Let’s Look What Makes The Best Fat Burners For Women
In the never-ending battle to strip body-fat from their bodies, more and more women are turning to fat burners to give them a thermogenic advantage.
The supplement manufacturers, of course, are marketing fat burners as the magic ingredient that will melt fat away while you sleep.
What’s the real deal with fat burners?
Are fat burners just another overhyped placebo designed to make your purse thinner, or will they really help you to get that lean, fat-free body that you’re working towards? What ingredients work best?
And what are the best fat burners on the market today? Read on for the full scoop on fat burners for women.
What are Fat Burners?
Fat burners are health supplements that are designed to help you lose body-fat by:
- Boosting the metabolism
- Enhancing energy
- Increasing body temperature
- Fast tracking the body’s fat burning process
- Suppressing appetite
Fat burners consist of a blend of herbal ingredients, such as caffeine, yohimbine, green tea extract and synephrine.
Read Also: Intermittent Fasting For Women over 50 – Is it right for you?
Do Fat Burners Really Work?
In terms of helping to strip fat from the body, fat burners have the potential to work. But they will never do so in isolation.
Taking a fat burner is not an antidote to a bad diet or a sedentary lifestyle. Every fat burner product will display somewhere on the bottle a message like this . . .
To achieve and maintain your goal weight you must adjust your lifestyle. A kilojoule controlled diet and healthy exercise are essential.
In other words, the right fat burner will work as a supplement to a healthy lifestyle.
Most of your results will come from ensuring that your diet is on point and that your workouts are effective.
If you’re not yet eating properly or training properly, we suggest getting those things right before even considering investing in fat burners.
When used on top of correct nutrition and training, the best fat burners can give you a 2 to 5 percent advantage.
In other words, if you drop ten pounds of fat over a period of time, 0.2 to 0.5 pounds of that fat would have come from the effect of the fat burner
What Are Some Of The Side Effects Of Fat Burners?
Because the US Food and Drug Administration do not require that manufacturers prove the safety of their supplements prior to putting them into the marketplace, there are a number of side effects associated with typical fat burner ingredients.
Common Side Effects Include:
Nausea / Vomiting
Caffeine and Green Tea Extract can induce vomiting in some people. Overdosing on caffeine is also a cause of stomach upset.
Enhanced Blood Pressure
Yohimbine is a common fat burner ingredient that is known to increase blood pressure.
Caffeine is also well known to have the same effect. You should, therefore, be wary of taking a product that contains both yohimbine and caffeine.
Cholesterol
Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) is a common ingredient in fat burners. CLA is actually a variety of trans fat.
According to a 2010 study, published in PLoS One magazine, it also increases bad (LDL) cholesterol, while decreasing good (HDL) cholesterol.
Dizziness
Yohimbine and caffeine are known precursors of headaches. Being a diuretic, caffeine dehydrates the body, which can also cause headaches.
Diarrhea
Guarana is a popular fat burner ingredient. Unfortunately, it can also cause diarrhea. Caffeine and green tea can also bring on diarrhea.
Chitosan is another supplement that can bring on gas, bloating and diarrhea.
Insomnia
A number of supplement ingredients are known to make it more difficult to get the sleep you need to maintain health and renourish your physique.
Caffeine, guarana, green tea extract and ephedrine all may induce insomnia.
Heart Rate
Fat burners, especially those that are designed to boost energy, speed up the heart rate. As a result, you start sweating sooner in your workout. They can also abnormally speed up the heart rate.
If you are at special risk for high blood pressure, or a heart condition, don’t mess with fat burners.
Are Fat Burners Addictive?
If you take fat burners for a long period of time, your body becomes dependent upon them. As a result, when you come off of them, it creates energy loss and withdrawal symptoms.
These can cause you to quickly go back onto the fat burner, which can lead to long-term health problems.
You will also develop a psychological dependency upon fat burners, feeling that all your other fat loss efforts (clean eating and exercise) will come to nothing if you’re not supplementing.
