There’s quite a bit of evidence, both clinical and anecdotal, supporting fat burners as part of a well-planned fat loss regimen for women. Whether you need to cut for a physique show or you’re looking to shed some weight, fat burner supplements may be able to help. Sure, there’s no way around a regimented diet and workout schedule when it comes to fat loss, but fat burners can still play a role in a woman’s weight loss journey. Whether you take them as their own supplement or find them included in your pre-workout, they may be a helpful tool for you.
Not all of the ingredients you’ll find in fat burners have the same effects. For example, some ingredients are included for their supporting role in thermogenesis, and others for their potential to help with appetite suppression, fat oxidation, and more. For us, having a thoughtful balance of proven ingredients at the correct dosages combined with more experimental ones is ultimately how we selected the best fat burners for women. Below, we break down our picks, the ingredients that make up these high quality fat burners, and our methodology for choosing the brands that we did.
The Best Fat Burners for Women
- The Best Fat Burner for Women Overall: Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
- Best Fat Burner for Women Over 40: Transparent Labs Fat Burner
- The Best Fat Burner for Women’s Bodybuilding: Transparent Labs Fat Burner
- Best Natural Fat Burner for Women: Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine)
- Best Pre-Workout Fat Burner for Women: Transparent Labs Lean
- Best Non-Stim Fat Burner for Women: Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
- The Best Fat Burner for Appetite Suppression: Leanbean
Editor’s note: The content on BarBend is meant to be informative in nature, but it should not be taken as medical advice. The opinions and articles on this site are not intended for use as diagnosis, prevention, and/or treatment of health problems. It’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor before beginning a new fitness, nutritional, and/or supplement routine.
Best Fat Burners for Women Video Review
Be sure to check out our best women’s fat burners video for an even more in-depth analysis of this supplement. BarBend’s own Nick English walks you through our top picks for this list in greater detail.
The Best Fat Burner for Women Overall
This pick has all-natural active ingredients that target fat loss from a thermogenic approach, comes in vegetarian capsules, and may help suppress appetite. That’s why it lands in our top spot for women’s fat burners.
Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
Hourglass Fit Fat Burner contains fat-burning ingredients that can potentially help you achieve your weight loss goals via thermogenesis. Thermogenesis can help increase your metabolism by potentially raising your body’s temperature. A big part of the appeal is that this formula is nearly caffeine-free, making it a perfect supp to take before any meal, including dinner, without messing up your sleep cycle. This formula contains 3,000mg of glucomannan, a dietary fiber that may help decrease appetite.
- Caffeine: None
- Key Ingredients: 1.7mg vitamin B6, 2.4mcg vitamin B12, 125mcg chromium, 8mg zinc, 1.1mg vitamin B12, 3000mg konjac root extract, 100mg cayenne pepper extract, 5mg black pepper extract, 150mg 5-HTP
- Capsules Per Serving: 4
- Price Per Serving: $2.17
The other ingredients in this fat burner include 125mcg of chromium, 1.7mg of vitamin B6, and 100mg of capsicum fruit extract, which one study suggests directly affects weight loss by improving control of insulin and may even benefit those with obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular diseases. (2) Hourglass Fit Fat Burner requires you to take one pill up to four times a day. Each daily serving will cost you around $2, making it a pretty pricey fat burner compared to the rest of the market.
Who Should Take Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
- People who want to utilize more than one avenue for fat loss will appreciate that this supp aims to boost thermogenesis and metabolism.
- Women who want a vegan fat burner will appreciate the vegan ingredients and veggie capsules in this pick.
- Those who want a fat burner without an intense amount of caffeine will like that this is a stim-free fat burner.
Who Shouldn’t Take Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
- Women who want a fat burner that has ingredients that produce skin tingles will want a fat burner with beta-alanine.
- Individuals who are on a budget will probably want a fat burner that costs less than $2 per serving.
- Those who want a caffeinated fat burner can easily find one elsewhere on this list.
Hourglass Fit Fat Burner contains active ingredients that can help support fat loss through craving suppression and a potential boost in metabolism. The ingredient list makes this supp stand out amongst the crowd, so we think it’s totally worth the higher price tag if you can swing it.
