A good fat burner can be a game changer for your fitness goals.
Fat burners are among the most popular fitness supplements in the world. While fat burners began as specialist bodybuilding supplements, today they are used by a vast amount of people, from bodybuilders and powerlifters to MMA fighters and endurance athletes. A growing number of fat burners are now also being made for your average person who struggles to lose body fat, especially stubborn fat like belly fat. Gone are the days when fat burning supplements were highly specialized products designed only for experienced, high performance athletes!
Of course, this has led to an explosion in the number of fat burners on the market, which is good and bad. Right now there are hundreds, potentially thousands of fat burning supplements on sale. All of them claim to help you lose weight fast, boost your metabolism, help get rid of stubborn stored fat, and retain muscle mass; just about every fat burner on the market today claims to be the best fat burner in the world. They all claim to offer superior ingredients, the best value for money, and no side effects at all.
In this article, we’re going to take you through the most effective fat burning supplements in the world today. We will explain what fat burners are, how they work, the side effect risks, and more. In this post, we give you our expert recommendations for the best fat burner to use for maximum fat loss and muscle retention.
What is the Best Fat Burner Today?
#1 Top Rated Fat Burner: Burn Lab Pro
Burn Lab Pro is a great all-around fat burner with an innovative design and research-backed benefits. It is 100% natural, safe, and caffeine free giving you the best option on the market.
The best fat burning supplement on sale right now is, hands down, Burn Lab Pro. This is a brand new supplement, but Burn Lab Pro is already listed as one of the best fat burners on many bodybuilding websites, and reviews from users are extremely positive.
The reason Burn Lab Pro is such a good fat burner is simple; the ingredients. No other fat burner or weight loss pill in the world right now comes close to offering the same kind of ingredient quality as Burn Lab Pro. Just check out the ingredients list:
Each serving of Burn Lab Pro delivers a high-spec, perfectly calibrated blend of proven, effective fat burning ingredients. Each ingredient is in its most potent, branded form, and the doses are right in line with those used in clinical trials. The formula is as pure and as powerful as you can get with a 100% natural, plant-based supplement.
Another thing that impressed us about Burn Lab Pro is that it is a full-spectrum fat burning supplement. The benefits you are likely to get from using Burn Lab Pro include:
- Reduced appetite and food cravings
- Increased fat oxidation
- Accelerated metabolism
- Better blood sugar stability
- Enhanced muscle retention while dieting and training
This last point – muscle retention – is very important. Many low quality diet pills out there can help you lose weight. Lots of them can even specifically promote fat loss. But most of them do so by stuffing you full of stimulants, artificially suppressing your appetite and triggering muscle catabolism.
Burn Lab Pro utilizes highly-bioavailable HMB to prevent your body breaking down muscle mass when in a fasted state. This means you will retain the maximum amount of muscle mass while shedding body fat – the dream scenario for any athlete! This fat burner is the cleanest we’ve ever seen. It is vegan-friendly, as well as guten, GMO and stimulant-free. Banned substance tested. None irradiated. No synthetic additives at all. You really can’t ask for much more from a fat burner. That is why Burn Lab Pro is on our list of Top Fat Burners for 2024, and our number 1 recommended weight loss supplement overall.
How do Fat Burners Work?
There are lots of different ways that fat burners work. Most fat burners by speeding up metabolism, suppressing appetite, and increasing fat oxidation. A top fat burner will combine multiple ingredients to hit all of these ways of burning fat and more.
Let’s look at the main ways in which high quality fat burners work.
Fat Oxidation
Some fat burners work by increasing the rate at which your body burns fat for fuel. There are a number of natural substances that can increase fat oxidation, and they all work in slightly different ways. For example, Forskolin (an extract from Coleus Forskholii) has been found to stimulate the production of lipase, which is the enzyme responsible for breaking down stored fat into fatty acids and making it available for use as fuel.
Numerous clinical trials have shown that Forskolin supplementation boosts fat loss and maximizes muscle retention relative to dieting alone; in one study, people using a high quality Forskolin extract lost an extra 2kg and kept an extra 2% muscle mass than people on placebo. This is an excellent natural fat burner.
Thermogenesis
Thermogenic fat burners are among the most popular weight loss supplements on the market. All of the top fat burners contain some kind of thermogenic agent. There is a simple reason for this – thermogenesis works!
