There are hundreds of supplements on the sports nutrition market, whose manufacturers promise quick fat loss to the lazy and ignorant consumer. However, most fat burners, instead of reducing the buyer’s body fat, only reduce the thickness of his wallet. So, we present to your attention the best and worst fat burners.
On the other hand, some products that really help burn fat can not only undermine the health of the consumer, but even kill (we wrote about such a case from a caffeine overdose). However, the vast majority of magic pill lovers do not want to research the effectiveness and safety of fat burners, but prefer to trust advertising promises.
Zozhnik offers a scientific perspective on the effectiveness and safety of the most popular fat burners.
Features of the supplement
Ephedra is an extract obtained from the mahuang shrub, native to Asia, Europe and America. Its synthetic analogue is called ephedrine, and it is banned for sale in almost all countries of the world. The herbal component is recognized as safe and is therefore freely available for sale. Today it is actively included in many sports preparations for weight loss.
Ephedra contains five valuable alkaloids:
- ephedrine;
- pseudoephedrine;
- norephedrine;
- norpseudoephedrine;
- methylephedrine.
It has a pronounced stimulating effect on the body, makes a person forget about the desire to eat and promotes fat burning. As a result of taking it:
- calorie consumption increases;
- drowsiness disappears;
- the threshold for fatigue decreases;
- pulse quickens;
- adrenaline production increases;
- the mood rises;
- no trace of depression remains;
- appetite decreases.
You can and should be friends with ephedra. Fat burners containing it are truly working preparations that will not spoil fat.
What does a person feel when taking ephedrine?
Your humble servant saw those times when ephedrine tablets were not prohibited, and when literally everyone used it in the sports community. And the sensations from taking ephedrine were very similar for everyone.
What does a person feel when taking ephedrine? 15-30 minutes after taking it, many negative thoughts go away, and slight nervousness is felt along with a state of panic.
Simply packing a bag with things for the gym becomes difficult, as thoughts turn into chaos. The brain tries to process several ideas at once.
The pulse increases noticeably. I want to move, run and jump. The fatigue threshold moves away by about 25-30%. Cardio workouts, whether running or the elliptical machine, are several times easier.
Time flies faster. Against the background of such activity, appetite completely disappears, even if the person was hungry before taking ephedrine.
How quickly the effect occurs depends on the fullness of the stomach. On an empty stomach, ephedrine works almost instantly. After 2.5-3 hours the effect begins to decline. The heart beats as fast as at the beginning, but there is no more energy, and this makes the person feel very tired. It seems like you're drowsy, but it's extremely difficult to fall asleep. The result is a strong mood swing and a corresponding broken state.
Side effects
Losing weight is always difficult. The body has to part with what it has accumulated for so long - rattling yellow stinking fat. This means stress cannot be avoided. In the case of ephedra it is expressed:
- headaches;
- dry mouth;
- causeless anxiety;
- nausea;
- tachycardia.
If you follow the dosage and listen to your feelings, many problems can be avoided.
Don't forget about safety precautions. If you drink several strong zhirotops of different effects at once (and this is what many dreamers do, who want to foolishly lose 10-15 kg in a month), you can encounter a not very friendly heart attack or stroke. Don't stimulate your central nervous system too much, otherwise it will show you your cousin's mother!
Will ephedrine help you lose weight?
It would seem that it is enough to drink ephedrine, and the fat will burn like in the ninth circle of hell. And health problems are not so scary, because you only want to lose weight once and then maintain the weight. No, that's not true. Everything is much worse.
Training actually proceeds easier, as a result of which it becomes psychologically more and more difficult to exercise without ephedrine.
Decreasing appetite looks tempting, especially for those who must keep within a small 1500 kcal per day. But there is a whole flank of ointment here too. Most people who lose weight don't count calories. They rely on their eyes or eat the same way as before.
Taking ephedrine will temporarily deprive you of your appetite, but after the effect wears off you will want to eat 2-3 times more. You will sweep away all the shelves of the refrigerator, and without counting calories, there is a high probability of eating several times more, and thereby depriving yourself of an energy deficit. And without a deficit, there will be no weight loss.
Ephedrine hydrochloride is prohibited
Let's take a closer look at ephedrine. It has already been said above that it is strictly prohibited. It is not possible to buy legal drugs containing it in Russia. Maybe Bronholitin at the pharmacy. This is cough syrup. But they sell it strictly according to a prescription. Plus, the sugar content in it is so high that there can be no talk of any weight loss. Therefore, don’t even think about doing such pharmacy experiments.
