Especially these days most people are health-conscious and being lean is associated with good health, no one wants to be called fat even if they are. Indeed, most people will start running up and down as soon as they step on the scale and notice a few more lbs. While exercise is by far the healthiest way to burn fat and lose extra weight, many products are available to make the task easier and less taxing. If you guessed right, fat burners are one of those products. In this piece, we’ll take a brief look at fat burners and how they work, and whether they are reliable.
What Is a Fat Burner?
Well, as you can tell from the name, fat burners are nutritional products or supplements designed to help your body burn excess fat. As we will see below, most of them do so by primarily increasing your metabolism, suppressing your appetite, lipolysis, and other effects. These effects are produced or initiated by the ingredients in the fat burner, which may be derived from natural sources or not.
Largely, how a fat burning product works, its effectiveness, and safety depend on how it is made and the ingredients it contains. If you see this analysis of the Nubi Nutrition Fat Burner, you will realize that no magic pill will make your excess fat disappear overnight. They, however, assert that the product seems to work in suppressing appetite for women, which can lead to fat loss benefits over time without too much dieting or workout. Including naturally-occurring fat burners such as yohimbine and caffeine, this is exactly what a fat burner is meant to do.
Let’s now take a look at how fat burners are believed to provide fat loss benefits.
Boosting Metabolism
Some fat burning supplements are claimed to work by boosting metabolism, which is the process where food is broken down to produce the energy that fuels our cells. Most of them are said to increase thermogenesis, an important part of metabolism when the heat is produced as energy is generated. With a boost in metabolism, your body can start utilizing stored fat for energy production, leading to fat loss. The process of burning or breaking down fats is known as lipolysis and normally takes place when the body depletes its glucose reserves needed to produce energy.
Suppressing Appetite
When you take lots of carbs and other foods, what remains after the required food is used to produce energy is stored in your tissues as fat. This is why many people become fat when they eat a lot. Some fat burners contain ingredients that suppress your appetite by making you feel full so your body can start utilizing the stored fats for energy. Some of them also suppress appetite hormones like ghrelin, which tells the brain that it’s time to put something in the stomach. Others contain ingredients that block your body from absorbing certain nutrients when you eat. A good appetite suppressant should also prevent cravings for certain foods, especially carbs.
Whether or not fat burners work is a relative question. Yes, fat burners do work, but it depends on which one you choose to use. As mentioned above, different fat burning supplements contain different ingredients and in different proportions. This thus means that their effectiveness and safety may vary widely. When choosing a fat burner, it is best to pick a reputed, safe, tried, and tested product with scientific data to back the manufacturer’s claims.