Best Fat Burner for Women Over 40
If you’re finding it harder to get rid of stubborn fat as you age, this pick aims to help boost your metabolism (which can often drop as you get older) and suppress your appetite. (4)
Transparent Labs Fat Burner
Transparent Labs Fat Burner is formulated with nine ingredients that can help boost metabolism and suppress appetite, which may help you burn more calories, and address issues of overeating or eating out of boredom. As you age, your body changes, and one of the main occurrences is that your metabolism may slow down. (4) Some ingredients in this formula, including 25mg of synephrine, 250mg of Forslean®, and 200mg of green tea, are all thermogenic aids, which may have an effect on metabolism, as thermogenesis is a metabolic process. (5)
This fat burner contains research suggested ingredient amounts of green tea extract, as well as synephrine, and HTP-5, which may suppress your appetite.
The other ingredients in this formula include 150mg of 5-HTP, 150mg of l-tyrosine, 120mg of l-theanine, 120mg of caffeine anhydrous, 60mg of white willow, and 50mg of cayenne pepper. This pick comes in vegetarian capsules and requires you to take two capsules two times daily 30 to 60 minutes before mealtime. This product is a bit more expensive than others on our list though, as it’ll cost you around $0.90 per serving, and requires two servings per day.
Who Should Buy Transparent Labs Fat Burner
- Women 40+ who are looking for a wide variety of ingredients that can specifically help with metabolism, which can potentially slow down as you age. These women will appreciate the green tea extract and synephrine here.
- Customers who are looking for a caffeinated fat burner as this pick contains caffeine and green tea extract.
- Folks who want a pretty robust natural fat burner will appreciate these eight all-natural ingredients.
Who Shouldn’t Buy Transparent Labs Fat Burner
- Women who don’t value this product’s comprehensive ingredient list can find less expensive fat burners out there.
- Those who want a fat burner that is specifically geared toward women will want to look elsewhere.
- Folks who are sensitive to caffeine may want a fat burner that is a non-stimulant formula.
For women who are aging and noticing the effects of their changing metabolism, this formula contains several ingredients that can help boost your metabolism via thermogenesis to potentially provide fat burning results.
Read our full review of Transparent Labs Fat Burner.
The Best Fat Burner for Women’s Bodybuilding
Maintaining a caloric deficit for fat loss can sometimes lead to muscle loss, as well. For women who are specifically training to gain muscle — like bodybuilders — this product can help you keep every hard-earned ounce of muscle mass.
Transparent Labs Fat Burner
It can be hard to keep up your training intensity during a cut. Lowering your calories can make you feel sluggish in the gym, and if you’re trying to maintain as much muscle as possible when dropping fat, you’ll need to keep that intensity going. Transparent Labs Fat Burner can help, thanks to its 300mg of green tea extract, 50mg of cayenne pepper extract, and 125mg of caffeine — all ingredients that can improve your energy and focus in the gym.
This fat burner contains research suggested ingredient amounts of green tea extract, as well as synephrine, and HTP-5, which may suppress your appetite.
These ingredients may also help speed up your metabolism, helping you burn off more fat whether you’re working out or at rest. It also has 250mg of l-theanine, a nonprotein amino acid that can change white fat tissue into brown fat tissue. Unlike white fat tissue, which stores energy, brown fat tissue actually helps further the processes by which the body burns energy, helping the body burn off more calories. (7)(8)
Transparent Labs also included black pepper extract in this formula, which may aid in digestion and can help the body absorb more of the ingredients above. And, like all Transparent Labs products, these ingredients are non-GMO and free of artificial sweeteners, coloring, preservatives, and gluten.
Who Should Take Transparent Labs Fat Burner
- Bodybuilders who are focused on gaining or retaining more muscle during a cut will appreciate the green coffee bean extract and cayenne pepper extract here, which can help reduce appetite and increase energy in the gym.
- Vegans. Transparent Labs uses veggie capsules instead of animal-sourced gelatin.
- Anyone who wants to burn calories at rest will like the thermogenic ingredients in this supplement.
Who Shouldn’t Take Transparent Labs Fat Burner
- Women who are looking for something without stimulants — this stack has 125mg of caffeine.
- Women who aren’t as muscle-focused may be able to find other (simpler) fat burners to fit different specific needs.
- Anyone who’s allergic to black pepper will want to go with another supplement.