This is a form of natural addiction, allowing supplement companies to make a fortune.
To avoid getting addicted to fat burners, you need to start with a conservative dosage, monitoring the reaction of your body.
Always follow the dosage recommendations on the bottle. If your body is getting shaky and you are experiencing dizziness, that’s a sure sign to stop taking the product.
Take the fat burner for a period of six weeks then go off it for 6 weeks before going for another round.
What Are the Key Ingredients in Fat Burners?
Fat burners consist of herbal blends of a number of main ingredients. The following ingredients are those most commonly found in popular fat burners:
Caffeine
Caffeine is a powerful antioxidant. When taken in moderation, caffeine is full of properties to boost physical and mental wellbeing.
Caffeine can help increase metabolic health. Studies show that regular caffeine intake can increase the Resting Metabolic Rate (RMR) by up to 10%.
The higher the RMR is, the faster energy sources are burnt, leaving less to be stored as fat cells.
Caffeine also sends signals to the central nervous system, instructing it to break down stored fat cells more regularly than a caffeine-free diet.
Caffeine also stimulates the adrenal gland.
The rush of adrenaline can push us to work our bodies longer and harder and receive the physical benefits of a more physically intense workout.
Caffeine has also been shown to protect against Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.
Caffeine soothes and can even prevent inflammation in the adenosine receptors.
Faults in the adenosine receptors are the common start point of patient’s loss of cognition.
For older people who feel their memory isn’t what it once used to be, drinking two-three cups of coffee per day can help reduce any inflammation in the brain and prevent further cognition deterioration.
Though there are many benefits to a diet with daily caffeine intake, it is vital to take precautions when embarking on using supplements for increased health benefits.
Though caffeine is beneficial for some, for others it can cause headaches, twitching, anxiety and hypertension.
As with any stimulant, taken in moderation it is perfectly safe. If you are unsure as to whether including caffeine in your diet is right for you, please consult a doctor or nutritionist.
Special Considerations for Women: Several recent studies have focused specifically on the benefits of caffeine for women.
A 2010 study out of Japan showed that supplementation with caffeine can reduce cognitive decline, lower the risk of breast cancer and lower the incidence of depression in women.
Green Coffee Bean Extract
Coffee contains a whole lot of chemicals, which have been and are being studied to uncover all sorts of health benefits.
Recent studies have focused on an ingredient of green coffee bean extract, known as chlorogenic acid, along with its metabolite, caffeic acid, and their ability to stop the actions of enzymes that convert starch into sugars and to slow down the absorption of sugar into starch, with the effect that overall caloric input is lowered.
Green coffee beans are coffee beans before they have been roasted. The roasting process reduces the amount of chlorogenic acid within the beans.
Chlorogenic acid works in tandem with the caffeine in the beans to metabolise fat that has been freed from cells by the caffeine.
Research has shown that chlorogenic acid has the ability to reduce blood sugar levels by reducing post meal surges in glucose.
By extracting the chlorogenic acid before roasting the beans, manufacturers are able to maximize its use as a thermogenic aid.
Green coffee bean extract has also been promoted as a way of bringing down high blood pressure.
A study showed that, after 28 days of treatment with green coffee bean extract, blood pressure was significantly reduced.
A recent study showed that supplementation with green coffee extract in obese individuals resulted in a demonstrable decrease in both body weight and body fat percentage.
The study actually showed that green coffee bean extract has the ability to lower the levels of fat and glucose in the body.
A study out of India tested the fat loss effects of green coffee bean extract over a period of 22 weeks.
A study group was given a daily supplement containing green coffee bean extract, while a control group was given a placebo.
At the end of the study, researchers found that the supplement group had lost an average of 18 pounds, which was 10% of their body weight. The control group lost an average of 7 pounds.
Another study, this time commissioned by the Dr Oz show, involved 100 women over a period of two weeks.
In this study, the supplement group took 400 mg of green coffee bean extract, while the control group took a placebo. Both groups kept a food diary.
