Fat burners, when combined with diet and exercise, can help you to shift body fat as well as reduce your appetite (making dieting easier). There are hundreds of fat burners online. Finding the right one for you may feel overwhelming. Luckily, this review will help you to find the best fat burners that are available to buy in the UK.
There are different kinds of fat burners out there. There are those that rely more on raising your metabolic rate. These often contain stimulants such as caffeine. Other fat burners place more emphasis on non-stimulatory ingredients. They also tend to focus more on appetite suppression.
Then there are those that focus on raising your metabolism and suppressing your appetite. This article will take a look at all of the different forms of fat burners out there and present you with ten of the best.
Also consider: Best fat burners for women
10 of the UK’s Best Fat Burners to buy in 2024 – At a glance
- Instant Knockout CUT
- Hourglass Fit
- Hunter Burn
- Phengold
- Brutal Force CCUT
- Burn Lab Pro
- Lean Bean
- PhenQ
- Trimtone
- Powher fat Burner
Don’t be fooled by some claims that fat burner is somehow a magic solution to burn away the fat without having to work for it, they just don’t exist. There really is no shortcut to weight or fat loss success, you need to work at it and keep going, especially when that going gets really, really tough.
To help you reach your fat burning goals, the following list of the best fat burners may help.
Instant Knockout CUT (Best Fat Burner Overall)
Instant Knockout Cut is our absolute favourite fat burner, and that’s because it does two jobs equally well. You will often find that a fat burner is either very good at increasing your metabolism and burning calories, or it is good at suppressing your appetite. IK Cut manages to do both, creating the ultimate weight loss supplement.
Key features: What’s new?
- Ingredients removed: Zinc, Chromium, Green Coffee Bean
- Ingredients Added: L-Theanine, Vitamin D
- To ensure that the product is still vegan friendly, vegan Vitamin D3 is used
- Ships worldwide
- 90-day Guarantee
Instant Knockout At A Glance
Instant Knockout Cut is a stim-based fat burner, which means that it has ingredients capable of stimulating the central nervous system. The ingredient responsible for this is caffeine, with green tea extract also containing some caffeine.
Fat burners often use caffeine as it not only raises your metabolic rate but also increases fat oxidation (meaning your body will burn fat for energy). Many fat burners don’t use caffeine, as people may not enjoy the side effects of caffeine (nausea, jitters, insomnia etc).
Luckily, Instant Knockout has thought about this, combining their caffeine with the amino acid L-theanine. This amino acid has been shown to prevent any of the side effects of caffeine use. It can also help to suppress appetite and improve mood [1].
Instant Knockout Cut Ingredients Review
There are six ingredients in Instant Knockout Cut, alongside vitamins B6, B12, and vitamin D3. These ingredients are; glucomannan, green tea extract, caffeine anhydrous, l-theanine, cayenne pepper, and black pepper extract.
The dosage of glucomannan is impressive, with 1800 mg per serving. This will ensure that you feel fuller for longer after eating your meals. There are also 500 mg of green tea extract and 300 mg of caffeine. This caffeine dosage is split between the four servings (as are all the ingredients) so that you don’t get too large a dosage of caffeine at once.
The cayenne pepper can help to raise thermogenesis, burning extra calories as your metabolic rate rises. The L-theanine is there, as mentioned earlier, to relax you, improve your mood, lower your appetite, and counteract any of the side effects of caffeine. The black pepper extract is only there to increase absorption, making all the other ingredients more effective.
Pros
- High in caffeine
- Excellent appetite control
- Natural ingredients
- Combines well with IK Complete
- Vegan friendly
- Improves mood and may help sleep
Cons
- Only available from the Instant Knockout website
- Contains stimulatory ingredients such as caffeine
Instant Knockout Cut Review
If you really want to lose weight and don’t mind a bit of caffeine, then Instant Knockout Cut is the best fat burner for weight loss in the UK. Hard-hitting, well-dosed ingredients that pack a punch. It is no surprise that Cut has become the go-to fat burner for professional and amateur fighters.
Hourglass Fit (Best Fat Burner For Women UK)
Hourglass Fit is the first fat burner on this list that has been designed for women, but it can also provide excellent results for men. It has some similarities with Brutal Force CCUT and Burn Lab Pro, but it avoids the mistakes that both supplements made in their formulae.
Hourglass Fit is stim-free, but it has put a lot of effort into creating a formula that is appetite suppressing, improves mood, and raises your metabolism. There is glucomannan, cayenne pepper extract, chromium, zinc, B vitamins, and Bioperine.
Key benefits include:
- Tailored for female biology
- All-natural ingredients
- Trusted by professional athletes
- Safe and scientifically backed
- Caffeine Free and Vegan Friendly.
Hourglass Fit at a Glance
Well-dosed ingredients, a clever formula, and sold at great value for the customer, Hourglass Fit is a great example of what stim-free fat burners can look like. Its ability to reduce hunger (particularly cravings) and help you to feel vibrant and happy helps it to stand out from the stim-free crowd.
Pros
- Excellent appetite suppression
- Mood-enhancing ingredients
- Stim-free
- Reduces carb cravings
- Excellent value for money
Cons
- Only available from the Hourglass website
Hourglass Fit Ingredients Review
The most effective ingredient in Hourglass Fit is konjac root, with a 3,000mg dosage (it is 90% glucomannan). This is an incredibly effective way to boost satiety and help you to avoid hunger pangs between meals. Konjac root can make dieting a lot easier and more enjoyable. It can also help you to reduce your calorie intake.
