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Frankie,

I use Maximuscle because they are made according to Good Manufacturing Process and ISO stanards which recognised across the world. I can't say I've found any other companies that can say the same. What this means is that what Maximuscle say is in the tubs, is actually in the tubs so you know it's safe, reliable and high quality nutrition to help support your workouts.
The supplements are designed to support your body, you still need to work hard, sleep and eat well to get results. Maximuscle also has loads of new tools and tips on their site which are goal specific.

I've included my workout plans, eating habits below incase you wanted to have a look.

Here is my diet plan, I've included a little bit about resistance exercise and cardio at the end. I do use the Maximuscle products like yourself, but only because they do work and are convenient! I won the Maximuscle body of 2009 competition and Sporting success story, I did barely any training for the London Marathon last year (2 x 18 mile run, 7 x 12-14 mile runs) - I believe it's the working out for about 8 months prior to that was responsible for pulling me through at 3 hours 42mins (first attempt).

So here goes:

Here is the plan I've been using for some time, the stricter you are the more results you'll see and faster.

you should see this as a lifestyle adaptation. After the age of 25 your metabolism drops by 1% a year, this coupled with a fulltime job and family, means you simply cannot drink/eat like we once did without becoming wider/increasing body fat percentage.
To answer your question about saving money/quality more than cheap price: Maximuscle is certified and made with strict controls in place, you know what it says on the packaging is actually in there. A lot of other companies use casein, a cheap protein which your body doesn't digest brilliantly, this is why Maximuscle doesn't make you gassy/bloated. Also maximuscle products are based on research and not just random substances that *might* do something - which is why you'll find references to scientific papers on the maximuscle tubs - it's based on pure science. I've been using maximuscle for almost 2 years, I've tried other brands but none have them have been as effective at maximuscle.
While you're trying to lose weight use Promax, use cyclone once you're at your target weight to bulk up...if you want to that is.

7.30am: Breakfast
Any of the following: 1 scoop of protein shake mixed with wholewheat/bran/meal cereal (protein only, not carbs! - e.g. Maximuscle's Promax. Try the cookies and cream or caffe lattee flavour (if you like coffee)).
2/3 boiled/fried/scrambled egg whites with 1 yolk on a slice of brown toast.
Protein shake smoothie: I chuck in ice cubes, a couple tablespoons of yoghurt, skimmed milk, banana and teaspoon of peanut butter.

It is the first meal of the day so you can have a slightly larger protein portion than any other meal of the day. The key is to make sure your carbs are "clean", brown/slow digesting/slow release carbs. Aim to have no more than 20-30g of carbs and an equal amount of protein. You don't have to sit their with scales, just estimate.

9.30-11am: 1st snack of the day
Have the Promax meal bars (Maximuscle's Promax Meal Bars | High protein meal replacement bars) you can try the diet mealbars too as they have caffeine and CLA in them which will help with fat loss. The point of this meal is to have a bit of protein which will keep you going till lunch and keep your body revving. 1g of protein contains the same number of calories as 1g of carbs but your body has to spend more energy breaking down protein than carbs so overall you're net gain/intake of calories is still lower than if you were to eat the equivalent in a carb snack. There's no point getting bogged down with calorie counting but it's good to be aware as it's only human to forget why you're munching on protein instead of that snickers bar. The good thing with these promax bars is that they do taste of chocolate so it'll help stave off any cravings (try chocolate orange).

Alternatively, have 30-60g of cottage cheese or mix a bit of cottage cheese with half a scoop of promax powder (tastes better than it reads!)

You could just have 80g of cottage cheese on it's own.
Protein shake, Get a shaker (Maximuscle Shaker for making your protein, energy drink & more | Training Accessories) chuck in a scoop the night before and bring to work. Add water/milk and there's your protein meal.

Handful (50g) of nuts, avoid mixing fruit (carbs) and nuts (fats) in any one sitting as it'll go straight to your waist.

