When it comes to weight loss supplements, you either get over-marketed or hyped up claims, or you get these really effective weight loss supplements that nobody knows about. These really effective weight loss supplements fly under the radar of most people because they just aren't aware that they exist. As a result, most patients end up taking the fad supplements instead of the ones that really work.
What I want to do today is to talk about some of the most effective weight loss supplements that you've probably never heard of. And as always, whenever we talk about weight loss supplements, remember that your individual mileage may vary and that supplements should only act as a supplement to the weight loss treatments that you're already using, like diet and exercise. When they're used this way, they make those therapies like diet and exercise even more effective, which means more weight loss for you.
Best Weight Loss Supplements
With that out of the way, let's talk about my five most favorite weight loss supplements starting right now.
1. Glucomannan
Glucomannan is actually a dietary fiber, which may seem weird until you understand how it works. It's actually unique among dietary fibers because it expands when it's introduced to water. And this effect has several benefits for you or somebody who is trying to lose weight.
The first is that it puts pressure on the inside of your stomach, which sends the signal to your brain that you are full. This helps to curb your appetite, which means that you can use it strategically to help reduce your appetite when you want to.
The second is that it forms a glue-like material, which acts to slow down the absorption of food. As a result, when you take it, you will see a less aggressive rise in blood sugar and a more muted response to insulin.
And finally, because glucomannan is a dietary fiber, it also has a positive impact on your gut microbiome. By acting as a food source for healthy bacteria, it can help increase the composition of that healthy bacteria, which can help you lose weight more easily.
I personally love to recommend glucomannan to patients who are trying to lose weight because it works via a completely different mechanism than most of the other weight loss supplements we're about to discuss. It can be used alone or it can be used in conjunction with other weight loss supplements or even other weight loss medications.
This all sounds great in theory, but what do the studies show? Does it actually work? As with any natural therapy, you will get some mixed results when you look at the studies. But there are several studies which show that taking glucomannan daily for about eight weeks will result in about a five pound weight loss.
This is pretty damn good for a natural weight loss therapy that has very few side effects. My personal recommendation, if you want to use glucomannan, is to use it to help you get more out of your intermittent fasting or prolonged fasting regimen. It's also really beneficial if you struggle with overeating or binge eating.
Glucomannan is generally very well tolerated. However, it should not be used if you are somebody who has undergone bariatric surgery. This is also true if you have any sort of malfunction or change in anatomy in your esophagus.
Some people do notice some slight bloating when they take glucomannan, but this side effect tends to fade after just a couple days of use.
2. Berberine
I've personally talked a lot about berberine in the past, and it may be one of my favorites on this list. Berberine is a plant alkaloid, which acts as a weak AMPK activator. AMPK is the enzyme that your body activates whenever you undergo exercise. While taking berberine will not take the place of regular exercise, you can think about the benefits of berberine by thinking about the benefits of exercise.
Obviously, the effects are not the same. However, this helps wrap your head around all the benefits you get when you take it. Here are different ways that berberine can actually help your body lose weight.
- The first is by increasing mitochondrial density inside of your muscle cells.
- The second is by helping to suppress your appetite.
- The third is by increasing the population of healthy bacteria inside of your gut.
- And the fourth is that it may increase the burning of adipose tissue directly.
One meta analysis of over 12 different studies that included berberine showed that taking it daily results in a decrease in BMI, waist circumference, and the marker CRP. Overall, it's a really solid weight loss supplement, especially if you're suffering from conditions like insulin resistance, diabetes, or elevated blood sugar.
If you're going to be using berberine, my recommendation is to combine it with exercise because this is how it really starts to shine.
3. Black seed oil
Black seed oil is one of those supplements that can do just about anything. People use it for urinary tract infections, upper respiratory infections, joint pain, back pain, inflammation, and now even weight loss. Even though you may not traditionally think of black seed oil as a true weight loss supplement, there are plenty of studies that show that it has a positive effect on your weight.
