Weight loss plays an important part of maintaining your health, particularly if you are an athlete or weightlifter. Controlling your weight not only contributes to greater muscle definition and physical performance, but also improves nearly all aspects of your health. Unfortunately, for many people, losing excess weight is easier said than done. While a solid diet and plenty of physical activity are the key tenets to any effective weight loss regimen, many people find success using fat burners derived from natural sources. Here’s a look at some of the most effective fat burners you may find on the market.

1. CAFFEINE

Of all the fat burners you may find on the nutrition labels of diet supplements, caffeine is probably the most common and the most recognizable. Caffeine is most commonly found in coffee, tea, and cocoa beans. It’s best known for providing you with some pep to get you through your day, which is part of what makes it an effective fat burner. Caffeine acts as a stimulant, giving you a dose of energy to help you work out harder at the gym.

Studies show that caffeine may also work as a thermogenic fat burner, meaning that it can directly increase your natural metabolic rate by increasing your body temperature. This allows you to burn more calories. Other studies also suggest that caffeine can increase lipolysis, the process wherein your body breaks down stores of fat and converts them into energy. Caffeine has also been shown to suppress appetite, which can prevent overeating and unhealthy snacking between meals.

However, too much caffeine can lead to various health problems. It can make you jittery and irritable, increase your heart rate, make you anxious, and cause various digestion issues. Caffeine may also cause sleep problems, which ultimately interferes with your natural recovery after workouts. Worse yet, caffeine’s flood of energy often comes with a crash, which is not great when you’re mid-workout. Furthermore, drinking caffeine can lead to habituation and tolerance, meaning your body will need more of it to garner the same physical effects.

If you already drink several cups of coffee each day, consider cutting back when using caffeine as a fat burner. You should also stay away from caffeine sources that are sugary and high in calories. If you are not sure how sensitive you are to caffeine, start slow and small or consider trying alternatives, like TeaCrine®.

2. TEACRINE®

TeaCrine® is the patented form of theacrine, a compound that can be found in tea leaves, coffee, and certain fruits. It actually has a chemical structure similar to caffeine and presents many of its same benefits, including increased physical energy, improved mood and motivation, and greater mental focus, without any of the drawbacks of caffeine. That means no jitters, irritability, tolerance, crash, or other health issues associated with caffeine. Many athletes and bodybuilders also find it helpful to use caffeine and TeaCrine® in conjunction as the two compounds actually complement each other.

3. GRAINS OF PARADISE

Grains of paradise are the seeds and fruits that come from a plant in the ginger family scientifically known as Aframomum melegueta. Commonly used a spice to season foods, grains of paradise shares a similar composition and many of the same bioactive chemicals as ginger. Traditionally, grains of paradise was used for treating general digestion problems and intestinal issues.

Studies suggest that grains of paradise can help you burn fat by converting white fat into brown fat. Brown fat produces more heat, allowing for greater calorie burn. Activating brown fat also expedites the metabolism of lipids and glucose and increases the amount of energy you use. All of this ultimately means burning more calories, which equates to greater fat burn.

4. iFAS503®

iFAS503® is a proprietary weight loss ingredient that is comprised of extractions taken from three powerful fatty acid synthase inhibitors: green tea, parasitic loranthus, and tuber fleeceflower. Fatty acid synthase is a naturally occurring enzyme that can be used by muscle tissue as high energy fuel during exercises but is more often stored in the body’s fat cells as triacylglycerol.

By inhibiting the fatty acid synthase enzyme, iFAS503® can limit your body’s ability to form fatty acids for storage. This can lead to a reduced appetite, allowing for decreased food intake for reduced weight. Studies also suggest that iFAS503® may have a thermogenic effect, allowing for increased energy expenditure and calorie burn for greater weight loss.

5. GREEN TEA EXTRACT

Green tea, which comes from the plant Camellia sinensis, offers a surprising range of health benefits on its own. Green tea extract provides a more concentrated form of those benefits. Green tea extract is high in caffeine as well as a polyphenol known as EGCG, short for epigallocatechin gallate.

EGCG has been shown to benefit just about every part of the body, but studies show that it may present some significant weight loss potential by increasing lipid oxidation and other fat-burning pathways. EGCG has also been shown to possess potential thermogenic effects, allowing for greater calorie burn. Combining the effects of EGCG with caffeine offers high potential for fat loss, but as mentioned above, be aware of your caffeine consumption.

6. WAKAME EXTRACT

Wakame is a type of seaweed usually served in soups and salads. It may provide plenty of health benefits on its own, but for fat burning potential, the main compound to look for is fucoxanthin. Fucoxanthin is a pigment compound that gives brown seaweed, like wakame, its color.

Fucoxanthin has a molecular structure similar to vitamin A and beta carotene, though it doesn’t act like either vitamin in the body. Instead, it gets stored in fat cells for a long period of time. When activated, fucoxanthin can stimulate fat loss while preventing the differentiation and proliferation of fat cells. Some studies suggest that fucoxanthin may also correct abnormalities in the metabolism of glucose in muscle tissue and reduce cholesterol levels.

While supplements are not the key to progress, they can be an effective tool in helping you shed stubborn pounds and maintain greater muscle definition. At MYOKEM™, you can find two patented weight loss supplements. Thyrovate™ is a stimulant-free fat burning solution that targets the midsection by increasing weight loss and reducing appetite. Pyroxamine™ acts as an advanced thermogenic agent, accelerating fat loss by increasing your metabolism and providing a smooth flow of energy.

Remember that there is no single miracle ingredient that works for everyone. If a certain fat burning ingredient does not work for you, consider trying a different supplement or re-evaluating your diet and exercise regimen.