We all want to look good, feel good, and most of all, live a healthy and vibrant life. That’s why so many people are looking to lose excess weight today.
The cornerstone of weight loss is burning excess fat. To achieve this, the most important change is comprised of a proper diet and regular exercise.
After a while, however, we all hit a wall. Despite our best efforts, all the dieting and exercising in the world, we somehow stop losing fat, and our weight and fitness metrics stop moving.
This is the dreaded “plateau”, and it can be a frustrating phase in our weight loss efforts.
At this point, we need some help, and this where fat burners can come in handy.
Fat burners do not “melt away” fat when you take them. In other words, they don’t just creep into your muscle tissue and literally melt the fat away.
Instead, they produce effects that help your body enhance its fat burning capabilities when diet and exercise by themselves are not cutting it.
Fat burners do one or more of the following:
- Help curb your appetite
- Promote fat to be used up as energy
- Boost your energy levels
- Rev up your core temperature and metabolism, allowing your body to burn more calories throughout the day.
Great, right? So now, you’re probably thinking that all we need to do is go to some website to place an order from one of the better-known stores, and you’re on your way! That’s plain wrong!
Why You Should Avoid Stimulant-based Fat Burners
Using fat burners is the way to go for weight loss supplementation.
However, choosing the wrong type of fat burners, or using them the wrong way may not only hurt your weight loss program, but can seriously harm you.
So what kind of fat burners should we use?
There are two general types of fat burners available which can be purchased without prescriptions.
The first are stimulant-based. These contain stimulants, like caffeine, which can be useful for weight loss, as they can decrease the rate of glucose metabolism, increase the rate of metabolism of fatty acids, and can help you exercise more, because it delays the onset of fatigue.
These fat burners are not without their drawbacks. These include:
- They can quickly lose their potency. This will make you lose tolerance, and the effects may wear off quickly. You may find that you will need to take higher and higher doses, which may be harmful to your health.
- Too much caffeine can actually cause your metabolism to slow down, in an act of self-preservation.
- They can raise blood pressure and heart rate to unsafe levels, so they may prove dangerous if you have, for example, a pre-existing heart condition.
- They can cause sleep disruption, especially if taken during the wrong time of the day. Sleep loss is never healthy, especially so for those trying to lose weight.
- Some individuals are stimulant-insensitive, especially those with a form of COMT-mutation. This is a genetic defect that affects COMT, an enzyme produced in the brain. This mutation can lead to depression, addictive behavior, and poor focus.
The Best Options In Non-Stimulant Fat Burners
A much safer alternative are non-stimulant fat burners. Individually, fat burner compounds may appear weak, but they can take on powerful fat-burning properties when combined.
Effective non-stimulant burners include the following:
- Carnitine – These are amino acids that facilitate the intake of fatty acids into the cell’s mitochondria, which are more effective in burning them.
- Choline – This is a water-soluble naturally occurring vitamin nutrient found in some foods. Taken together with Carnitine, it can promote fat-flushing, or the passing of fatty acid molecules through urine.
- CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) – This Omega-6 fat, has shown, in clinical tests, to promote fat as fuel, inhibit its storage, suppress appetite, and boost testosterone.
- Apha Lipolic Acid (ALA) – This is a fat based compound, manufactured in our bodies, and is considered an anti-oxidant. In some tests, it has been shown to be helpful in promoting fat to be used in energy, reduce food intake, and boost metabolism.
- Dandelion root extract – Useful for its diuretic effects, and helps with healthy digestion.
- Sesamin – A naturally occurring compound that has been known to improve fat metabolism, promoting the use of fat for energy, and reducing fat storage.
- Garcinica Cambogia – Also called the Malabar tamarind, a tropical fruit. This is known to contain hydroxy citric acid (HCA), which works by preventing the creation of fat from carbohydrates. It has also been known to suppress appetite.
- Inositol – A sugar alcohol, also known as Vitamin B-8. It is believed that it promotes the utilization of fat by the liver, and may prevent storage of fat.
- Seaweeds – A popular Asian side dish. It is believed to slow down the development of fat cells.
- Exogenous ketones – You can easily give your weight-loss a boost with exogenous ketone supplements. These are compounds taken to help the body simulate a state of “ketosis”, where fat is primarily consumed by the body for energy, instead of carbohydrates. Ketosis can otherwise only be achieved by going through a rigorous carb-restricted diet, called the Ketogenic Diet.
Now if you’re a coffee aficionado but you’re on a keto diet, you’d be glad to know that there are now keto creamers on the market.
Conclusion
Non-stimulant fat burners can be purchased in the usual variety of formulations: Capsules, gel caps, powder, gel, pills, and liquids. There are also L-Carnitine injections, but these are not recommended for most weight-loss programs.
It is important to know that these are safer than stimulant-based formulas because they are safer for long-term use. You can even combine and stack them together safely without any side effects. This is not possible with stimulant based formulas since it would easily overstimulate you and side effects would stack up.
As a last note of caution, remember that it is always wise to seek professional medical advice before taking supplements as part of a weight-loss regimen.
If you are looking for a safer and longer-term supplementation for your weight loss program, non-stimulant fat burners are definitely worth looking into!