Optimum Nutrition Opti-Fit Fat Burner Review

Ben BA(Hons), PGCert

Contents show

First Look

I am fed up with the current state of my cardiovascular fitness at present. A game of rugby left me wheezing as I tried to shift my 200lbs around the field for 80 minutes.

I have the strength and mass for tackles and running with the ball but my endurance is suffering.

I need to slim down a notch, get rid of any excess and unnecessary weight.

I am considering a rowing machine to put in the basement at work to get a 30 minute session in daily after 6pm.

I am also looking for a new fat burner contender too. I would rather lose any excess Christmas fat than hard earned muscle.

So let’s take a closer look at the bold, neatly designed but common looking Opti-Fit from Optimum Nutrition.

Ingredients: The Science

Luckily there is no proprietary blend present. See the video below if you are not sure what a proprietary blend is, also I would avoid anything that has one for future reference.

Thiamin (Vitamin B1) – Helps the body’s cells change carbohydrates into energy. The main role of carbohydrates is to provide energy for the body, especially the brain and nervous system.

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002401.htm

Green Tea – well known to have many powerful health benefits. Clinical studies suggest that green tea extract may boost metabolism and help burn fat. One study found that the combination of green tea and caffeine improved weight loss and maintenance in people who were overweight and moderately obese. Some researchers think that substances in green tea known as catechins are responsible for the herb’s fat-burning effect. Green tea extract is found in many a good fat burning supplement.

http://news.psu.edu/story/310179/2014/04/02/research/research-suggests-green-tea-exercise-boost-weight-loss-health

Riboflavin – Important for body growth and red blood cell production. It also aids in the release of energy from proteins.

https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002411.htm

Niacin – Higher amounts of niacin can improve cholesterol levels and lower cardiovascular risks. However, the jury is out on these real benefits.

https://examine.com/supplements/vitamin-b3/

Folic Acid (Vit. B9) – There’s many benefits of Folic Acid, treating kidney problems is one of them. Folic acid can also help produce more testosterone along with B12 but also necessary to form red blood cells and is also necessary in the formation of DNA.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-1017-folic%20acid.aspx?activeingredientid=1017&

Vitamin B6 – Comprising three chemically distinct compounds pyridoxal, pyridoxamine, and pyridoxine, is involved in the regulation of mental function and mood. Vitamin B6 is also an essential homocysteine re-methylation cofactor, and deficiency is associated with increase in blood homocysteine levels. Homocysteine is a risk factor for cerebrovascular disease and may also have directly toxic effects on neurons of the central nervous system. Neuropsychiatric disorders including seizures, migraine, chronic pain and depression have been linked to vitamin B6 deficiency.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14584010

Caffeine – This can assist with endurance, tested athletes saw an edge from caffeine in scientific studies. In some trials, the stimulant boosted athletes’ speed. In others, it helped them last longer before they spent all their energy.

Caffeine also raises the metabolism which means you burn more calories. Some studies show that it can curb soreness after exercise, too. This means you could get back to your training sooner and training means more calories burnt. This is present in all 3 of our Top Fat Burners.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16076

Vitamin B12 – B12 fights fatigue, muscle wastage, boosts mood, cognition and is vital to many bodily functions including metabolism and food digestion. So to put it bluntly, we need this for smooth operation and be able to smash those workout sessions which in turn helps you burn fat and lose those unwanted pounds.

http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-926-vitamin%20b12.aspx?activeingredientid=926

L-carnitine – Acetyl-L-carnitine helps the body produce energy. It is important for heart and brain function, muscle movement, and many other body processes.

It is a very popular supplement and widely proven to be active drugs for the therapy of symptoms associated with male aging. Any fat loss tends to be associated with the extra energy provided by this compound which in turn increases exercise.

https://examine.com/supplements/l-carnitine/

Cayenne Pepper – The hot and spicy taste of cayenne pepper comes from capsaicin, a compound found in many hot peppers. Capsaicin is known to boost metabolism, causing the body to produce extra heat and burn more calories for fuel. This is found in our favorite fat burner Instant Knockout.

http://umm.edu/health/medical/altmed/herb/cayenne

BioPerine – The extract of piperine, called BioPerine® in the patented form, has been clinically tested in the United States. BioPerine® significantly enhances the bioavailability of various supplement nutrients through increased absorption.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9619120

Paullinia Cupana (AKA Guarana) – Studies note that 75mg guarana (9mg caffeine) was able to enhance cognitive scores related to memory and reaction time with a subsequent dose-response study noting that 75mg was more effective than higher (150-300mg) and lower (37.5mg) doses.

https://examine.com/supplements/paullinia-cupana/

Dose:

Take 2 pills twice per day.

This amounts to a total of 1555.224mg per day which is about half as much as you would find in the best fat burner supplements.

It is also better to spread the pills out over the course of the day rather than take them in 2 sittings.

Pros:

There’s 8 ingredients present here that will either help metabolize fat or provide extra energy to make you exercise more which in turn will burn more calories.

However, there are 12 ingredients present.

It may well have been more beneficial to stop at 8 ingredients and actually double the total mass.

or add further proven ingredients.

Cons:

There are essentially 4 ingredients that are not really on the radar to actually stimulate fat burn in one way or another.

These should have been either omitted or replaced with ingredients such as Zinc, Green Coffee Bean or even Glucomannan.

This is also extremely similar to their ‘Daily Fit’ product which is just 2 ingredients short of this. However, those 10 ingredients found in Daily Fit all feature here with Opti-Fit.

Opti-Fit brings the addition of Caffeine and Guarana.