If you’re confused where to start on your diet, you’re not alone. This is a club with millions of members, and few of them will ever achieve long term results. When it comes to weight loss pills, or supplements, there are a variety to choose from. Some don’t work, and have no clinical basis, while others actually have been proven to work well. It’s not always straightforward to figure out which is which, but there are three major classes of supplements, each with their own advantages and disadvantages.
1. Fat Burning Products –Fat burners try to increase the person’s metabolism directly, to help them burn fats they take in more quickly. Many products claim to do this, but few of them are more than expensive caffeine pills. Just taking in more caffeine doesn’t do anything to help you lose weight. Maybe you have heard of the old prescription treatment called ephedra, which was shown to cause heart attacks and heart failure in patients. It was taken off the market later. Therea re still several prescription fat burners that carry such risks, like phentermine. More natural fat burners are something like green coffee extract, HCG or garcinia cambogia. In the case of garcinia cambogia, it is a 100% natural substance with few if any side effects. It boost metabolism directly in the body users with an ingredient naturally in the product known as HCA.
When you select a fat burner as a diet supplement you will want to track down studies that prove it works, and also ones that show the side effects it can cause. Natural products like garcinia cambogia or green coffee don’t typically have any side effects. HCG is probably the most effective fat burner known to exist and is also well studied.
2. Fat Blockers – Another major category of weight loss aids are those that try to absorb the fat you take into your body before it’s deposited into cells. This really only works as a way to help correct deficiencies in a diet, and is not a very reliable method for long term weight loss. The products in this sector are fairly limited, but there are a few major ones.
Probably the best known substance that works in this way is orlistat, which is commonly known by its brand name Alli. This has actually now been approved for over the counter use by the FDA, but has not shown to be that awesome in studies. On average people only lost 2 to 3 pounds of fat during a full month of treatment with this. Given how expensive it is, it just cannot compete with working fat burners.
Another popular one is the use of Proactol, which is a supplement pill that’s different than Orlistat. This product’s major ingredient is a complex fiber, which absorbs lipids in the body. This comes from a natural cactus, colloquially called the “Prickly Pear”, which has this fiber in abundance. It’s extracted and concentrated for use as a natural weight loss supplement. Results using this type of product are better than orlistat, and it does carry fewer general risks for users as well. It also has been shown in several research studies to help people feel more “full” and eat less.
3. Carbohydrate Blockers. This is a fairly new way to go about weight control, so the products that actually work in this way so far are pretty limited. Much like fat blockers, these attempt to block the breakdowns of carbohydrates we eat (which are converted to sugars in our body and stored as fat). There are some options out there.
One major carb blocker that a lot of people are using after it was verified to work in studies is the dietrine compound. This is made from white kidney beans and helps destroy a particular enzyme in our stomach called alylase. This helps convert carbs into glucose in our body during digestion. This helps significantly cut the amount of calories absorbed by the person and helps eliminate a lot of bad fats.
Whether you want to block fats, burn them more quickly or cut carbs there are definitely supplements that can help you. Many supplements like HCG or garcinia cambogia can actually do both at the same time, though this is not the norm. Most of these are “one trick ponies” each with their respective benefits and their costs as well. It’s important for people to consider any products carefully that they choose to make sure that the risk balances with the potential reward. This is especially true given that there are natural and side effect free alternatives out there.