Jake

About

I'm not a doctor or a dietitian. I'm a 35-year-old desk worker who took zero supplements his whole life, then started boxing and got humbled. Now I'm trying things one at a time, on myself, and writing down what actually happens. This is my log, not advice.

I built VitaCheck because the same questions kept eating my time — does my multivitamin overlap with my B-complex? am I over the upper limit on zinc? does this combo actually do anything? — and the answers were scattered across forums, abstracts, and product labels. So I put the math, the upper limits, and the interactions in one place, and I write down what happens when I take the stuff myself.

I'm not a clinician. Everything on this site is educational. The guides cite primary sources; the Journal is n=1 experience, dated and honest about what I can and can't tell.

Experience & method

• Personally tests every supplement covered on the site — started from zero pills in 2026 (was on zero before), logs every change in the Journal.
• Builds the VitaCheck stack-checker (upper-limit math, interaction rules, duplicate detection) against NIH Office of Dietary Supplements reference values.
• Every auto-drafted post has to pass an automated check that its numbers trace back to NIH source data before it can go live — anything that doesn't check out is held back for me to look at by hand, never published on a guess.

Where to find their work

• Read the Journal
• Check my stack tool
• How we grade evidence

Recent articles by Jake

• Journal · 2026-07-09
  Restarting — a week of stomach flu, 79 kg, and rethinking iron

  One week of porridge and soup. No training, no supplements, weight down to 79 kg. Restarting today, and thinking about adding iron.

• Journal · 2026-06-29
  Day 12 — adding blueberries, and the daily boxing + 5K grind

  Creatine is clearly doing something. Boxing plus a 5K almost every day is wrecking my mornings, so I'm adding blueberries for the inflammation.

• Journal · 2026-06-23
  Day 11 — 5K at 4.90 pace, and the pump still holds

  Pasta for lunch, 300 g chicken and 200 g rice for dinner. Ran the 5K at a 4.90 pace — fitness and speed are clearly moving.

• Journal · 2026-06-20
  Day 10 — humidity, sweat, and a 5K test

  Sweated buckets today. Was it the weather, or is creatine pulling more water than I realized? 5K test tonight will tell me something.

• Guide · 2026-06-20
  Creatine Dosing Without a Loading Phase: Same Result, Less Bloating

  Skipping the loading phase reaches full saturation in 3–4 weeks at 3–5 g/day. When loading is worth it and when it isn't.

• Journal · 2026-06-19
  Day 6 — hangovers, water weight, and a multivitamin dilemma

  Drank way too much last night. Woke up feeling like all the water creatine had pulled into my muscles had evaporated.

• Guide · 2026-06-19
  Does Creatine Damage Your Kidneys? What the Creatinine Confusion Means

  The kidney scare comes from a misread lab marker, not real damage. Here's the distinction — and when to actually be cautious.

• Journal · 2026-06-18
  Day 5 — the pump is real, but so are the rumors

  Push-ups and squats felt different today. The pump is definitely there. But I also read some things about creatine that made me pause.

• Guide · 2026-06-18
  Creatine for Vegetarians and Vegans: Why You May Respond Most

  Plant-based eaters start with 20–30% lower muscle creatine stores. Here's what that means for dosing and expected benefit.

• Journal · 2026-06-17
  Day 4 — pizza for lunch, chicken and rice for dinner, and the first real pump

  First day with the post-boxing lift block. I felt a real pump today — maybe creatine, maybe not, but I'm writing it down.

• Guide · 2026-06-17
  Creatine Beyond the Gym: What the Research Actually Says

  A graded, honest look at what creatine does for aging, cognition, bone and metabolic health — plus dosing, safety, and who actually needs it.

• Journal · 2026-06-16
  Day 3 — three rounds instead of two, and a small pump test tonight

  Stack unchanged. Boxing went one round longer than usual, and I can't tell yet if that's fitness or the pills.

• Journal · 2026-06-14
  Day 2 — swapped vitamin C for a multivitamin, kept the creatine

  Ate like a normal person, took two pills, and I'm curious how tomorrow morning feels.

• Journal · 2026-06-13
  Day 1 — 35, zero supplements, and a boxing habit that humbled me

  First pills of my life. Day one, no claims, just a baseline.