The results showed an average 2-pound loss in the supplement group compared to a 1 pound loss for the control group.
Melissa Quick, from the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, undertook a meta-analysis of studies related to caffeine and chlorogenic acid.
Her analysis concluded that green coffee bean extract is an aid to fat loss and is beneficial in reducing one’s body mass index.
It does this by promoting fat oxidation, enhancing glucose metabolism and reducing the accumulation of fat.
Her analysis also showed that there have been no reported adverse side effects associated with the supplementation of green coffee bean extracts.
Green Tea Extract
The drinking of green tea is a popular weapon used to fight weight gain, diabetes and heart disease.
A study by the University of Connecticut found the Epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) and caffeine in green tea work separately to hinder lipid absorption during the digestion processes.
It increases metabolic activity, meaning that your body gets into the optimum weight loss heart rate faster while exercising.
A diet including EGCG and caffeine allows the liver to push essential nutrients out into the bloodstream more effectively, leaving less protein, carbohydrates and lipids to be converted and stored as fat cells.
A trial undertaken by the Provident Clinical Research team based in Indiana found that participants drinking green tea with 625 milligrams of catechins and 39 milligrams of caffeine lost abdominal fat and decreased blood triglycerides (blood fats) over the 12 weeks.
Researcher Kevin Maki notes that those who received the placebo tea did lose weight, but it wasn’t as severe as the group that drunk the tea with catechins and caffeine.
This weight loss is believed to be a result of the minimum three hours of weekly exercise each participant was required to complete while on this trial.
Conjugated Linoleic Acid
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) is a fatty acid that research has shown has the potential in your body to burn fat.
In its raw form it is found in dairy and grass fed meat. CLA’s power lies in its ability to block an enzyme called lipoprotein lipase (LPL).
LPL’s job is to facilitate the process by which fat is removed from the bloodstream and stored as body-fat. By interfering with this process, CLA can prevent fat storage and encourages fat burn.
L-Carnitine
Carnitine, which is Latin for ‘meat’, is often mistaken as an amino acid.
Rather, it is an amino-like compound formed by the bonding of the amino acids lysine and methionine.
It has been shown by numerous studies to assist in the transportation of fat through the blood stream and into the mitochondria cells.
This is where fat is burned for energy. By enhancing nitric oxide (NO) production, nitric oxide also enhances blood flow and the muscular pump that comes with it.
Studies have also shown that carnitine has a glycogen sparing effect, due to its ability to metabolize fat for energy. This gives enhanced energy.
Garcinia Cambogia
Garcinia Cambogia is a pumpkin shaped fruit plant from South-East Asia. The fruit is green when it is young and becomes yellow as it ripens.
The supplement ingredient is derived from the dried form of the plant. The extract possesses calcium rich hydroxycitric acid (HCA).
It has been shown to inhibit the production of new fat in the body. It does this by blocking the enzyme that converts carbohydrate into the fat that our fat cells absorb.
Simultaneously, it uncorks the pathway that allows you to turn the carbohydrate into energy.
That extra energy can now be used to build lean muscle, which will also aid your fat loss efforts (muscle burns between 30-50 calories per day, while fat burns about 3 calories per day!).
Garcinia Cambogia also increases seratonin levels during sleep. This helps to elevate mood and suppress appetite.
Studies have also shown that Garcinia Cambogia helps to suppress the stress hormone cortisol.
By suppressing appetite and preventing fat from being formed in the body, Garcinia Cambogia acts as a dual action fat buster.
Garcinia Cambogia has other health benefits in addition to those associated with weight loss. Patient studies showed a decrease in overall cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
LDL cholesterol levels dropped by up to 30%. Obese patients also showed some improvement in insulin resistance.
Special Considerations for Women: A compound found in Garcinia called hydroxycitric acid has been shown to increase the time that women can train intensely.
It has also proven an effective aid for fat loss, especially around the hips and thighs. Do not take garcinia while pregnant or breast-feeding.