Ephedra extract may not blow your mind as much or as quickly as synthetic ephedrine hydrochloride, but it does so without harming your health. If you combine it with caffeine and aspirin, you get an incendiary mixture called ECA (ephedra + caffeine + aspirin). This is the coolest nuclear complex for high-quality drying, which melts fat even without serious physical exertion.
So, let's sum up the intermediate results. Ephedrine hydrochloride should not be taken. It is a psychoactive poisonous alkaloid. Today it is considered a bully that can be used harshly, like a drug. Ephedra extract is a legal supplement. Her good uncles from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) allow her to take it.
How do ephedrine fat burners work?
In the human body, fat deposits dissolved in water are stored inside special capsules called fat cells (adipocytes). The need for additional energy leads to the breakdown of adipocytes, releasing fats and water. The opening of the fat capsule is promoted by adrenaline, and the synthesis of the hormone is enhanced by ephedrine. If there is a lot of adrenaline, the process of splitting adipocytes is activated, and excess energy leads to rapid destruction of calories.
How ephedrine-based fat burners work:
- Enrich the body with additional energy after processing fat;
- Allows you to control your appetite, significantly reducing its level;
- Accelerate metabolism, freeing the body from excess fluid and toxins;
- Increases heart rate, prolonging the time of intense training;
- Losing unwanted weight does not lead to muscle loss.
The action of ephedrine, which is a powerful energetic and stimulant of the nervous system, ensures the burning of fat. The effect of the alkaloid is similar to the use of amphetamines, which has led to restrictions on the use of drugs containing the narcotic substance. To quickly achieve the desired shape, athletes enhance the composition of ephedrine-containing fat burners by adding aspirin and caffeine. Sports nutrition enriched with the three-component ECA (ephedrine-caffeine-aspirin) combination is prohibited in Russia and many countries around the world.
You can legally purchase medications containing ephedrine in a 10 percent concentration only with a doctor's prescription. There is no such restriction on sports nutrition with ephedra, but you should note that the plant is a source of ephedrine components.
Dosage for Fat Loss
The studies carried out allowed us to draw the following conclusions about the effective daily dose of ephedra extract:
| Minimum effective | 2 g |
| Medium (suits most) | 3 g |
| Maximum permissible | 4 g |
where 2 grams of ephedra is equivalent to 12 grams of raw herb.
You should not exceed the maximum daily dosage - the “motor” may malfunction. You should also not drink ephedra-based products in the evening, before bed. The first portion should be drunk in the morning, the second - at lunch with food or before sports training.
Fat burners with ephedra and geranium
For crazy athletes who can never get enough of everything, sports nutrition developers have prepared an incredible mind blower - fat burning stacks containing both ephedra and geranium. These are the toughest of working drugs that quickly create a real hell for fat. Among them:
- Gold Star EPH Bomb;
- Epic Labs Black Snake;
- Red Labs Oxy Red.
Fat burners with ephedra and geranium are not suitable for beginners. They are very powerful, bold and bright. Inexperienced athletes are not childishly shocked by them.
Why are most fat burners outdated?
Many people who are losing weight don’t know which medications to choose in order to get rid of excess fat and get in good shape. In their search, they go to various sites where many drugs are presented that have already become popular and are not highly effective in their use. Many sites retain outdated information about the ranking of the best products for many years, misleading visitors.
Our article below contains a list of only the most effective and modern means that you can safely use for weight loss, having first studied all the necessary information.
Enhancing effects using DSs and SARMs
Drying is not just about burning subcutaneous fat. This is also about preserving existing muscles. This is where the whole difficulty lies. After all, while losing weight, maintaining muscle tissue in full is not so easy. To increase the effectiveness of ephedra-based gyrotopes and not lose muscle volume, professionals supplement them with:
- prohormones (designer steroids (DS));
- selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMs).
They are less harmful than anabolic steroids and hormones, but have similar anabolic effects. For example, Laxogenin significantly enhances protein synthesis in muscles, but does not have a negative effect on the reproductive system. As a result of its use, muscles grow and fat is not deposited.
An excellent SARM with which you can combine ephedrine fat burners is Ibutamoren. It promotes the production of growth hormone, triggers the process of active muscle growth and accelerates the body's recovery after training.
In fact, today on the sports nutrition market you can find a lot of SARMs for a variety of purposes. Some help strengthen joints and ligaments, others help maintain a sharp, sculpted shape, and others help reduce the thickness of the fat layer. Experts assure that SARMs are the optimal solution for those who do not want to constantly be on hormones.
