Looking to shed some extra pounds and get back in shape? If so, you’re not alone. Millions of people start diets every day or are actively participating in one.
While much of weight loss comes down to effective dieting and rigid exercise routine, effective cardio, and weightlifting will enable you to burn the fat in your body as a main source of energy while working out. When accompanied by eating healthy whole foods that are caloric deficit and at the same time fuels your body with essential vitamins and minerals, you will see dramatic weight loss.
Nevertheless, there are still supplements that can help speed up the process. Alongside implementing a healthy lifestyle, this supplement can help increase your fat-burning process.
With that said, In this article, we’re going to give you an accurate insight into what a fat burner is, what are the active ingredients that make up a fat burner supplement, and if these fat burner supplements are effective. So, what does a fat burner do? Let’s find out!
What Is A Fat Burner And What Are Its Main Ingredients?
Fat burner supplements are nutritional supplements that may or may not be regulated by the FDA that claim to burn excess fat in your body by increasing fat oxidation during exercise. This increases fat metabolism that results in your body using it as energy expenditure.
Some fat burner supplements even claim to promote long-term fat metabolism, and some even claim to impair and reduce the body’s ability to make fat.
The most well-known fat burner supplements found on the market or your grocery store usually contains either one or many of the following substances and compounds listed below.
- Green Tea Extract
- Caffeine Extract
- Glucomannan
- L-Carnitine
- Forskolin
- Yohimbe
- Chromium
These fat burner supplements have two specific ways that target the fat in your body and keep it off long term. This is through thermogenesis and lipolysis.
Thermogenesis is the metabolic process in which your body produces heat due to the metabolism burning the calories you have eaten; some fat burner products claim to actually increase thermogenesis.
Although it is still not studied and proven, the best way to promote Thermogenesis is to have an active lifestyle that includes rigid exercise and a low-calorie diet.
Lipolysis is the process that involves the breakdown of lipids or fats, which involves a variety of hormones flowing through the body; these hormones regulate the body’s lipolysis:
- Glucagon
- Cortisol
- Epinephrine
- Norepinephrine
- Human growth hormone
- Testosterone
These essential hormones are responsible for breaking down the stored fat in your body, converting the stored triglycerides into two glycerol and free fatty acids. Fat burner supplements actually increase and aid the body’s natural Lypolysis process.
Are Fat Burner Supplements Effective?
Fat burner supplements are effective if you don’t rely on it alone to lose weight and focus more on proper diet and exercise. Here’s why:
Although fat burner supplements are incredibly effective in increasing thermogenesis and Lypolysis, which are the two main processes needed to burn fat, 80 percent of the progress you’re making in your weight loss journey comes down to proper and efficient diet and exercise.
Think about it for a second, in order for you to lose weight and burn fat, you need to consume foods that won’t exceed your caloric surplus, meaning that you should eat whole foods without it exceeding to the number of calories you’re burning daily.
Also, exercising daily is the greatest challenge your body could ever cope with and demand because that’s where Lipolysis and thermogenesis happen the most. To put it in simpler terms, fat burner supplements are like an additional upgrade to your engine, but without using it properly (exercise) and fueling it with the right amount of diesel or gasoline (diet), it still won’t be as effective.
The Best Fat Burner Ingredients
While there are hundreds of fat burners on the market to choose from, not all are reliable and good for your body. Here we are going to dive into the three most popular ingredients in fat burner supplements. If you are going to invest in a supplement, make sure that they include at least one of these ingredients for efficiency.
1. Green Tea Extract
Consuming green tea Extract supplements can provide you with all the great benefits of actually consuming a cup of tea! Green tea extract is also an effective fat burning supplement due to the high levels of a polyphenol called is epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which is studied and proven to promote fat burn and fat loss.
Alongside that, the polyphenol EGCG is also combined with caffeine, another compound found in Green tea extract. The synergistic effect of these two compounds found in one extract promotes further fat loss by increasing thermogenesis.
To burn fat effectively, you must consume one to two capsules of Green Tea extracts day and night. Make sure that the actual capsule contains 500 mg of green tea Extract to ensure its maximum effectiveness.
2. Fiber
Fiber branded in the market as glucomannan or psyllium husk is another effective fat burning supplement, but before we talk about how it effectively burns fat, we should know the importance of differentiating soluble and insoluble fiber.
Insoluble fiber doesn’t absorb water while soluble fiber does. Soluble fiber such as glucomannan or psyllium husk absorbs water in your digestive tract like a sponge removing any excess water retention in your body.
It also helps burn fat and aids in weight loss by effectively curbing your appetite. This is because soluble fiber increases the levels of hormones that make you feel full whenever you have eaten a full meal.
It also reduces the levels of hormone gremlin, which is a hormone that induced hunger. Overall it is necessary to consume about 1 capsule of the soluble fiber after a meal in order to fully maximize your fat loss.
3. Caffeine
Caffeine is one of the top ingredients in fat burner supplements. It’s a common substance that is known for being found in coffee and green tea, but it’s also a popular ingredient found in fat burning supplements.
Caffeine not only wakes you up and helps you push through long days or long nights, but it also can boost your metabolism. As it increases your metabolism, it also increases your body’s ability to burn more fat.
Several research studies have shown that caffeine speeds up metabolism, also speeding up the process of burning fat, and ultimately losing weight.
4. Yohimbine
Yohimbine is a known aphrodisiac, but studies have shown that it is also an effective compound in reducing and burning fat! This specifically targets and blocks receptors, namely the alpha-2 adrenergic receptors.
In turn, it effectively prolongs and encourages the body to burn fat for fuel; although Yohimbine is relatively new to the fat-burning supplements, it shows great efficacy in burning fat than those supplements branded on the market claiming they’re effective in fat loss.
Final Thoughts: Fat Burners
In the end, you must and can’t rely on fat burning supplements like they’re some sort of magic pills that will make your skinnier. Weight problems should be targeted in the proper form, with exercise and eating healthy, with fat burning supplements acting as the icing on the cake.
Fat-burning supplements will only be as effective as they are if you are properly maintaining a strict caloric deficit diet depending on your body weight and having a healthy active lifestyle that includes exercising such as lifting weights, playing any type of active endurance sport, and doing cardio.