It’s important to hold onto hard-earned muscle during a cut, and even more so for bodybuilders who need every precious ounce of muscle they can keep. Transparent Labs Fat Burner has ingredients, like green coffee extract, cayenne pepper extract, and l-theanine, that can help support even the toughest contest preps, and maintain energy levels in the gym.
Best Natural Fat Burner for Women
If you’re looking to potentially burn excess fat in the most natural way possible — that is, without harsh chemicals, fake ingredients, or stimulants — this product is your best bet.
Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine)
Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine) is an all-natural supplement that is also stim-free in its formulation. It has no artificial fillers, food dyes, or flavors, so you can rest assured that this is a high-quality, natural blend. The ingredient lineup includes 100mg of black ginger, 150mg of 5-HTP, 50mg of forskolin, 1000mg of caralluma fimbriata, and 8mg of fucoxanthin.
Legion's Phoenix comes with an extra absorbable form of synephrine and a high dosage of EGCG to promote its fat-burning properties. Each five-capsule serving provides 834 milligrams of Citrus Aurantium.
All of these active ingredients occur naturally and may have properties that boost thermogenesis, as well as metabolism for a desired fat loss effect. The lack of caffeine makes this the perfect fat burner to take before dinner without the fear of the stimulants keeping you up all night.
Who Should Buy Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine)
- Women who appreciate an all-natural lineup of ingredients will like to see that the active ingredients in this supplement are all 100 percent natural (and the capsule is even vegetarian).
- Customers who are looking for a caffeine-free fat burner will love that this supp has no caffeine in it.
- Folks who don’t want artificial sweeteners, food dyes, or fillers in their fat burner.
Who Shouldn’t Buy Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine)
- Women who are pill averse as it’s recommended you take three of these pills each day.
- Those who prefer a caffeinated fat burner will have to look outside of Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine) or pair this product with a caffeine pill.
- Those who want a more robust list of active ingredients.
Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine) is transparent in its labeling, provides all-natural ingredients avoiding artificial sweeteners, food dyes, and fillers, and focuses on high-quality ingredients that can help provide the best possible burn.
Best Pre-Workout Fat Burner for Women
If you’re trying to nix bottles from your supplement stash, you may prefer to take your fat burner combined with your pre-workout — this pre-workout contains both l-carnitine and caffeine that may help with fat burn.
Transparent Labs LEAN
Though this product isn’t labeled specifically as a “fat burner,” it still has fat-burning qualities. It contains your main pre-workout ingredients like citrulline malate, beta-alanine, betaine, and branched-chain amino acids. It also tacks on l-carnitine, which can help turn fat into energy, and caffeine, which can help with fat burn as well as energy levels.
Third-party tested and clearly dosed, Transparent Labs LEAN has a huge variety of ingredients for endurance, power, alertness, and focus. Use code BARBEND10 for 10% off.
Transparent Labs LEAN contains no artificial sweeteners, coloring, or preservatives, and it comes in eight flavors. However, this supplement is powdered, so if you prefer to take a pill for convenience, you may want to look elsewhere. The price point on this is around $1.65 per serving, which is not the highest on our list, but still a bit higher than other picks.
Who Should Buy Transparent Labs LEAN
- Women who want to take a pre-workout and a fat burner, and would rather just combine the two into one supplement.
- Athletes who want to drink their fat burner since this blend comes as a powder that you mix into a liquid.
- People who want a fat burner that is free of artificial sweeteners, coloring, and preservatives.
Who Shouldn’t Buy Transparent Labs LEAN
- Folks who are just looking for a fat burner and aren’t interested in pre-workout ingredients can find more fat-burn-dedicated products out there.
- Women who prefer to take their fat burner in pill form for convenience.
- Anyone on a budget and focused on fat-burning will find cheaper alternatives throughout this list.
For those who are already taking a pre-workout, taking Transparent Labs LEAN can kill two birds with one stone. While it still contains pre-workout ingredients, it also contains fat burning ingredients, like l-carnitine, to potentially up your fat burn.
Read our full Transparent Labs LEAN Review.
Best Non-Stim Fat Burner for Women
Non-stimulant fat burners are ideal for those who work out late at night or anyone who just prefers to avoid stimulants altogether. This non-stim option is one of our favorites.
Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
If you prefer to get your stimulants from coffee or pre-workouts, or you just want to skip them in general, Hourglass Fit Fat Burner has ingredients that can help with fat burn, like chromium and vitamin B6, as well as cayenne pepper extract, which can potentially increase calorie burn, and 5-HTP, which can help reduce cravings.
- Caffeine: None
- Key Ingredients: 1.7mg vitamin B6, 2.4mcg vitamin B12, 125mcg chromium, 8mg zinc, 1.1mg vitamin B12, 3000mg konjac root extract, 100mg cayenne pepper extract, 5mg black pepper extract, 150mg 5-HTP
- Capsules Per Serving: 4
- Price Per Serving: $2.17
Instead of loading up with stimulants like beta-alanine and caffeine, Hourglass Fit Fat Burner adds soluble fibers like glucomannan to help curb food cravings. It’ll cost around $2.00 per serving, which is higher than some of our other picks, but it could be worth the price, thanks to the natural ingredients and lack of stimulants.
Who Should Take Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
- Women who prefer to obtain their caffeine from coffee or pre-workout, not from their fat burner.
- Anyone who works out late at night or is just trying to avoid stimulants in general.
- Folks who want a product that may help reduce cravings and increase calorie burn will like the ingredients here.
Who Shouldn’t Take Hourglass Fit Fat Burner
- Folks who would prefer a powder fat-burning supplement should look elsewhere.
- Early morning gymgoers who may find value in a caffeine addition to their fat burner.
While some people may like the jolt from caffeine in their fat burner, others may prefer to skip stimulants, so they can exercise late at night. Since Hourglass Fit Fat Burner has zero added caffeine, this is a solid option for anyone trying to avoid jitters.
The Best Fat Burner for Appetite Suppression
If you often find yourself feeling hungry when you’re working in a caloric deficit, the proper fat burner (like this one) may help to curb those cravings by suppressing your appetite.
Leanbean
Leanbean includes many of the big player fat-burning ingredients, but it also targets cravings. This formula’s dietary fiber called glucomannan may help swell the stomach slightly to create a feeling of fullness — don’t worry, this is not a dangerous process. Leanbean contains three grams of glucomannan, which is more fiber than you may find in a lot of other fat burners on the market.
- Caffeine: No added caffeine but green coffee extract may add minimal amounts
- Key Ingredients: 0.56mg vitamin B6, 0.8mcg vitamin B12, 27.5mg choline, 1000mg glucomannan, 50mg cabbage palm, 40mg green coffee extract
- Capsules Per Serving: 1
- Price Per Serving: $0.39
This product is also marketed specifically toward women, and contains cayenne pepper and green tea extract, which may also help increase metabolism. Leanbean is definitely one of our higher-priced picks at around $2.00 per serving, but if you want a multifaceted approach to burning fat that includes appetite suppression, it may be well worth the price.
Who Should Buy Leanbean
- Women who are looking for a fat burner that includes fiber for a potential boost in satiety.
- Anyone working in a calorie deficit as this product’s glucomannan can potentially help keep you fuller for longer.
- Women who are looking for a product that is made for and marketed specifically to them.
Who Shouldn’t Buy Leanbean
- Buyers on a budget will find that this isn’t the least expensive option on this list.
- Women whose stomachs may not sit well with supplementary fiber may want to steer clear of this product.
- The pill-adverse may not like the six-pill serving size here.
Leanbean’s glucomannan can be helpful for women who are eating in a caloric deficit since it can act as an appetite suppressant and help you feel fuller for longer periods of time.
Read our full Leanbean Review.
Benefits of Fat Burners for Women
There are several different ways fat burners can impact women’s body fat levels, and they can be direct or indirect. It’s important to understand this; simply drinking a big glass of water before a meal will probably blunt your appetite. Eating more high-water foods, like lettuce and watermelon, will likely keep you fuller for fewer calories, as will high-fiber foods. Yet, water and watermelon aren’t called “fat burners”.
Calories are far and away the most important part of weight management. While some of the ingredients below can help to blunt appetite, others take a different approach to “burning fat”. Here are some of the most common ways in which fat burners work.