Thermogenesis refers to the process of increasing caloric expenditure by raising your body temperature. In simple terms, you raise your body temperature, which makes your body work harder to stay cool. This means you burn more calories, which therefore puts you into a deeper caloric deficit. So enter a deeper caloric deficit without having to cut out yet more food.
The classic thermogenic fat burner is chili extract. As those of you who like spicy food will know, a substance like cayenne chili extract raises your body temperature very quickly, causing sweating, blood vessel dilation, and an elevated heart rate. All of this means you burn more calories – A LOT more.
Appetite Suppression
All of the most effective fat burners on sale today contain some kind of appetite suppressing component. This is important as most people struggle far more with diet control and hunger during a cut than anything else. It isn’t unusual for someone to dial in their training and their diet for 8 straight weeks and then undo all their hard work with 3 days of binging.
Low quality fat burners rely on stimulants to suppress your appetite. This is not ideal from a health point of view. The best fat burner will use a natural appetite suppressant such as glucomannan; a substance which makes you feel full after smaller meals by bulking out your stomach with harmless fiber.
Muscle Retention
This is typically the thing that separates your average fat burner from the best. Typically, only top quality fat burners – those designed for bodybuilders, boxers and other athletes – include ingredients which help protect and preserve muscle mass during a cut. These ingredients effectively let you drop body weight while keeping your lean muscle mass almost the same (there is always some loss while cutting). This is the holy grail of cutting; something many people actually thought impossible until recently.
A good example of a muscle-retaining substance is HMB, or ß-Hydroxyl ß-Methylbutyrate. This compound is naturally occurring in humans. Studies have shown that supplementing with HMB reduces muscle mass loss in athletes undergoing intensive conditioning and weight loss programs. Only the best fat burners will contain substances like HMB to help stop muscle catabolism during a weight loss program.
Energy Levels
Finally, we come to energy levels. Generally speaking, we don’t recommend using a fat burner which is over reliant on stimulants, as that is where pre-workouts come in handy. Cheap, low quality fat burners are normally stuffed full of stimulants like caffeine. These cause serious side effects and are not sustainable long-term.
A good natural fat burner will support energy levels in a deeper, more effective way. They will increase energy expenditure and metabolic efficiency at the level of your cells, not by pumping you full of stimulants.
The highest quality fat burning supplements on the market right now normally contain substances which help you better regulate your blood glucose levels, promote more efficient nutrient digestion and metabolism, and support healthy cell mitochondria. This is ultimately a more effective approach than taking cheap caffeine pills – you can get plenty of caffeine from coffee, and many of you will want to stack a fat burner with pre-workouts anyway!
Most effective fat burning ingredients
Let’s start looking into how fat burners work in a little more detail. We’ve already explained the main ways in which fat burners work; their main mechanisms of action. Now we’ll go through how fat burners do these things.
In other words, we’re going to go through the main ingredients fat burners use to deliver results.
Forskolin
Forskolin is probably the single most scientifically proven natural ingredient used in fat burners today. Forskolin is an extract taken from Coleus Forskohlin. Studies show that the consumption of forskolin promotes the synthesis of lipase; the enzyme responsible for breaking down stored fat and freeing it up for use as fuel[1].
Caffeine
We all know that caffeine is a potent stimulant. What many people don’t realize is that caffeine is also an extremely powerful fat burner in and of itself. Caffeine helps you lose fat in a number of different ways. It increases energy levels and motivation, meaning you can train harder and longer despite running low on calories. It also decreases appetite, preventing food cravings and binge eating. Finally, there is good evidence that caffeine increases your resting metabolic rate.
There is also some evidence that caffeine directly stimulates the release of fat from fat storage cells. It is thought that it does this by triggering the release of norepinephrine[2]. However, the evidence for this is relatively thin. Caffeine’s main benefits for fat loss come from its ability to fight fatigue, boost motivation, increase resting metabolic rate[3], and crush appetite.
Cayenne Chili Extract
Cayenne chili extract is the go-to ingredient for natural thermogenic fat burners. This is the standard thermogenic ingredient; it is used in cheap and high-spec fat burners alike because it is safe, effective, and backed by hard science.