7-Keto DHEA
7-Keto DHEA is a metabolite of DHEA, which is a hormone that our body makes.
It is the base molecule for a lot of sexual hormones in both men and women. It is used to make estrogen, testosterone, and progesterone.
The metabolite 7 keto doesn’t have the pro-hormone effects of DHEA.
Studies have shown that it burns fat via two mechanisms; it increases the thyroid hormone T3, which is responsible for regulating your metabolism and it has a thermogenic effect.
The heat generated leads to an increase in the production of three key enzymes in the liver. This allows the liver to burn fatty acids for energy.
Yohimbine
Yohimbe is the name of a tall African tree that grows on Western Africa. The bark of the tree combines alkaloids, the most prominent of which is yohimbine.
Yohimbine targets the fat cells in your body when you have low insulin.
When you eat carbs and sugar that spikes your insulin, it is counterproductive to the effects of yohimbine.
For that reason, you should take yohimbine in a fastest state or with just a lean protein source. Insulin and yohimbine cannot co-exist.
As well as targeting your fat cells, yohimbine will also suppress your fat cells.
Yohimbine does have known side effects, including increasing heart rate, gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea and vomiting.
People with any type of heart disease or severe high blood pressure should not take yohimbine.
Raspberry Ketones
Raspberry ketones are derived from the raspberry fruit.
They are aromatic compounds which induce hypolysis, which is the process of taking fat from its stored state and making it available for the body to use as energy.
There is very little in the way of peer reviewed human studies to validate the effect of raspberry ketones as a fat loss aid. However studies on rodents do show it to be promising.
Synephrine
Synephrine is a less harsh chemical cousin of ephredine, which was banned by the FDA in 2003, Synephrine is derived from the citrus arantium fruit.
It is almost as effective as ephedrine, without all of the harsh side effects (heart palpitations, jittery feeling).
Synephrine acts as a stimulant, allowing you to have more energy for working out.
It directly helps to rid your body of body fat by enhancing lipolysis, breaking down fat for the body to use as energy.
It also speeds up the metabolism and blocks the functioning of alpha receptors in fat cells.
In addition, synephrine has the ability to boost the thermic effect of foods, making us burn more calories to digest the food that we eat.
Special Considerations for Women: Synephrine is a popular ingredient in many weight loss products for women. Women should not, however, take more than 20 mg/day. This supplement should not be mixed with caffeine, so check that your product does not mix the two. Pregnant and breastfeeding women should not take Synephrine.
Fat Burner Alternatives
Fat burners cost serious money. You could be paying up to $200 per month, depending on your product of choice.
Before you hand over your credit card, you should consider the alternatives at your disposal that are absolutely free.
By working out for an extra five minutes with high intensity cardio each day, you will probably achieve as much of a fat burning effect as if you were taking a fat burner.
Reducing your daily caloric count by 100 calories per day will also have a similar effect to a fat burner. Working out with weights to add muscle will also increase your post workout caloric burn.
Rather than buying a fat burn product that synthesizes a range of ingredients in a slick package, you can make your own for far less money. Here how . . .
Ingredients
- Green Tea
- Coffee Beans
- Chilli
- Cayenne Pepper
- Cinnamon
Rather than blending these ingredients into a mush and forcing them down your throat, simply introduce them into your diet over the course of the day.
Take your caffeine as a cup of coffee a half hour before your workout, without milk or sugar. Take green tea as an afternoon drink.
Spice your foods with chilli and cayenne pepper. Mix with olive oil over chicken or fish. Sprinkle cinnamon on your breakfast and add it to your protein shake.
Make the above additions to your diet on a regular basis and you will be adding 5 key supplement ingredients into your body without paying the supplement price.
Top Fat Burners For Women
MuscleTech Hydroxycut Hardcore Next Gen
Nutrient Profile
Hydroxycut Next Gen includes a green coffee blend (400 mg), which acts as a stimulant, while containing a lot of antioxidants for cognitive support.
