The Most Popular Supplements That Help Burn Fat

Fat burning supplements have become all the rage lately, and many people think that they’re the shortcut to their weight loss journey. However, that can’t be further from the truth. The term fat burner refers to supplements that increase energy expenditure and fat oxidation when exercising, impair fat absorption or cause long-term adaptations that increase fat metabolism. Basically, these supplements help, but you still need to put in the work and pay attention to your diet if you want to reach your weight loss goals.

Oftentimes, supplements to help burn fat contain a number of ingredients, each with its own mechanism of work. The list of these supplements is long, with the most popular ones being caffeine, green tea, L-carnitine, L-tyrosine, and Yohimbe, just to name a few. I’ll be covering some of these supplements, but first, let’s talk about two terms that are associated with weight loss or fat loss and fat burners.

Thermogenesis

This is a metabolic process during which the body burns calories in exchange for heat. This process is “activated” in a few different ways, including diet, exercise and environmental temperature. Thermogenesis promotes weight loss by increasing your body’s calorie burn rate. That being said, inducing thermogenesis definitely helps burn more calories, but regular physical exercise and a low-calorie diet are still the best ways to lose weight.

Lipolysis

This process refers to the breakdown of lipids in the body and hydrolysis of triglycerides into free fatty acids and glycerol. The hormones that induce lipolysis include epinephrine, glucagon, ghrelin, norepinephrine, testosterone, ghrelin, growth hormone, and cortisol. During lipolysis, free fatty acids are released into the bloodstream.

Caffeine as a Fat Loss Supplement

Caffeine can help improve strength, muscle endurance, anaerobic performance and accelerate fat loss. It’s one of the most popular supplements to help burn fat, and it does so by increasing the catecholamine in your blood. Catecholamines are chemicals that mobilise fat stores to be oxidised, which in turn, raises your body’s metabolic rate. In other words, the amount of energy your body burns is increased, so the more energy you burn, the more body fat you lose. Additionally, caffeine also decreases the rate of glucose metabolism during aerobic exercise.

The downside of consuming caffeine as a weight loss supplement is that it loses its effectiveness over time as you become more tolerant to it, and you can’t use it late in the day, as you probably won’t be able to sleep. Luckily, you can cycle your intake to resolve the tolerance issue, or you can combine it with other natural substances that increase its effect. For instance, grapefruit juice contains a molecule called naringin that helps caffeine stay longer in your bloodstream.

Green Tea Extract as a Fat Loss Supplement

Green tea is a herb that has a natural ability to help the body lose fat. Green tea extract, just like caffeine, is one of the more natural options when it comes to boosting your metabolism. The active ingredients that make that possible are catechins, which are antioxidants that promote abdominal fat loss and improve triglyceride levels. Catechins block the enzyme responsible for breaking down noradrenaline and adrenaline, both of which increase the metabolic rate and mobilise fat stores.

L-Carnitine as a Fat Loss Supplement

Carnitine plays a crucial role in the mobilisation of body fat for fuel. This is the reason why L-carnitine supplements have become quite popular. The more you can ingest of this supplement, the more fat your body can burn due to the fact that the L-carnitine transports fatty acids to the mitochondria where they’re oxidised for fuel. Many athletes take advantage of this supplement as having a greater dependency on fat for fuel spares carbs and increases aerobic endurance.

L-Tyrosine as a Fat Loss Supplement

This amino acid is used for the creation of dopamine, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Additionally, it’s used by the body to create the thyroid hormones t4 and t3, both of which are essential to your metabolism. When noradrenaline and adrenaline rise, so does your body temperature and heart rate. This leads to an increased caloric usage, which is the root of the workings of all thermogenic compounds.

Further, L-tyrosine can also help reduce appetite. With the release of dopamine, you feel better, and the stress hormones inside the body are reduced. This allows you to be in a better mood, train with greater clarity and focus and recover better after your workout. As you diet for longer, your body’s production of t3 is reduced, so you need to boost those levels just a little bit. Many studies show that including L-tyrosine supplementation to your diet can help you lose fat to a great degree.

Keep in mind that different people will respond differently to each supplement. We’re all unique and some of these supplements will work better for some than others, so it’s best you try each supplement separately to make sure you get some results before you start buying and consuming a few different fat burners at once. You may benefit from two supplements, but the rest might not work for you, so you’re better off spending that money on something else.