Wondering what’s the best fat burner for women?
Or maybe you’re wondering what a fat burner is?
This blog post has got you covered on both counts: We’ll start with a quick rundown of what fat burners are and what they do, then move on to finding the best. We’ll tell you what to look for, what to avoid, and the sort of results you can expect.
What is a fat burner?
The clue is in the name, although there’s a bit more to it than just burning fat. A fat burner is a supplement designed to support you in achieving your weight loss goals. They aren’t meant to replace the things that help you lose weight – healthy diet, regular exercise, a caloric deficit – rather to supplement them. Hence the name.
When we talk about what’s in a supplement, “fat burner” is an umbrella term referring to ingredients that help with weight loss in one of a few ways:
- Some are appetite suppressants – this includes things like Glucomannan which help you to feel full sooner than usual, and to consume fewer calories as a result.
- Some are thermogenics – this includes things like caffeine and capsaicin which raise your body’s internal temperature slightly, and help you to burn more calories at rest.
- Some are stimulants – this includes things like caffeine and green tea extract which give you an energy boost, increase focus, and help you to burn more calories through longer and harder workouts.
- Some help to regulate metabolism – this includes things like choline which help your body to transport, store, and burn fat more efficiently.
A fat burner usually helps with weight loss on more than one of the levels above, so choosing the right one for you is a case of understanding what the ingredients do, and what effect(s) you want.
Many fat burners also include ingredients to support your general health, whether it’s vitamins to plug potential deficiencies, or minerals to help various body functions to run smoothly.
What is the best fat burner for women in 2019?
“Sounds great, sign me up!” you may be saying after reading the above. So you head to Google or Amazon, type in “fat burners”, and boom –
You’re greeted with thousands of options.
There are pills, shakes, powders, capsules, teas, bars, and all sorts. Some are covered in flames and other macho imagery, others look like bland medicine containers. Each promotes a different ingredient or effect…
It can be hard to tell the difference.
It can be harder still to know which one is right for you.
For this article, we’ve adapted full length piece about choosing the best fat burner to help make this choice easier. It’s worth looking at the following things when making your decision:
- The ingredients: What do they claim to do, and what does the science say?
- The reviews: What do customers think? Often this is different to official brand messaging.
- The target audience: A lot of fat burners are male-focussed or generic, when in reality men and women are quite different physiologically.
Let’s look at each in a bit more detail.
Look at the ingredients
As we’ve touched on, there are tons of potential ingredients that fat burners can use. Everything from vitamins and minerals, through to man-made blends.
Understanding what these ingredients do – and what the manufacturers claim they will do – is a vital part of choosing the best fat burner for you.
For example –
A popular fat burner called Leanbean claims that glucomannan is clinically proven for weight loss in the context of an energy controlled diet.
What does that mean, exactly?
Well: An energy controlled diet is one where you burn more calories than you consume. Clinically proven is a bold claim, but in this case it’s backed up by research published by European health safety authorities, who found that 3000mg is the optimal daily dose.
Not all supplement manufacturers are able to back up their products’ claims so thoroughly. So when you’re shopping, make sure to read through the ingredients lists, check out daily doses, and cross reference them with external information about what they do.
What do the reviews say
The information you read on manufacturers’ websites and Amazon listings can often differ quite strongly from what people really think.
And here’s why:
Manufacturers can cherry-pick the information that makes their product look the best.
While it’s obvious that brands are going to publicise the good reviews and curate their brand image, be wary of anything claiming to be too perfect. Look for human reviews, whether on Amazon listings, review sites, or even word of mouth amongst your friends.
Reading real customers’ thoughts and feedback on a product can give you a better insight into how it will affect you specifically. Perhaps you have a similar starting weight to the person reviewing? Or maybe you have an aversion to certain ingredients – maybe you’re a vegan – and you want to get the perspective of somebody with similar concerns.
Female physiology is different
While a manly or generic fat burner won’t harm you, it probably won’t deliver the best results.
And here’s why:
Women and men are different in a few important ways. For example –
Studies have shown that women experience stronger and more frequent food cravings than men, which can obviously get in the way of weight loss. Female fat burners are usually weight more toward appetite suppression to help counteract this effect.
Women are also more prone to deficiencies in iron and other minerals: Supplements designed for females often include these as a way of helping you to avoid potential deficiencies.
Caffeine can hit women harder than men too, and some people are concerned about its interaction with the contraceptive pill. When browsing the ingredients list for a potential fat burner – taking a look at the caffeine content to see whether you’re happy with the level is a good bet. For reference – a cup of coffee contains about 100mg.
Choosing a supplement tailored to women usually implies that the manufacturers have taken deliberate steps to make their product effective for this audience.
To recap…
Choosing the best fat burner for women in 2019 involves digging a bit deeper than Amazon results to understand what you’re buying, and learning how it will affect you. Getting this right is the difference between a noticeable and motivating boost to your weight loss routine, and feeling like you’ve wasted your money.
You’re looking for a fat burner with:
- Solid ingredients, whose claims are backed up by science.
- Solid reviews from real people, both on and off site.
- An ingredients list tailored to your physiology and goals, rather than generic.
If you get those three sorted, you’re on the right track. Incidentally – Leanbean fits the bill on all three counts, and you can buy it here.