Which fat burner is better for losing fat, L-carnitine or the popular fat burner products on the market? I would like fast results to burn fat and just need to know which product to buy.
I actually don’t recommend wasting your money on any fat burner supplements. These “fat burners” and other nutritional supplements on the market have absolutely no FDA regulation (other than label claims), so be very aware of this when shopping for any supplement, especially fat burners. The key element of any fat burner is a stimulant such as caffeine, green tea or any other ingredient that boosts your heart rate and gives you a rush when exercising. Most of the products on the market are simply glorified caffeine pills and these companies sell them at an extremely high price with massive profit margins.
Your best option is to stick with a cup of coffee or some green tea and drink this in the morning on an empty stomach before doing 45-60 minutes of cardio exercise. The stimulant effect of the caffeine will do exactly the same as the fat burner supplements which is to give you an energy burst and stimulate your metabolism. The best thing about choosing this option is that you save a ton of money! A box of green tea will cost you about $5 versus buying a fat burner supplement for around $40 per bottle.
When consuming a caffeine product like coffee or green tea, make sure to drink it totally plain. Do not add a bunch of cream, sugar or honey to your drink since this will ruin the fat burning effect you’re after. The reason is because when you start adding any carbs (sugar, honey) to your pre-workout drink in the morning, you will have to burn off all of these carbs before your body starts tapping into your stored fat for energy. The reason why doing morning cardio exercise is so important is because when you wake up, you will have an empty stomach since you will have fasted for 6-8 hours while you were sleeping the night before. Your body has basically used up all the carbs from the day before and when you do cardio in the morning, you will be able to start burning adipose tissue (body fat) for energy much more quickly than any other time during the day. You might as well take advantage of this important window of opportunity in the morning to maximum your fat loss results.
The type of cardio workouts you choose is also an important factor when your overall goal is to burn fat and get really lean. If you are capable of doing high intensity exercise, you should focus on high calorie burning exercises like sprints, jumping rope, running stairs and doing overall HIIT cardio workouts (High Intensity Interval Training) to burn a maximum amount of fat and really stimulate your metabolism. The reason why HIIT cardio is so great is because you shock your system and burn a lot of calories in a short amount of time (20-25 minutes). This allows you to tap into something called EPOC (Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen Consumption) or what’s also referred to as the “afterburn” effect. EPOC is a measurably increased rate of oxygen intake following high intensity activity that is intended to erase the body’s oxygen debt as it returns itself to homeostasis, or to the pre-exercise state.
You can include HIIT cardio training into virtually any exercise since it based on intense intervals. So, if you enjoy riding the stationary bike at the gym you basically will do a warm up for 3-5 minutes and then once your muscles are fully warmed up, the breakdown of your HIIT cardio workout will look like this:
- 30 seconds of super high intensity (90-95% effort)
- 60 seconds of normal intensity (rest period)
- Repeat this for 20-25 minutes
This is basically 1 full set and it’s important to understand that you will not stop during the rest period, you simply slow down to your normal rate of intensity. So, if you’re doing the stationary bike you would increase the resistance a little and pedal as fast as you can go for 30 seconds and then drop it back down to normal peddling for another 60 seconds which will allow you to rest before the next set starts. You want to repeat this routine for about 20-25 minutes to complete one full HIIT cardio workout which will burn a ton of calories. You can implement this HIIT cardio style training into various exercises such as sprinting and walking on the treadmill, using the elliptical machine and doing the rowing machine. You can watch this HIIT stair sprints and jump rope video to see how a high intensity interval training cardio workout is set up.
Please make sure to remember that along with incorporating a solid cardio workout routine and stimulants (caffeine) into your fitness plan, you also need to realize the importance of your diet when it comes to burning body fat and getting lean. The old saying is, “Abs are made in the kitchen” and this is so true when it comes to reducing body fat. The best cardio workout or fat burning supplement in the world will not help you if you’re eating junk food all day long. Try to really think about the level of calories being consumed versus the calories being burned for a moment and it becomes very clear that you simply can’t out exercise a bad diet! You would need to run about 10 miles to burn off the amount of calories in a double cheeseburger, large fries and a strawberry milkshake.
A great tip is to get into a habit of thinking about how much exercise it will take to burn off the calories in the food before you eat it. If you find yourself about ready to pull the trigger on a couple of coconut creme pie donuts (900 total calories), try to imagine how long it will take to burn off all those extra calories. Trust me, this will give you a wake-up call very quickly! If you’ve been following a workout program, you know exactly how hard it is to do 60 minutes on an elliptical machine! Choose a better option such as fat-free, sugar-free frozen yogurt to satisfy your sweet tooth while saving literally hundreds of calories!