Coleus extract reportedly has a positive effect on blood pressure and heart health as well as providing a unique stimulant fat burning property.
Blue skullcap extract is added as a mood enhancer, which is an important factor when you are dieting.
A unique ingredient is guayusa, which is a leaf extract that has been shown to have fat burning properties while providing sensory enhancement. This compound also includes 40 mg of yohimbe extract.
Effectiveness
The new generation of Hydroxycut has an emphasis on extreme energy and mental focus.
The dosage protocol recommends taking one capsule once per day for the first two days. You then ramp up to taking two capsules, twice per day.
As long as you have your diet and training down pat, using this product will make it easier to control your food cravings, you’ll have more energy throughout your day, more training motivation and an enhanced overall sense of focus.
It will also speed up your metabolic rate for fat loss.
There’s a lot of caffeine in this product, meaning that some people may become jittery, or even nauseous on this product.
This is an effective product, but also a somewhat risky one. Basically, there are too many stimulants packed into the product, some of which may cause side effects (guyausa may cause headaches if you don’t drink plenty of water).
Overall Rating: 7.5 / 10
MTS Nutrition Drop Factor
Nutritional Profile
The serving size of Drop Factor is 3.9 grams, giving you 60 servings per container. It should be taken 1-2 times per day.
The ingredient profile starts with L-Taurine for muscular endurance, L-Tyrosine for mental focus, and 250 mg of caffeine anhydrous for metabolic stimulation.
An interesting addition is Coleus Forskohli Extract, which works to turbo charge the metabolism to burn more calories throughout the day.
A host of ingredients with quantities between 20 and 100 grams include L-Theanine, Theobromine, Hordenine HCL, Synephrine HCL, Higemine HCL, and Methylsynephrine HCL.
This combination provides a metabolic powerhouse to drive your fat loss. A number of powder extracts round out the ingredients to provide all the antioxidants you need.
This combination makes Drop Factor, on paper, the most powerful fat burner you will probably come across.
Effectiveness
MTS Drop Factor is a powder fat burner which has been billed as the strongest thermogenic fat burner ever created.
It comes in just one flavour; raspberry lemonade. It mixes easily in water, meaning that a blender is not required – and it tastes great.
Despite it’s huge nutrient profile, Drop Factor is missing a fat blocker in the form of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA).
It is also missing acetyle l-carnitine for fat metabolism. It is purely a fat burner. Despite that, MTS Drop Factor is by far the strongest thermogenic aid that is currently available in the marketplace.
Reviewers almost unanimously rate this product as a superior fat burner. It delivers on what it promises – burning fat.
And it does so without the jittery side effects that are par for the course with so many other thermogenic aids.
Overall rating: 9 / 10
Muscle Pharm Shred Matrix
Nutrient Profile
Shred Matrix contains 150mg of Caffeine Anhydrous. Anhydrous is the powdered form of caffeine.
The rest of the ingredients are provided as a proprietary blend, meaning that the exact amounts of each ingredient are not disclosed.
This is very unhelpful to the consumer, who has no idea whether he is getting enough of each ingredient to have the desired effect.
The proprietary blend consists of Green Tea Extract, Guarana, Kola Nut (a high caffeine compound that acts as both a stimulant and an appetite suppressant), Capsimax, White Kidney Bean, Glucomannan, Raspberyy Ketones and Panax Ginseng Root.
Efficiency
Shred Matrix is Muscle Pharm’s most powerful weight loss substance, consisting of an 8-phase system to get ripped.
It is, however, also safe to use. Shred matrix will support improved energy, enhance mood and mental functioning while promoting fat loss.
The 8-phase system may sound kind of gimmicky, but users are reporting solid results. Phases 1 and 2 ramp up the metabolism to get your straight into the fat burning zone.
It will give you an energy boost to propel you forward. The first two stages focus on that hard to budge stubborn body fat.
Stages 3 and 4 combine to eliminate appetite while, at the same time, allowing you to better absorb the nutrients that you do consume.