Increasing Fat Oxidation
Your body converts carbohydrates to energy when it needs fuel quickly. On the flip side, fat, or adipose tissue, is stored as energy for your body to use later. One weight loss strategy is to coax your body into using stored fat as its primary energy source. A 2004 study in Nutrition noted that there are many different exercises and dietary strategies to help the body burn more fat for fuel over carbs. (7)
This process is also called fat oxidation, and it’s about as close to a literal “fat burner” as you can get. Popular examples of fat burners for women include green tea extract (more specifically the antioxidant EGCG) and l-carnitine.
Increasing Metabolic Rate
To lose weight, you need to burn calories. There are two primary ways to increase your net calorie burn: 1) Decrease the number of calories you consume; and 2) increase your energy expenditure with conditioning work, and strength training. (8) If you’re dieting and increasing your activity level, then taking a fat burner with ingredients that may boost your body’s resting metabolic rate, may in turn, increase your net calorie burn. Capsaicin, a compound that makes peppers spicy, is perhaps the most common of those fat-burning ingredients, but hordenine and synephrine are also effective.
Decreasing Appetite
There are various ways women can decrease hunger, from prompting hormonal changes to starches that expand in the stomach. Given that the previous two entries seldom add up to more than a hundred extra calories burned, appetite suppression may be the most important part of fat burning. Glucomannan, made from the Japanese konjac tree, is a popular ingredient commonly found in fat burners, but ingredients like 5-HTP and psyllium husk can also have similar effects.
When Should I Take a Fat Burner for Women?
It’s ideal to take fat burners in the morning about 30 minutes before you eat breakfast. Since your metabolism generally slows during your sleep, a fat burner may be able to help kick it back into gear at the start of your day.
If you prefer, you can also take your fat burner about 30 minutes before you work out. Since fat burners often contain energy-boosting ingredients (like caffeine), they’re potentially useful as pre-workout supplements. (9)(10)
How Much Do Fat Burners for Women Cost?
To see what you are actually getting for your money when it comes to any supplement, you need to weigh the cost of the container against the number of servings you’re getting in that container. For women’s fat burners, this number typically varies from around $0.30 to about $3.00 per serving with an average price of $1.13 per serving.
Best Fat Burner for Women Overall | Hourglass Fit Fat Burner | 60.00
$2.00 per serving |
Best Fat Burner for Women over 40 | Transparent Labs Fat Burner | $54.99
$0.91 per serving |
Best Fat Burner for Women’s Bodybuilding | Transparent Labs Fat Burner | $54.99
$ 1.83 per serving |
Best Natural Fat Burner for Women | Legion Phoenix (No Caffeine) | $49.99
$1.65 per serving |
Best Pre-Workout Fat Burner for Women | Transparent Labs LEAN | $49.99
$1.66 per serving |
Best Non-Stimulant Fat Burner for Women | Hourglass Fit Fat Burner | $60.00
$2.00 per serving |
Best Fat Burner for Appetite Suppression | Leanbean | $60.00
$2.00 per serving |
Fat burners become more costly as you add extra ingredients to the fat burning blend. Most fat burners will include the main fat burning ingredients, like cayenne pepper extract, caffeine, and green tea extract, while the more expensive products may also include ingredients like HMB or come as pre-workout blends that can help with goals outside of fat burn.
How We Chose the Best Fat Burners for Women
We won’t try and pull the wool over your eyes and say that every ingredient in each of the fat burners reviewed is 100 percent supported by science. Still, we strive to ensure that studies back a fair amount of the prominent ingredients listed. Some ingredients may have beneficial effects, but their marketing claims are too high. For example, many products will tell you to take a fat burning supplement before a meal, and you won’t absorb any of the carbs. We cut these fat burners for women out of the running.
Dosage
Raspberry ketones are good examples of fat-burning ingredients that could work, but virtually nobody uses the dose that produced effects in studies. Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to disqualify any fat-burning supplement that has ingredients like that — if a fat burner has five perfectly dosed fat burning ingredients and one imperfectly dosed ingredient, we’re not going to throw it in the trash — but a lot of ineffective doses will hurt a product’s rating.
Proprietary Blends
Way too many fat-burners for women contain interesting ingredients, but don’t tell you how much of each fat-burning ingredient they contain. If we don’t know the dose, it’s hard to know just how effective the fat burner is. For that reason, we considered fat burners that heavily rely on proprietary blends less-than-ideal for consumers.
