Pros and Cons of Fat Burners
Fat burner supplements are available in most diet and nutrition stores, without the need for a prescription.
This means, anyone, without any prior knowledge can buy them. We look at the benefits and negatives of fat burners.
LAST UPDATED: May 2020 by Ben.
Author: Daniel DeMoss is a personal trainer and holds an MSc in Physical Therapy. Daniel is a fitness enthusiast and enjoys helping others achieve their goals by offering qualified advice.
Are Fat Burners Worth It?
Fat burners are dietary supplements that claim to burn excess body fat.
Although nothing beats a healthy diet and an active lifestyle to burn fat naturally, there are some fat burning ingredients that have been proven to be effective.
Supplements that you can consume in readily natural forms include Caffeine, Green Tea Extract, Protein Powder, and Yohimbine.
In this article, we’ll be discussing the pros and cons of using fat burners and whether or not you should be investing in them.
But before we dive into this, let’s discuss the different methods people do to lose fat: diet, exercise, and taking supplements.
3 Ways to Lose Fat
Here are 3 tried and tested ways that you can burn more calories and chip away at that fat.
1. Healthy Calorie-deficit Diet
The general rule is that the more calories you take in than you can use, the more weight you gain.
The fewer calories you consume than you can use, the more you’ll lose weight.
For a healthy weight loss, women are required to take in not less than 1200 calories while men should take not fewer than 1500 calories.
Here are some strategies that will help you to consume fewer calories [1]:
● Eliminate the intake of sugary drinks like sodas, fruit juices, and coffee
● Reduce alcoholic beverages
● Reduce the intake of processed foods like fast foods, desserts, and sugary breakfast cereals
2. Active Cardio-Heavy Exercise
Cardio is important because [2]:
● It burns a lot of calories at once – the harder and longer you work out, the more calories you burn
● You can increase the intensity of the cardio – this helps boost the calorie burn and increase metabolism
● It adds to your calorie deficit – burning calories while doing cardio supplements the number of calories you cut in your diet.
3. Taking Supplements
Fat Burners are claimed to help make it easier to lose weight. They work by:
● Reducing appetite so that you consume fewer calories
● Reducing the absorption of nutrients like fat
● Increase the burning of more calories
The first two methods have been recommended by experts. However, taking fat burners remains to be a questionable choice. [3]
Wonder if you should give fat burners a try? Let’s weigh some pros and cons:
Pros and Cons
Fat burners are supplements that are claimed to increase fat metabolism, reduce fat absorption, weight loss, and increase fat oxidation during exercise. [4]
Pros of Fat Burners:
Let’s delve into the positive effects of fat burner supplements.
They may help increase metabolism
Fat burners are designed to stimulate chemical reactions in the body. They can increase your body heat (known as thermogenesis) and improve your metabolism into burning more fat as energy.
Here’s the mechanism: fat burners aim to increase the breakdown of fatty acids, they then enter the bloodstream and are used to create energy.
They, however, need to be used in conjunction with exercises. During exercise, your body will need energy.
The action of the fat burners in increasing metabolism assist in the conversion of fats and the production of the energy required.
They may eliminate food cravings
Some fat burners contain ingredients such as protein powder and fiber additives that help fill you up and reduce your appetite.
They can help you skip the occasional snacks that will undo your progress.
A good mixture of fat burner supplements will help to burn fat and suppress your appetite to minimize your calorie intake.
Fat burners can also be used to inhibit a fat producing enzyme while increasing the production of serotonin.
This, therefore, helps to eliminate food cravings reducing the intake of calories in your body.
They may help increase your energy levels
Many fat burners use at least one ingredient that is classified as a stimulant or amphetamine.
A good example of this is caffeine. The caffeine in the fat burner supplements will give you a lot of energy. You, therefore, need to use that energy to burn calories when exercising.
They promote the conversion of fats to be used for energy. You really need to take advantage of this energy because thermogenic energy is difficult to control as it is sporadic.
If not, you will end up feeling anxiety and restlessness due to your body burning energy that you are not taking advantage of.
Cons of Fat Burners:
It’s not all positive though, some fat burners may have some negative effects.
Fat burners may have side effects
Just like any other drug, fat burners may have some unwanted side effects due to the multiple ingredients used. [5]
These side effects include an increased heart rate, high blood pressure, agitation, diarrhea, kidney problems, or sleeplessness.
Fat burners that contain caffeine can be addictive. Ephedrine has been proven to cause nervousness, anxiety, and aggressive behavior.
These supplements may seem like a quick way to get rid of body fat but they come with many side effects.
They’re likely not going work without the proper diet and lifestyle
Fat burners are not effective without a calorie-deficit diet and proper cardio exercise. Studies show that they can only burn 50 calories a day on their own.
Just think of it, a can of soda already contains 150 calories. This comparison shows that fat burners are not effective on their own.
At the end of the day, weight loss requires you to burn more calories than you take in.
Limiting your calories through diet and proper exercise will improve the efficiency of fat
burners.
Some are not FDA approved
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal agency responsible for promoting public health through the supervision of foods, dietary supplements, and all other
medications.
Most ingredients used to manufacture fat burners are not approved by the FDA. They have been found to be harmful to the health of the public.
Some have been removed from shelves because they cause high blood pressure, seizures, strokes, and even death.
Ingredients that have been banned by the FDA include [6]:
- sibutramine
- fluoxetine
- triamterene
It is advised that you go for natural fat burners like caffeine, yohimbine, and green tea extracts which don’t pose as much risk as that of a chemically manufactured fat burner.
The Bottomline…
Focusing on consuming less daily calories than your body can burn is the best and safest way to consistently reduce fat.
Eating the right food and the right portions, along with a regular exercise routine is an easy way to help do that.
If a healthy lifestyle hasn’t worked in making you lose weight, consult your doctor, and ask for their recommendations when it comes to taking dietary supplements.
If you want to improve your health for the better, check out the best fitness equipment available on the market to get the most from your workouts.
References
[1] https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/12-tips-to-help-you-lose-weight/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2991639/
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21951331/
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3076034/
[5] https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/WeightLoss-HealthProfessional/
[6] https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/beware-products-promising-miracle-weight-loss
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