Diet pills
Hydroxycut—Hydroxycut claims to be able to increase your body’s weight loss potential and diminish hunger cravings by containing hydroxycitric (HCA) acid. This acid is derived from an extract of an Indian fruit called Malabar Tamarind and has been pegged as a natural appetite suppressant. Because Hydroxycut contains a natural appetite suppressant instead of a chemical formula, it must be taken in larger doses. Anything below 2,800 mg of HCA every day hasn’t proven to have any effect on weight loss but a study done on participants who did take the 2,800 mg of HCA every day for 8 weeks lost twice as much weight as those taking the placebo.
Because a large amount of HCA is needed to show any effectiveness, health experts suggest taking a simple fruit extract instead of HCA. An extract like pectin (naturally found in apples) has been found to increase your feeling of fullness and help you lose weight with just 5 mg.
Xenadrine EFX—This product is marketed as a thermogenic supplement and claims to work by helping you burn more fat. The active ingredients in this product are green-tea extract and caffeine. This product is supported by a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and found that when 10 men were given 270 mg EGCG (a chemical found in green tea) and 50 mg caffeine, their metabolisms increased by 4 percent. This study essentially says that with this increase in metabolism your body could lose an average of 12 pounds per year. The only problem with Xenadrine EFX is that we don’t know exactly how much green tea extract or caffeine the pill actually contains and it is therefore difficult to predict its affectivity.
If you’re looking for a natural alternative that will yield similar results, researchers say to try incorporating cottage cheese into your bed time snack. Cottage cheese contains the super protein casein that helps the body burn fat calories instead of protein calories while you sleep. This way, your metabolism will increase and you’ll still retain muscle mass.
Trip Spa—Trim Spa’s claim to fame is that it contains an ingredient that prolongs the amount of time that food is available for energy and keeps it from being stored as fat. The ingredient that Trim Spa claims will do this is 300 mg of Glucosamine. This ingredient is a naturally occurring amino acid that weakens insulin action and is believed to prevent fat storage. This method of weight loss was tested in lab rats and proved effective when the rats consumed 10 mM (milimoles) of the supplement which is enough glucosamine to take over every cell in a rat’s body. In human studies the ingredient is administered in a much lower dosage so it is not guaranteed to have the same effect.
Prolab Therma Pro (Ephedra Free)—This product claims to stimulate metabolic rates and promote fat loss. The ingredient it claims will give these effects is Synephrine. Unfortunately, synephrine is a chemical adaptation of ephedra without the proven affectivity of ephedra. Researchers found that people who took synephrine, caffeine, and St. John’s wort daily while also dieting and exercising lost about 3 percent of their body fat while people who only dieted and exercised experienced no change. Because all three ingredients were consumed in this test it is difficult to tell if synephrine would stand alone as an effective weight loss supplement.
Researches warn that the amount of synephrine in Prolab Therma Pro is less than the amount that proved effective in the study. They say that a natural alternative to this formula is to eat more fish. Several studies have proven that omega-3 fatty acids like those found in fish can help speed up the body’s metabolism.
Zantrex-3—This product is marketed as “the ultimate appetite suppressant” and contains Yerba mate, guarana, and damiana, three herbal supplements. This herbal formula from South America claims to suppress your appetite by slowing the digestive process. A study done on these ingredients proved that those taking the supplements over a period of 45 days lost 10.5 pounds more than those taking the placebo. The only downside to the study is that weight loss can’t be effectively measured if the participant’s diets aren’t accounted for. If everyone eats the same diet and consumes the same amount of calories per day then weight loss can be comparable.
Researchers say that a natural way to suppress your appetite or let your body know sooner that you’re full after a meal is to time your next meal. It takes 20 minutes for the body to register that it is full. If you usually finish eating in less time than that then you could be overeating because your body doesn’t have time to register how much food you’ve just eaten before you’ve already eaten too much of it. Sip water in between bites and never eat with your hands.
Even the best weight loss supplements have some legitimacy in the health world but it gets tricky when the amounts of active ingredients aren’t included on the label. If you’re looking for a diet pill that contains a specific ingredient then do your research and find out which pill actually contains the correct amount of the ingredient you need to help you lose weight. If the amount of the ingredient isn’t specified then it is possible that the manufactures aren’t including amounts because they’re not what they should be to help you lose weight.