Price
We also need to emphasize that fat burners vary a lot in their ingredients — some lean more on appetite suppressants than increasing fat oxidation, and so on — so it’s pretty tough to decide which of two fat burners for women is a better value when their ingredients are totally different. Still, $2 per day is a threshold we found acceptable.
10 Common Fat Burner Ingredients
All of the fat burners on our list contain a handful, if not all, of the ingredients in the right doses — some may help boost the body’s ability to burn more calories, and some may help you feel less hungry. These are the most common ingredients you’ll find in fat burners.
Caffeine
Caffeine — which is primarily found in coffee and tea — is a stimulant. Stimulants appear to help with fat loss, as they increase your adrenaline, which appears to help break down fats. (11) Caffeine may also provide you with the increased energy levels needed to exercise and may tell your body to break down fats at the same time.
There can also be added calorie-burning benefits from taking caffeine — albeit, under 100 calories a day, according to research published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. (12) If you receive a lot of caffeine from other sources, like coffee or green tea, you may want to look for fat burners that contain little to no caffeine.
Yohimbine
Another popular stimulant is yohimbine, an alkaloid derived from Central Africa’s Yohimbe tree. While it may help reduce appetite, most research revolves around its apparent ability to reduce fat. A 2006 study in Research in Sports Medicine, for instance, saw that soccer players lost two more body fat percentage points than a placebo group over three weeks. (13)
Capsaicin
An active component in chili peppers, capsaicin has been linked to increased metabolism, and therefore, overall calorie burn. Studies published in the Journal of the Medical Association of Thailand and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition estimate that it’s probably no more than five to 50 extra calories per day. (14)(15)
Raspberry Ketones
When a study was published in 2010 in Planta Publica that found raspberry ketones reduced body fat among rodents, supplement companies cashed in. (16) Raspberry ketones are listed among some popular ingredients in fat burners, like Leanbean. Still, there aren’t any conclusive human studies. When you correct for body weight, the studies on rodents used amounts much larger than what you’d find in any fat burning supplement for women.
Hordenine
This molecule found in plants is under-researched overall. However, a promising 2009 study in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition concluded that this fat-burning supplement caused “a significant increase in energy expenditure” along with favorable changes in mood and blood pressure. (17) Be careful if you’re a tested athlete though, as some federations or organizations have hordenine listed as a banned substance.
Synephrine
Synephrine works synergistically with caffeine. Along with other ingredients, like naringin and hesperidin (all of these are citrus extracts), it can increase your metabolic rate. You can find all of these ingredients combined (except for caffeine) in Legion’s fat burner. A placebo-controlled study in the International Journal of Medical Sciences found that 50 milligrams of the stuff increased the participants’ metabolism by 65 calories without increasing hunger. When combined with food, the calorie burn could be twice that amount. (18)
Acetyl-L-Carnitine
Also called ALCAR, this amino acid has been linked to improved focus and some research suggests that it can improve body composition, although this may only be in elderly folks. (19)(20)
Green Tea Extract
Green tea extract is one of the most frequently used ingredients in fat-burning supplements. Green tea extract can be good for your brain, heart, and liver. (21)(22)(23) It also contains caffeine and catechins, both of which will help you burn calories. The main focus here is on EGCG, however, an antioxidant that appears to affect both fat mass and fat oxidation. (24)
A double-blind study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, for example, saw a 17 percent increase in fat oxidation with 366mg of EGCGs. (25)(26) Make sure the label specifies the tea’s EGCG content because some companies just sell capsules of tea leaves, which is not the same.
Green tea extract can positively impact your overall health beyond weight loss. Green tea extract can help reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as cancer. Its compounds can be good for your skin, too. Finally, green tea extract can delay muscle fatigue to let you exercise more efficiently.
Garcinia Cambogia
This Indonesian fruit gets a lot of hype for some studies, like one published in 2003 in Current Therapeutic Research, that found it may “significantly reduce” belly fat. (27) This isn’t well-supported just yet, though, and other studies have found this “fat-burning” ingredient doesn’t really have any effect. (28)
Green Coffee Bean Extract
Green coffee bean extract is made of unroasted coffee beans. The main fat burning components of green coffee bean extract are caffeine and chlorogenic acid. This ingredient gets a lot of play as chlorogenic acid may inhibit calorie absorption. (29)
Roasted coffee beans contain less chlorogenic acid. This is why extract of unroasted green coffee beans is used in fat burners. One of the most popular studies found that chlorogenic acid-enriched coffee resulted in three times more weight lost than a placebo group (5.4kg versus 1.7kg over 12 weeks). (30) Look for at least 120 to 300mg per day.