1-2pm: Lunch. I bring in pack lunch consisting of any of the following:
Chicken breast/turkey, some salad and about 30g of clean carbs, chuck in some kidney beans/beans of some sort to keep you fuller for longer

Home made burgers (made with lean steak mince/turkey mince) and veg and rice combo as above
Steak - generally a good source of protein.
Boiled eggs/salad of some sort
Tuna salad.
Lots of spinach (e.g. baby leaf)! It'll flush out your system and supposedly there's evidence to say that if you have lots of fibre then you can excrete some fat.

It's possible to eat out and be healthy but also quite difficult, especially if you're pushed for time. Also never food shop when hungry?you'll just end up buying/eating more than you actually need/want.

There's quite a lot of options here, the key is to avoid things like too much dressing - mayo/mustard is ok but in smaller quantities.

If you're trying to lose weight then naturally you have to eat a little less than usual. So try reducing portion size, literally half what you would usually eat and take a good 10/15 mins eating it. Your stomach/brain takes up to 25mins to registers it's full.

Tips: Neck a large glass/pint of water/tea before you start eating.

4/5pm: Snack 2
Any of the options from snack 1.
On cardio days I tend to stick to protein shake around this time as it means I won't get a stitch when I'm on the treadmill a few hours later!

7-8pm Dinner
Essentially have what you'd usually have but decrease your portion. If you usually have a full plate, either: literally reduce the amount of food on your plate by a third and/or change the quantities of protein:carbs:fat.

Apparently in any one meal you should have a ration of roughly: 1:1:0.5
However if you're trying to lose weight I'd go more with 1: 0.5: 0.25 (protein:carbs:fat) with the option of increasing your protein to 1.5 if you need to - the old less calories in.

Avoid fruit after about 7/8 as your metabolism will be dipping as it prepares to go to sleep/approach the end of the day meaning you will be more likely to store any carbs as fat (be they good or bad carbs).

10ish (at least an hour before bed) Late evening/night snack.
Go with easy on the stomach/slow digesting protein sources such as cottage cheese with or without protein, protein shake with warm milk. Yoghurt with protein.

Other hints and tips: Try to have spinach and celery with meals - they're high in fibre (see above for why this is beneficial) and celery has negative calories in the sense that it takes more energy to digest than you get from eating it. It'll also mean a healthy gut and lower cholesterol!

1 day a week treat yourself: Have an off day, eat what you like (even alcohol) but try to stick to decent sized portions, you want your stomach to get used to taking in less extreme volumes. Your stomach is like an inflatable bag and can go from fist sized to football sized, if you're always eating football sized then you will feel a lot more hungry when you bring your portions down (at least at first), this is natural! With time and a little perseverance your stomach will get used to more normal/human sized portions and you will fuller. This is also why I graze instead of gorge?to get used to eating smaller amounts more regularly and get my stomach used to not feeling bloated in order to feel full.. The other advantages of grazing are: Your body learns that you don't need to store fat as you're not starving between each meal, and you keep your metabolism revving by digesting protein instead of carbs (which takes more energy).

Drink green tea throughout the day, supposedly the antioxidants do have fat burning properties which when coupled with eating plan above will be more effective over time.

Lean meats:
Turkey
Chicken breast
Skinless chicken
Lean steak
Lean steak mince
Prawns
Fish (less oily)

List of "clean" carbs:
Brown rice
Brown bread
Vegetables - more green than root.
Fruit, particularly pears and apples (keep you fuller)

Good fats (eat small amounts with a meal to fill you up, avoid mixing with carbs too much)
Nuts (no more than a handful in anyone sitting)
Oily fish
Olive oil - to cook with/dressing

Exercises:
Try and do cardio and weight lifting on separate days, it's a good general rule of thumb. If anything do cardio first thing in am (helps boost metabolism for rest of the day) and weights later on in the eve (spike your metabolism throughout the night).

