Diet
Pill Scams: An In Depth Analysis
Fat burners have become very popular
in today's society, especially in America. It seems
that everyone is looking for a "quick fix"
to their problem…and that is why they, therefore,
turn to those "awesome" fat burners where
you can just pop a pill and "lose 30 pounds in
10 days!"
However, do these fat burners actually work? Do they
actually provide any benefits? Do the $40-$100 price
tags justify their benefits? Here we will investigate
some of the claims that they make such as:
-increased thermogenesis
-decreased
appetite
-weight loss without exercising
-increased energy
However, before I go into any more detail about fat
burners, you must understand two important concepts:
Total Daily Energy Expenditure and The Law of Thermodynamics
(don't worry -they're quite simple).
Everyone has a set number known as "Total Daily
Energy Expenditure" or TDEE for short. Your TDEE
is how many calories your body uses per day to keep
itself going. Pretty much everyone's TDEE is different,
and it changes everyday depending upon how much work
your body does that day or if you gained more muscle
mass, etc... This number can be affected by such things
as genetics, how much muscle mass you have, what you
do during the day, etc.
You can get a rough estimate of you TDEE at Weight Loss
TDEE Calculator
Once you understand TDEE, there is another simple concept
to understand. This concept is known as The First Law
of Thermodynamics (don't worry - our application of
it is simple). This law states:
1. If you eat more calories than your TDEE, you gain
weight (this weight can be muscle or fat or a number
of other things, but that's for another article)
2. If you eat fewer calories than your TDEE, you lose
weight (once again, this can really be anything)
3. If you eat the same amount
of calories as your TDEE, your weight stays the
same
So, in order to lose fat, you must create some sort
of calorie deficit between your TDEE and the number
of calories you eat. However, the deficit cannot be
too large - otherwise your body will go into starvation
mode.
--Increased Thermo genesis
Thermo genesis is essentially a fancy word for TDEE.
Saying that a product will increase thermo genesis is
like saying it will increase your TDEE - which would
mean that you burn more calories per day. Many of the
products in these fat burners will increase your rate
of calorie expenditure, but not by very much - the results
are minimal.
Here's an example: A while back I saw an ad touting
that their "green tea extract" increased thermo
genesis by 4%. Sounds spiffy, eh? Now, let's take a
somewhat normal number for TDEE - 2000 calories/day.
4% of 2000 would be 80 calories per day. If a pound
of fat is 3500 calories, this means that you could get
rid of an extra pound of fat about every 44 days by
taking this supplement!
This small deficit could be easily accomplished many
other ways though. For instance, you could eat 10 less
wheat thins for a day, or not add mayonnaise to your
sandwich at lunch, or just replace soft drinks with
water.
Decreased Appetite
When trying to diet (actually, just achieve a calorie
deficit), many times people complain that their appetite
is holding them back - therefore companies that produce
fat burners like to claim that their product "reduces
appetite".
It's true; many ingredients in products may reduce your
appetite. But do you really need these special herbs
or ingredients to do that?
In my opinion, nature provides everything. Here are
some strategies:
1. Drink water. It's simple; if you get some sort of
craving for something, just drink some water. This will
help to decrease your appetite by filling up your stomach,
it's natural, and you need water to function properly
anyway.
2. Eat fiber. You can either eat foods with fiber in
them, like vegetables, or you can just buy some of that
powdered fiber at the store (it actually doesn't taste
that bad), and take some with your meals. Fiber cannot
be digested, so it will decrease the actual capacity
for your stomach to hold food. Plus fiber pushes food
through your digestive tract faster than normal. This
can cause roughly 15%-20% of the food you eat to not
be digested - resulting in a smaller amount of calories
that your body actually digests. Fiber also provides
too many other benefits to list here.
3. Eat foods that are low in calories, but high in satiety.
These are foods that have a low amount of calories per
amount of food that you eat. For instance, a stomach
full of jello contains fewer calories than a stomach
full of peanut butter.
Weight Loss without Exercise
It's possible to lose some fat without exercising. However,
when you do this, you're setting yourself up for failure
in the long run. Muscle is an integral part of permanent
fat loss. When you cut calories without lifting weights
or exercising, part of the weight you lose will be muscle
as well as fat. When you add weight lifting/exercise
to your routine, you essentially signal your body to
keep your muscle. For more information on this topic
of "weight loss and weight lifting", check
out our free 7-day fat loss e-course. The second lesson
involves the effects of weight lifting on fat. So, in
essence, you can lose weight without exercising - but
it's kind of a waste of time.
Increased Energy & Focus
Many fat burners contain ingredients like caffeine or
vinpocetine, which they claim to help increase your
energy and focus. In many cases, some (a rare few might
I add) of these compounds can and have been proven to
do this - but (this is from personal experience) mostly
by a minimal amount. Probably the best way to gain focus
and energy is the way nature intended - through exercise.
Ever gotten that endorphin high after a great workout?
You'll be surprised at how "high" you get
and at how clearly you can think.
Weight Loss & Water Loss
Due to some of the ingredients in fat burners, they
can make you lose weight - but not necessarily the correct
type of weight. Some ingredients such as caffeine can
be classified as mild diuretics. This can be deceiving,
as the weight that you may have lost from the "fat"
burning supplement may not be fat at all, it may just
be water.
So, all in all, fat burning supplements do provide some
benefits - that is, if the ingredients actually DO support
their claims. However, many times, even though they
do provide benefits, the benefits are many times small
compared to what can be accomplished through intelligent
dieting and exercising. It is up to the buyer whether
the price tags justify the benefits that these supplements
may provide.
About the Author
You can find more weight loss information, articles,
reviews, calculators, and more at this website about
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