What to Consider Before Buying Fat Burners for Women
It’s most important to consider your personal goals before buying a fat burner. The main things you’ll want to consider here are the ingredients you’re looking for, the time at which you’ll be taking your fat burner, and the amount of money you’re willing to put toward this supplement.
Ingredients
Above all, you’ll need to decide on the type of fat burn you are looking for — fat oxidation, thermogenesis, or appetite suppression. Though many fat burners include ingredients that touch all three of these methods, most products lean more heavily toward one of the three.
When you are looking at these ingredients, you’ll also want to make sure to stay away from proprietary blends. These blends that may be listed on products do not give you a full look into the ingredients you’re getting and their dosages, so it’s best to steer clear altogether.
Timing
If you prefer to take your fat burner when you wake up in the morning to jumpstart your metabolism, any product on this list should be just fine. However, if you prefer to take it before a workout, you’ll need to consider the stimulants in the product and how that affects your stack. If you prefer to work out late at night, you may want to stay away from fat burners with stimulants (like caffeine) that could affect your sleep if you take them too late in the day.
Price
Most basic fat-burners include the main fat-burning ingredients (like cayenne pepper, caffeine, and green tea). If you’re willing to pay a little more though, more premium fat burners may also include extras like HMB or DMAE that can help with goals outside of fat burn. It’s a general rule that the more “stacked” a supplement is, the more it will cost. When we see longer ingredient lists, or higher dosages of certain ingredients, there is usually a bump in price, as well.
Final Word
Remember, women’s fat burner supplements need to be used judiciously and in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise routine. Certain “fat burning ingredients” can help suppress appetite and increase resting metabolism, but even taking the best women’s fat burner won’t make miracles happen.
We’ve listed the popular fat burning ingredients and their potential effects to help you make the right choice, but some people can be too sensitive to certain actively used ingredients in fat burners, like caffeine. Before you make any changes to your diet and exercise routine, be sure to speak with your physician and discuss the merits of supplementing with fat burning products like these.
FAQs
Do fat burners for women work?
They do, but not to the point that pills alone will eliminate a pot belly. “Fat burners” can have several effects, the most useful of which is appetite suppression, as it’s excess calories that cause weight gain. Some ingredients, like cayenne, synephrine, and green tea extract, may help you to burn an extra 50 to 200 calories per day.
What are the best natural fat burners for women?
Caffeine: Seems to increase adrenaline, which breaks down fats, and decrease the release of fatty acids. Might burn an extra 100 calories or so.
Vitamin D: Some studies found it reduces the amount of new fat cells formed and suppresses storage of fat.
Forskolin: It may signal cells to produce more ATP, helping you burn more energy reserves.
Yohimbine: Some find it hard to digest, but 5 to 20 milligrams of this stimulant might lead to more fat loss.
Chili peppers: Cayenne might suppress appetite and increase metabolic rate, perhaps from 5 to 50 calories per day.
Does cayenne pepper actually help women burn fat?
Probably. Research suggests it can increase fat oxidation, cause an increase in calories burned, and suppress appetite. If it suppresses appetite and makes you eat less, that’s the most useful effect, as it otherwise likely only burns an extra 5 to 50 extra calories.
How much do fat burners for women cost?
This list has a wide range of prices and options for fat burning supplements for women. The list ranges between about $0.30 and $3.15 per serving with an average price of $1.13 per serving. There are several options that fall right around this average price, and depending on what you want, there should be a solid fat burning supplement to fit your needs and your budget.
What is the best fat burner for women?
We think Hourglass Fit Fat Burner is pretty hard to beat when it comes to finding the best fat burner for women. It includes active and all-natural ingredients, such as 5-HTP and cayenne pepper extract. The ingredients approach fat loss through thermogenics as well as appetite suppression. Hourglass Fit also uses vegetarian capsules rather than gelatin capsules, making it the perfect supplement for our plant-based athletes.
References
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