What Are "Fat Burning". Work? A detailed look at two of the most prominent active ingredients: CLA and Carnitine
Fat burners are compounds that boast a unique attraction in the way of fitness and bodybuilding. One of the most used supplements ever. But are they really worth that much? Can they really help us? In this article we will try to understand it with a particular look at two of them: CLA and Carnitine.
How to lose weight
Before we start let’s try to understand what are the basic principles of slimming down. How can I lose weight?
At the base of everything, in truth, there is the energy balance. To make it simple and, alas, trivialize the whole, man is a thermal machine. We have an energy input (the kcal we eat) and an output (the NEAT, the steps, the physical activities we perform etc.). If the balance is in deficit (energy deficit), then we will lean.
There are many ways to lose weight, we can lose more or less fat, more or less muscle tissue, more or less glycogen and water etc... in short, the calorie deficit makes us lose weight but impacts differently on our body composition based on how we set it.
Without getting to the heart of the matter, what we are interested in is to have a sufficient protein intake (1.5-2gr/kg body weight) and create the deficit gradually (we do not drop calories quickly!).
The role of fat burners
If the deficit is enough what role do fat burners play? These compounds can indeed give us a hand. Many different products are produced, each with a particular role. In general they have the function of accelerating the metabolism and allowing to spend, ceteris paribus, more kcal. So they favor the energy deficit that we saw in the previous paragraph by making us lose weight faster. Just be careful not to exaggerate because many of them, stimulants, act on the autonomic nervous system leading, with an overload, to a situation of adrenal fatigue that we will analyze in a later article.
Cla and carnitine
Let’s take a look at two compounds normally used as fat burner.
CLA is a structure of more fatty acids with 18 carbon and two double bonds. In short, a lipid. Its supplementation as a fat burner has been suggested because of its impact on the PPAR receptor family which is linked to the lipid oxidation process. To date, the effects on man have not been confirmed. It seems instead there is an effect of improvement and increase in muscle mass that, in a context of energy deficit, can definitely help. The recommended dosage ranges from 3200 to 6400mg/day.
The CLA is particularly present in GRASSFED red meat, which is recommended to be given priority over intensive farming (GRAINFED).
Carnitine is an amino acid produced by the body from lysine and methionine. Its supplementation was suggested because it was involved in mitochondrial lipid oxidation of long-chain fatty acids. In short, carnitine is essential for the oxidation of fats. However, its integration has not been helped in this sense because, as we have said, it is an amino acid sufficiently produced by our body. Its excess does not lead to an increase in oxidation processes. It is, however, a compound of multiple benefits that we will analyze in another article.
Conclusions
Fat burners can certainly be valuable allies but we must be careful what the market proposes, their integration is not always useful and we must, above all, know how to contextualize them properly. Our advice is always to choose the compound products (c.d. stack) that contain different molecules and compounds inside that, if well formulated, lead to a synergy of interesting action... for the rest, we never forget the importance of an healthy diet!