Review of popular fat burners with ephedra
Finding a fat burner with ephedra is not difficult - there are a lot of them. But understanding which one is the best is already a problem. It would be stupid to convince you that among the fattops there is the very best. After all, the effect of drugs on the body largely depends on the individual characteristics of the latter. So we'll just talk about those fat burning stacks containing ephedra that are actually worthwhile:
- Red Labs Oxy Red . A powerful supplement based on caffeine, geranium, ephedra, yohimbine, synephrine and other hard ingredients. Designed for experienced bodybuilders. Suitable exclusively for healthy people. For any acute or chronic diseases, this explosive mixture is prohibited.
- Innovative Diet Labs Dragon Venom . A fat burner that contains good amounts of ephedra and caffeine. Also in it you will find such an exotic component as African Kigelia (2-amino-6-methylpentane). This is a natural analogue of geranium, from which we can safely conclude about the “roof-busting” abilities of this fat burner.
- Hi-Tech Black Widow . “Black Widow” is one of the most popular fat burners with ephedra on the sports nutrition market. The composition is very diverse. Here is the flammable formula of ECA, and synephrine, and theobromine, and yohimbine, and many other valuable components. Moreover, they work not only for fat burning, but also for reducing appetite, improving stomach functions, increasing productivity, and motivation. Not a fat thing - but a find.
- Epic Labs Black Snake . The “2 in 1” drug is a proven energy drink and fat burner. Each serving contains as much as 150 mg of ephedra. That's a lot! Stimulants include geranium, ephedra and caffeine. It also contains other top supplements that will take care of strength, muscle growth and pump.
- Gold Star EPH Bomb . Hot fatty acid based on caffeine, ephedra and 1,3-dimethylalamine. With it you can get stimulation, lack of appetite, and continuous thermogenesis.
- Innovative Labs Black Mamba Hyperrush . Each serving contains 200 mg of caffeine and 65 mg of ephedra. Zhirotop greatly stimulates and quickly destroys fat cells. Yohimbine and synephrine are responsible for its thermogenic effects. To make EPH Bomb more flammable, the manufacturer enriched it with beta-aminoethylamine, a neurostimulant that exhibits properties similar to geranium.
- Greymark Pharmaceuticals Octadrene Hardcore . Fat burning supplement containing 100 mg ephedra, 200 mg caffeine, DMHA, theobromine, 5-hydroxytryptophan, synephrine, yohimbine. They even added peppermint to it so that those losing weight during the course would not be bothered by nausea and abdominal pain.
- Aggressive Labz Ophidrex Hardcore . A truly heavy fat topper. 75 mg of ephedra, 200 mg of caffeine and a special fat-melting blend formed by geranium, piperine, higenamine, coleus forskohlii and other cool additives. While taking Ophidrex Hardcore, you can completely forget what food looks like and not miss it at all.
- Octadrene Original Innovative Diet Labs . The drug capsule contains 28 mg of ephedra. This is not very much, but quite enough for mild stimulation and non-extreme fat burning. With this dosage, beginners should start testing ephedra in order to understand how the body reacts to it. To make the stack work at its full potential, it has added caffeine (200 mg), 1,3-DMAA, synephrine, yohimbine, beta-phenylethylamine and other solid ingredients.
- WTF Labz Kick Ass . Supplement of 25 mg ephedra, 250 mg caffeine and 150 mg DMHA. It contains other fatty substances, so the mixture works one hundred percent.
Use ephedra for your benefit, but only when necessary. Don't put fat burners first. Losing weight without diet and exercise will still not work.
L-carnitine
It was not for nothing that we chose L-carnitine first, because this is the most popular supplement recommended by many trainers, which sports nutrition manufacturers position as an effective fat burner.
Efficiency
Carnitine is believed to play a key role in the process of mobilizing fats for use as fuel. It is for this reason that this supplement has become so popular among athletes. Theoretically, the more carnitine you get, the more fat you can burn.
However, back in 1997, scientists from the Department of Family Medicine at the University of California concluded that L-carnitine does not have a fat-burning effect. This point of view is also shared by specialists at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
We also present the position of an independent organization that analyzes scientific research - Examine.com. Experts from this authoritative organization came to the conclusion that, theoretically, supplements containing L-carnitine should work, but an analysis of numerous studies showed that carnitine still does not have a fat-burning effect.
Safety
Experts from the University of Connecticut conducted a study which found that using L-carnitine as a supplement does not cause side effects.
Verdict: Fat burners that contain L-carnitine are not effective for burning fat.
