lifting schedule. I felt like my legs and especially my hips/glutes were getting out of proportion, thus ruining my aesthetics :) You can see that I gained 2 inches in my hip measurement despite despite not training hips at all for the last 6 weeks.


Overall, I'm happy with the end result. I have never been this big, strong, or "lean" at this weight before. Below are all my progress pictures that I during this bulk going from from left to right. (The pictures aren't perfectly aligned because I tried to scale the images all to about the same head size...and I got lazy with cropping.)


I'm not sure why the first picture's lighting is totally different but this was taken sometime around August when I was maintaining my lean condition for the summer. As you can see in the pictures as they progress, the cuts and tan decreases and the fat and size increases.

Looking at this picture sure does make me miss being at low bodyfat percentages!


Now that I'm done with bulking, I'm excited to start cutting and have actually been doing so for the past week and a half. It sure has felt great to start shedding the fat and seeing more cuts again! :)

LG Sciences Lipotropic Protein: 5 lbs for 18 dollars!

If you guys want some cheap protein, I just ordered some LG Sciences Lipotropic Protein from Sportsnutritiononline.com. It's currently  5 lbs for 18 dollars!

Flat rate shipping is 5.99. Use code  CEL-emdub  for an extra 5% off. 

It is a blend of whey protein isolate, whey protein concentrate, genus protein isolate(pea protein), milk protein isolate, egg protein isolate and micellar casein. 

I initially only ordered one bottle because I read reviews saying it was terrible but other reviews said it was pretty good. 

I received my bottle and tasted it. It doesn't taste bad and is definitely drinkable. But it does have a unique taste to it due to the pea protein. But for 18 bucks it is a steal! It is cheap because it is expiring in April 2012. So I ordered another 2 bottles :)