Cayenne chili extract increases your internal body temperature as your body interprets capsaicin (the oil in chili that makes it spicy) as a burning sensation. This causes a heat response: your blood vessels dilate, your heart rate elevates, and you start sweating as your body fights to keep cool. This heat response costs a lot of calories. So by consuming cayenne chili and triggering this heat response, you put yourself into a greater caloric deficit without having to cut more calories.
Glucomannan
Glucomannan is probably the fastest-growing natural fat burner in terms of popularity in the world right now. Not only is glucomannan being added to more and more fat burners coming onto the market, but it is increasingly being used in specialist diet foods and other weight loss supplements.
Glucomannan is a root vegetable packed full of water soluble fiber (which we can’t digest, making it essentially calorie-free). When consumed in powder form, it quickly forms a thick, dense paste in the stomach. This paste expands, making you feel comfortably full. Consuming glucomannan before or with food will therefore make you feel fuller despite eating less food. Even better, glucomannan keeps you feeling full for a good few hours, meaning you won’t be struck with the same food cravings or desires to binge eat!
Green Coffee Bean Extract
Green coffee beans (i.e. raw, unroasted coffee bean) contain a substance called chlorogenic acid. You will often see Green coffee bean extract listed as an ingredient on modern fat burners – the usual target compound here is chlorogenic acid.
Studies show that chlorogenic acid potentiates insulin in the human body [4]. In simple terms, it seems that chlorogenic acid makes insulin better at doing its job; shuttling nutrients and glucose to your cells and keeping your blood sugar levels fairly constant. Potentiating insulin is a fantastic way to optimize a cut for both performance and muscle mass retention, as well as eliminating energy crashes, blood sugar lows, and food cravings.
HMB
Of all the ingredients on this list, HMB is arguably the most effective substance in existence for protecting muscle mass and preventing muscle tissue catabolism.
Several clinical trials have shown that consuming HMB leads to reduced muscle mass loss (compared to placebo) in people subjected to intensive training or calorie-restricted diets. In fact, there is evidence that HMB may be able to deliver the impossible: reduced fat mass with simultaneous increases in lean muscle mass. In one 12-week study, researchers found that subjects given HMB ended up with more muscle mass than they started with, as well as considerably reduced body fat[5].
Chromium
Chromium is a trace mineral found in small quantities in vegetables such as broccoli and green beans. Chromium is important for numerous bodily functions, not last for the proper functioning of insulin. Put in basic terms, chromium makes insulin better at doing its job. So in practice, chromium helps to stabilize energy levels, optimizes nutrient absorption an utilization, and enhances muscle growth during recovery (as it is largely insulin which triggers tissue growth). Clinical trials show beyond doubt that chromium helps improve insulin resistance[6].
EGCG
EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) is a catechin found in large quantities in green tea (it is often the main component of green tea extract). This catechin has several properties beneficial to human health and performance. Of interest here is its apparent ability to stimulate fat loss.
Studies suggest that supplementing with large quantities of EGCG increases fat loss relative to placebo[7]. What is interesting is that, in many of these studies, participants have been relatively sedentary. It seems then that EGCG can promote fat loss independently of exercise; that is, it seems to directly promote fat loss. Be sure to only use a green tea extract that states the quantity of EGCG per serving. You don’t want to waste your money on pure green tea powder, or a green tea extract that is 1% EGCG.
Are Fat Burner Supplements Safe?
One of the most important things to consider before you use a fat burning supplement is safety. Are fat burners safe to use?
The answer is “it depends”; different fat burners have vastly different safety profiles and side effect risks. Many low quality fat burners are stuffed full of stimulants such as Synephrine, Dynamine and Caffeine. Large doses of caffeine can cause serious side effects, and even small doses of the synthetic stimulants like synephrine can pose significant health risks.
Common side effects people get from stimulant-laden fat burners include:
- Jitters
- Anxiety
- Tremors
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Sweating
- Hypertension
- Elevated heart rate
These side effects are much more common, and much more severe, in fat burners which contain multiple different stimulants. This is because the likes of caffeine, theobromine, methylliberine, and synephrine all interact with on another, making each other more potent. Other ingredients used in fat burners today are also likely to cause serious side effects.