Cardio: HIT training/High intensity interval training
I'll have a 5 minute warm up at gentle pace, stretch properly.
Set treadmill to 5km, 2% incline.
Run 1 minute at 11.5km p/h, 1 minute at anything ranging from 12.5km p/h to 20km p/h. When I started I would only do it for 30 seconds, so build it up slowly?you don't have to do the whole 5km in one minute intervals. You can even walk for a minute at say 6.5km p/h if it gets too much. This shouldn't take more than 25 minutes, if it does you're not running fast enough/often enough.

The average time for 5km is about 20mins. 18-20 is considered to be very good. You're not trying to be a cross country runner, just tap into your fat stores by getting your heart racing for 1 minute and trying to recover as quick as possible the next. The theory goes that the quicker your heart recovers to it's normal pace the fitter you are.

Apparently you should aim for 90% of your max heart bpm which is supposed to be 220 - your age. I've got close to 190 odd a few times and could feel my heart pounding?it was almost painful! Now I don't think that's good for you when sustained over 5km, so stick to more the 165-185 range. By all means go for it if you think you can/build up the fitness for it.

Do this 3 times a week and stick to the eating plan above and you'll shed the pounds/become ripped in no time.
After each HIT session do some core workouts using unstable surface, e.g. exercise ball (yes those large manly rubber balls that the yoga classes use). Do things like planks on them. Again I'll put in some links for exercises.

It's exercise. It will be hard and painful at first as you rebuild your body/break and repair capillaries and muscle fibres but you'll come back stronger, fitter and leaner and will need to find more challenging exercises. You just have to give it a little time, anything up to 3 months if you're very strict, 3-6 months if you're determined/human.

Hint: Do a small shot of coffee before each gym session, just to wake you up out of work/lethargy. Caffeine has also been shown to reduce pain sensations and increase focus. Which brings me to my other point, focus on what you're doing - don't join the masses and plod along on the treadmill and watch some soap. Listen to your body, you want to challenge yourself from session to session, at the same time don't overdo it or you will lose motivation. Build it upgradually and vary it, use bike instead of treadmill - you can still do HIT on the bike. Do 1 minute at uphill intensity and maintain revs at 90-110 rpm.

Most importantly: REST.
If you don't rest you will feel like .. . Rest is essential for repair, especially at the beginning of any programme and throughout. Less than 6-8hours of sleep a night and you will feel the effects sooner or later!

Abs are made in the kitchen.
You can do all the sit ups and funky exercises in the world, if you ain't eating right it'll never show. If you're not losing weight consider the following:

Have you been eating right for long enough?
Are you actually reducing portion size?
Are you letting too many sneaky bad snacks in - say no to the staffroom cake, there'll be another one!
Tweak your eating, if something isn't working vary/reduce portions of fats or carbs. Good fats are good but anything is bad in large quantities!

These are good exercises that incorporate large numbers of muscles/muscle groups helping you to shift more fat:
Dumbbell Squat (legs and lower back)
Barbell Deadlift (do with supervision/once you've built up good level of core strength/stick to light weights!) (legs & back)

Dumbbell Arnold Press good shoulder exercise
Dumbbell Fly my favourite chest builder
Cable Standing Fly another fave chest exercise
Triceps Dip good benchmark exercise for your triceps
Pull-up (neutral grip) ultimate benchmark exercise (back, core)

Generally I break my weights days into:

Chest & triceps
Back and biceps
Legs & Shoulders

Day of cardio/rest between each. It's ppossible to do cardio on the same day if you're pressed for time but I wouldn't recommend it as it's not as productive as alternate days. Having said that, do cardio after weights.

3 exercises for each body part
3/4 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise
Good Form is crucial to make it efficient and prevent injury!
Rest for 1 minute max between each set
Stick to light weights at first till you can comfortably perform the move with excellent form, then move on to heavy weights.

Good luck!

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