Stage 5 helps stop sugar cravings. Stage 6 supports this by focusing on emotion and mood. This will help to prevent those carb cravings that are so dangerous.
Stage 7 eliminates excess water weight from the body. The final stage is all about giving you that razor sharp mental focus – without the jitters ort crash. Herbal ingredients support the natural brain chemistry of the body so that you are able to focus during even the most demanding of diet and workout sessions.
The problem with this supplement is that, in attempting to do so much, it does none of those things outstandingly.
There are better stimulators on the market, just as there are better appetite suppressants.
The fact that the ingredients are hidden under the proprietary blend label is also a disadvantage.
Overall Rating: 7 / 10
Legion Athletics Phoenix
Nutrient Profile
Phoenix doesn’t carry as many ingredients as many of its competitors. In itself, this is not a bad thing. It means that those that are present are able to be used in higher dosages, which seems to be the case here.
The key ingredient is synephrine, a compound found in bitter citrus fruits which is designed to boost basal metabolic rate and fat cell mobilization.
A couple of flavonoids, Naringin and Hesperidin, work in concert with synephrine to speed up the breakdown of fat cells.
Other ingredients include the herb forskolin, the molecules hordenine, and epigallocatechin gallate (which comes from green tea), anti-inflammatory agent Salicin and the appetite suppressant 5-HTP.
Efficiency
Legion Phoenix is a caffeine free fat burner. This, in itself, has made it attractive to many people who have experienced the jitters and post workout crashes when using other caffeine containing products.
The absence of caffeine makes this product compatible with pre-workout supplements, which typically contain caffeine.
Fat burners which also contain caffeine are not appropriate to take in conjunction with a pre-workout, as the combination will simply make you too wired.
That is not the case with Legion Athletics Phoenix.
To compensate for the lack of caffeine, synephrine has been promoted to top billing. Synephrine provides a metabolic boost that is similar to caffeine without the tolerance issues.
In addition to enhancing the metabolism, Phoenix’s blend of ingredients is designed to make the body’s chemical fat burning processes more potent. It also has an appetite suppressant ability.
Reviewers of Legion Phoenix generally report a minimum effect on fat loss. The lack of caffeine does not tend to minimize the energy enhancing effects of the product.
In terms of direct fat loss, though, most users were rather underwhelmed.
Overall rating: 7/10
NLA For Her Shred Her
Nutrient Profile
NLA For Her Shred Her’s nutrient profile comprises a mix of natural and synthetic ingredients. The key ingredient is caffeine, a natural stimulant and thermogenic aid.
The negative effects of caffeine are balanced out with the addition of green tea extract, which has the effect of controlling blood pressure and metabolism.
Raspberry ketones, citrus aurantium extract and ursolic acid work synergistically to move stored fat and facilitate it’s conversion to energy.
Efficiency
NLA For Her Shred Her is a fat burner specifically designed for ladies. The key difference between this product and those geared towards men is that Shred Her omits the crazy stimulant ingredients.
That makes this a fairly clean fat burner. It will make you feel energized and normal rather than hyped and dizzy.
Shred Her works in three ways to achieve fat loss. First, it elevates energy levels to allow you to train harder. Second, it promotes fat metabolism. Finally, it acts as an appetite suppressant.
This product has received many favourable reviews by female users. The consensus appears to be that it definitely works in helping to remove stubborn fat, especially around the abdominal area.
Some users have reported a jittery feeling on the first day, which goes away once your body gets used to it. You will sweat more on this product, so keep up your water intake.
Overall Rating: 8.5/10
Best Fat Burner Key Facts
- Make sure you are working out intensely and eating clan before considering a fat burner
- Boost Metabolism
- Speed Up Fat Burn
- Suppress Appetite
- Cycle your fat burner supplements: 6 weeks on / 6 weeks off
- Take Your Fat Burner 30-60 minutes before your workout
- Never consume more than the recommended dosage
- Make sure to consume enough water
References