There's a meta analysis of over 13 different studies showed that taking Nigella sativa daily has a positive impact on BMI and body weight. The average weight loss in these studies was about 4.5 pounds over eight weeks, putting it in line with glucomannan. Outside of these studies, I can personally tell you that it has a powerful anti-inflammatory effect, which may explain why it works for some people and not others.
If your weight gain has an inflammatory component, then it's likely that through its anti-inflammatory effects that it may help you lose weight. This means it's great for patients who are suffering from inflammatory conditions like autoimmune disease, thyroid dysfunction, insulin resistance, and leptin resistance. Just so that you aren't confused, be aware that you might find this supplement labeled as either Nigella sativa, thymoquinone, or black seed oil.
Nigella sativa is the plant that produces the black seed, which is then cold pressed to produce the black seed oil. And thymoquinone is the active ingredient found inside black seed oil. So you will find supplements and studies which use these various different names, but they're all pretty similar in terms of their effects.
By far, the biggest downside to using black seed oil is not whether or not it works, but it's taste. I'm personally fine taking something that doesn't taste very well if I know that it's healthy. But if you are somebody who doesn't like taking potent flavors, then using black seed oil is probably not the best option for you.
You can sometimes find black seed oil in a gel cap. However, realize that the dose found in a gel cap is going to be much less than if you take it in liquid form. Other than the flavor, it's pretty well tolerated.
4. Yohimbine
Number four on the list is Yohimbine, this is one of those supplements that gets a lot of attention because of its ability to act as a fat burner. I definitely wouldn't say it works as well as most people believe.
However, it does have a very interesting mechanism of action, which is different from all of the other supplements we've discussed so far. Yohimbine essentially works by enhancing the effects of your fight or flight response system. This system is known as the sympathetic nervous system, and through its actions on neurotransmitters can impact energy production, fat burning, and glucose utilization.
Yohimbine seems to work by increasing fat breakdown by blocking alpha adrenergic receptors. It's kind of a double negative when you say it like that. So I think it's best to think about Yohimbine as working by removing the brakes off of your body's ability to burn fat.
The reason I'm not a huge fan of this particular supplement is because it doesn't work well in isolation or if you just use it alone. If you want to see results, then you must use Yohimbine with exercise. This is because as you take Yohimbine, your body will break down more fat that will be pushed into circulation.
But if you're not burning that fat, then it won't have any benefit to you. Of course, you should be exercising anyway, but there are plenty of people who are going to be reading this who don't want to make any changes to their lifestyle. If that's the case, Yohimbine is not the best option for you because it will only work well if you take it with exercise.
If you're somebody who is already exercising and you want that exercise to be even more effective, then Yohimbine is the perfect option for you. And number five on the list would be probiotics. Probiotics aren't really thought of as traditional weight loss supplements, but they absolutely can help.
5. Probiotics
One meta-analysis of 27 different studies found that 23 of these 27 studies showed that taking probiotics daily had a positive impact on body weight. These are pretty impressive numbers considering most people don't even think about taking a probiotic to help manage their weight. The mechanism by which probiotics help with weight loss is not completely understood, but it definitely has at least something to do with the probiotics ability to alter your gut microbiome.
The composition of the trillions of bacteria found inside of your gut set the stage for the production of neurotransmitters, the activation of hormones, and the absorption of calories. So it's probably the case that taking probiotics has a positive impact on every single one of these and overall just leads to a healthier you. The healthier you are when you take a probiotic means that you'll have more energy, you'll be more likely to work out, you'll be burning more calories at rest, and you'll be more likely to lose weight overall.
Based on my own experience, I believe that taking a probiotic daily will have a positive impact on your overall health and may also help with weight loss. Don't necessarily just take them for weight loss, but take them instead for an overall healthier you. And if weight loss comes, that's even better.
Conclusion
If weight loss is something that you're trying to obtain by using a probiotic, then you're going to be using a very high dose, probably at least 100 billion CFU per serving. This is roughly five times the standard dosing that you'll find in a regular probiotic, which usually contains about 20 billion CFU. While taking supplements can definitely help you lose weight, they're not the only thing that you can take to help.
Make sure you are also keeping an eye on your hormones. If you think your hormones are preventing you from losing weight, then I'd recommend checking out our next post.
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