I get questions all the time about fat loss supplements. Do I use them? Yes and No. I use them when I remember to use them. (I’m very bad at taking supplements) and when I need energy (since I don’t drink coffee).  I DO NOT use them as a source for fat loss. Fat loss occurs when you consume less calories and expel more, period. What fat loss supplements do is not necessarily create fat loss, but instead, stimulate fat loss.

The goal of most weight loss supplements is to stimulate one or more of the following:
– decreasing food cravings
– speeding up the metabolism
– interfering with the body’s ability to absorb specific nutrients in food
– shedding excess water

I usually resort to supplementing with a fat loss pill when I am months into my fitness program and need an extra boost in my training. My supplement of choice right now is Endure DX™. This formula was specifically made for endurance athletes (I’m an endurance mommy) and is all natural. It is made through the company, Natural Dynamix and will be in stores and on their website in October. (I was able to try it out early!)

There are many, many fat loss/diet pills in the market today, so it’s important to do your research and find one that works well for you should you go that direction. For example, I remember the heydays when Hydroxycut and Xenadrine were really popular. It was also the time when ephedra was still in a lot of their formulas (it’s not allowed anymore). I would hear horror stories about people going to the hospital because their heart was palpitating at a tremendous rate.

So figure out what works for you. You do this by research, trusting a good company and by referrals. Don’t trust what the FDA says. They don’t regulate supplement companies anyways. Since supplements are classified as food products, not medicines, so they aren’t regulated by the strict standards governing the sale of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Dr. Michael Roizon writes:

The FDA has very little authority to mess with nutritional supplement companies because they’re not drug manufacturers; they’re selling foodstuffs or nutraceuticals (natural substances believed to have health benefits), according to some decision made decades ago.

Further, the FDA can’t even inspect the company’s manufacturing process unless it has reasonable evidence that its products are harming people—and this means some people need to be harmed before the FDA can step in. That’s a little late, if you ask me.

This lack of regulation can lead to wildly inconsistent quality—and there’s even no guarantee that the ingredient touted on a bottle’s label will be in the supplement at all.

Right now, the Kardashian brand, Quick Trim is under a $5 million lawsuit. Kristie Alley is being sued for her mis-guided claims about her weight loss supplement, Organic Liaison. Even our beloved BL trainer, Jillian Michaels is being sued for her diet pills.

So be careful.

Use fat loss supplements carefully. Do your research. Follow directions and use it as an ‘extra’ in your successful workout and diet routine.

For more information about Natural Dynamix go to their website here.