One ingredient to look out for is Yohimbine. This natural extract from tree bark acts as a powerful fat burner in humans. Yohimbine blocks a receptor that increases sympathetic nervous system output, so you get more norepinephrine and, as a result, increased metabolism.
But as a powerful CNS stimulant and booster of norepinephrine, Yohimbine also comes with serious side effects. Some common side effects of Yohimbine use include sweating, dizziness, nausea, stomach cramps, tremors, insomnia, fainting, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, and chest pains.
In fact, Yohimbine is such a potent and potentially dangerous stimulant that it is a banned substance in the UK, Canada and Australia.
If you experience any side effects whatsoever while using any fat burners, stop using the supplement in question and seek medical attention right away.
It is important that you do your own research before using any fat burner. If you have any concerns about a particular ingredient or substance, then you need to talk to your doctor first! This is particularly important if you have pre-existing conditions. In general, we advise staying away from large doses of stimulants, synthetic ingredients, and unproven substances (especially when banned in some countries).
When to Take Fat Burners for Best Weight Loss Results
When is the best time to take a fat burner?
Should you take fat burners before a workout? Or are they more effective when taken first thing in the morning/last thing at night?
These are very good questions worth answering in some detail.
When using a top fat burning supplement, it should not matter when you take it; be it first thing in the morning, pre-workout, or post-workout. As the best weight loss supplements are designed to promote fat loss and boost energy levels round-the-clock, when you take it matters less than taking it consistently.
If you’re using a fat burner containing caffeine, then it is best to take it 30-45 minutes before your workout. That way you’ll enjoy reduced fatigue and increased motivation (and potentially greater fat loss) in the gym.
How to Diet to Burn Fat Faster
Using supplements is just a small part of your weight loss journey. The pros will all tell you the same thing – diet is the key to getting shredded. This has been said by every great bodybuilder in history.
Not training. Not supplements. Not drugs. Diet.
Your nutrition needs to be properly planned if you’re going to see the kind of weight loss results you really want. That means being intelligent and disciplined with what, and when, you eat. Nobody ever got truly lean and shredded eating pounds of sugar, processed junk food and heaps of fat.
As well as the quality of your nutrition, proper weight management relies on maintaining a calorie deficit. If you struggle with weight management, then what you really struggle with is probably maintaining a calorie deficit.
Fat metabolism doesn’t happen if you are eating more calories than you’re spending – that is a law of physics. What does this mean in practice? It means eating a diet relatively high in protein, low in saturated fat, and low in simple, fast-acting carbohydrates, all while maintaining a sensible caloric deficit (200 calories per day is ideal for minimizing muscle mass loss).
It also means eating more fiber. Fiber, especially water soluble fiber, helps keep you full and satisfied while dieting. Many people find fiber to be instrumental in getting the best results while dieting.
Training for Fat Loss
Diet is far and away the most important variable when getting diced. But after nutrition comes your training. Just as nobody ever got shredded while eating a poor diet, nobody ever got ripped, lean and muscular without exercise. How should you exercise to burn fat?
Simply put, the type of exercise you do shouldn’t change too much between bulking and cutting. Most bodybuilding routines are ideal for both fat loss and muscle gain; what separates a bulk from a cut is mainly just the quantity of food.
However, during a cut you are almost certainly going to have to train with lighter weight. When you lose weight, your strength will quickly decline, so attempting the same set of 3 on the bench press that you did when you were 20lbs heavier might end up giving you an injury.
For optimal weight loss results and to burn fat as fast as possible, we recommend introducing some high intensity cardio into your training. High intensity interval training will burn fat much faster than steady state cardio. It will also increase your resting metabolic rate for hours after training, meaning even more weight loss.
Make your workouts as intense and as fast-paced as possible while cutting. You could do this by finishing with hill sprints, or by making your bodybuilding routine more explosive and higher volume. It doesn’t matter how you do it, all that matters is that your workouts elevate your heart rate and subject you to intense anaerobic and aerobic work.
It’s also important to keep your overall health in mind when cutting. In a deep caloric deficit, and when training intensively, your health can suffer as your immune system becomes suppressed and your strength declines.
FAQs
Do fat burners break a fast?
No, generally speaking fat burners do not break a fast. High quality fat burners are typically zero-calorie. Even fat burners which use things like glucomannan do not break a fast, as the body doesn’t digest those kinds of water soluble fibers.
Do fat burners cause diarrhea?
Some fat burners may cause diarrhea. In particular, fat burners which contain very high doses of caffeine and other stimulants are likely to cause bouts of diarrhea. That is why we recommend using stimulant-free weight loss supplements.
Do fat burners eat muscle?
Fat burners do not eat muscle, but a poorly planned cut can destroy muscle mass. During any cut, your body will eventually hit a plateau and fat loss will slow. If you’re dropping weight too quickly, on a fat burner or not, you could be losing lean muscle mass.
Do fat burners affect fertility?
Most good quality fat burners should not have any effect on fertility whatsoever. Natural fat burners are generally safe and side effect free. They do not work by changing your hormones, so they should not make you less (or more) fertile.
What is the best fat burner for belly fat?
The best fat burner for burning belly fat is the fat burner which most effectively burns fat, period. No fat burner is particularly good at burning belly fat. When you lose fat, your body takes from stores all over your body. You cannot target fat loss in one area. Some places, like the belly, are the body’s preferred fat storage sites, so these are the last fat stores to be exhausted.
What does a thermogenic fat burner do?
Thermogenic fat burners work by increasing the number of calories you burn while at rest. Thermogenics do this by triggering the body’s cooling systems; sweating, blood vessel dilation, etc. This costs calories, increasing your relative caloric deficit and speeding up fat loss.
How long do fat burners take to start working?
Fat burners start working right away, from as little as one hour after you take the first dose. However, you will not see results from even the best fat burners right away, as it takes time for the body to burn a significant amount of stored fat.
What fat burner is best for vegans?
The best fat burner for vegans on the market right now is Burn Lab Pro. It is 100% plant based and uses ingredients that are as close to nature as possible while still packing a serious fat burning punch. It is also GMO-free, soy-free and synthetic additive-free.
What fat burner is best for women?
Men and women do not need to use different fat burners; the best supplement for men is also going to be the best supplement for women in every case apart from bodybuilding supplements designed to boost testosterone. Women should just use the most effective natural fat burner on the market, using the best ingredients and offering the best value for money.
Conclusion: Which Fat Burner is Best Right Now?
The best fat burning supplement on sale right now is Burn Lab Pro. There is simply no weight loss supplement out there that even comes close to offering the same quality of ingredients, value for money, or end results as this product.
Using 100% natural ingredients, Burn Lab Pro directly boosts fat metabolism, increases energy levels, deepens a caloric deficit and stabilizes appetite while protecting muscle mass. No side effects. No stimulants. No banned substances – 100% plant based ingredients proven to burn excess fat and preserve muscle mass.
You can learn more about our top rated fat burner from the merchant site: BurnLabPro.com.
References
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- Kim, TW., Shin, YO., Lee, JB. et al. Effect of caffeine on the metabolic responses of lipolysis and activated sweat gland density in human during physical activity. Food Sci Biotechnol19, 1077–1081 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10068-010-0151-6
- Dulloo AG, Geissler CA, Horton T, Collins A, Miller DS. Normal caffeine consumption: influence on thermogenesis and daily energy expenditure in lean and postobese human volunteers. Am J Clin Nutr. 1989 Jan;49(1):44-50. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/49.1.44. PMID: 2912010.
- Meng S, Cao J, Feng Q, Peng J, Hu Y. Roles of chlorogenic Acid on regulating glucose and lipids metabolism: a review. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:801457. doi:10.1155/2013/801457
- Durkalec-Michalski K, Jeszka J, Podgórski T. The Effect of a 12-Week Beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) Supplementation on Highly-Trained Combat Sports Athletes: A Randomised, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Crossover Study. Nutrients. 2017;9(7):753. Published 2017 Jul 14. doi:10.3390/nu9070753
- A scientific review: the role of chromium in insulin resistance. Diabetes Educ. 2004;Suppl:2-14. PMID: 15208835.
- Hodgson AB, Randell RK, Jeukendrup AE. The effect of green tea extract on fat oxidation at rest and during exercise: evidence of efficacy and proposed mechanisms. Adv Nutr. 2013;4(2):129-140. Published 2013 Mar 1. doi:10.3945/an.112.003269