Hourglass also makes use of cayenne pepper, which is known to help boost your metabolism. They use Capsimax, which is the industry gold standard for cayenne pepper. 5-HTP is a precursor to serotonin, meaning that taking 5-HTP can raise serotonin levels naturally, helping to raise your mood and better regulate your appetite.
This makes it less likely that you will fail your diet, as you will be more motivated to succeed and less likely to crave carbohydrates or high-fat snacks. Studies on overweight women have found that using 5-HTP can lead to significant increases in fat loss over a period of 4 weeks [8].
Hourglass also contains high dosages of chromium, zinc, and vitamins B2, B6, and B12. These have been carefully selected to help women lose weight, but they are also beneficial for men.
Hourglass Fit Review
Hourglass Fit was primarily designed to help women to burn fat successfully while dieting. But the formula is ideal for both men and women. It is non-stim, so it will appeal to many people who don’t enjoy caffeine, and it focuses more on appetite suppression, mood, and raising energy levels.
If you are looking for a powerful fat burner that will jump-start your metabolism, then look for Instant Knockout Cut. If you are looking for a smart fat burner that focuses more on keeping your spirits and energy levels up while simultaneously lowering your appetite and calorie intake, then Hourglass Fit is a great option.
Hunter Burn (Best Premium Fat Burner)
If Instant Knockout Cut is the sledgehammer solution, then Hunter Burn is the surgeon’s scalpel. An intelligently designed formula that uses cutting-edge science to deliver super results, all without caffeine anhydrous.
Hunter Burn has both an appetite-suppressing side and a thermogenic burn side. It also provides ingredients designed to provide you with clean energy so that your daily activity level does not drop. While IK Cut was designed for professional fighters, Hunter Burn is aimed more at the businessman or woman. It’s quite possibly the best appetite suppressant on the list.
Helping you to burn more calories during the day while also helping you to cut down on the amount of food you eat. Making it easier to create a calorie deficit and lose weight. Burn combines really well with the entire Hunter range and fits into the average person’s lifestyle very easily.
Part of the range of Roar Ambition supplements made in the UK and USA.
Key features and benefits you’ll like
- All-natural ingredients including Glucomannan and Matcha Green Tea extract
- Stops hunger cravings
- Safe and scientifically backed
- Contains a high amount of Vitamin D3
- Established UK manufacturer
Hunter Burn at a Glance
Hunter Burn splits its ingredients into three categories: Hunger neutralizer, thermo-burn, and energy unlock. It contains some caffeine in the form of matcha green tea, but this is nowhere near as strong as Instant Knockout Cut, for example.
But that doesn’t mean that Hunter Burn isn’t a great fat burner. It just has different strategies for burning fat. The Hunger neutralizer contains both konjac root, which can increase satiety and white kidney bean extract, which is perfect for reducing carbohydrate absorption.
Combined with the Thermo-Burn formula that combines top-quality cayenne pepper with matcha green tea and you’ve got a powerful fat-burning supplement. The addition of L-theanine and vitamin D is a clever addition which will boost your mood, health, and energy levels.
Pros
- Well-dosed ingredients
- Highly satiating
- Mood-enhancing ingredients
- Powerful fat-burner without strong stimulation
- High dosage of vitamin D
Cons
- Premium price for premium formula
- Only available from the Hunter Evolve website
Hunter Burn Ingredients Review
There are only six ingredients in the Hunter Burn formula, which may seem low compared to some on this list, but it is actually an indication of the faith that Hunter has in their product. Each ingredient is strategically chosen. There are no fillers or underdosed ingredients here.
As mentioned before, there are three parts to the Hunter Burn formula:
- Hunger Neutralizer: Konjac Root (Glucomannan), white kidney bean extract
- Thermo-Burn: Cayenne pepper, matcha green tea
- Energy Unlock: L-theanine, vitamin D
The hunger neutralizer is the most effective part of the formula. The ingredients make it easier to reduce your calorie intake, helping you to diet successfully. Glucomannan has been shown to help reduce food intake by making you feel fuller and more satisfied after a meal [2].
White kidney bean extract is not a common ingredient in fat burners, but it really should be. It is used to help reduce the number of carbohydrates that are absorbed. This means that you could eat 100 grams of carbs, and your body would extract fewer calories from it than normal.
The difference isn’t massive, but over time it can save you hundreds of calories. This means that you can eat slightly larger portions of carbohydrates than you would normally on a diet while still getting fat loss results.
Thermo-Burn relies on cayenne pepper, a rich source of capsaicin, to increase your body temperature and raise your metabolism. Hunter Burn also uses matcha green tea as a source of caffeine and to increase fat oxidation.
L-theanine is great for relaxing you and helping to avoid the side effects of caffeine. It can also raise your mood and increase motivation. Vitamin D deficiency is a known factor in obesity, so Hunter Burn includes a powerful dosage, which can help to increase weight loss over time [3].
Hunter Burn Review
Hunter Burn is an incredibly powerful and effective fat burner that utilises multiple methods for creating a calorie deficit. Thanks to the l-theanine and low-stim formula, you will feel great while taking it, and provided you adjust your lifestyle to match the ingredients, you can expect excellent results. The price per serving is a minor stumbling block for some, but the value for money is incredible.
PhenGold
PhenGold promotes itself as the fat burner best suited to helping you break frustrating plateaus during your weight loss diet/training program. It can help you to jumpstart your weight loss using a high-caffeine formula paired with mental and cognitive-boosting ingredients.
PhenGold is similar to both Cut and Hunter Burn. It has the raw power of Cut with the mood-enhancing benefits of Hunter Burn. The only part that is missing is the ingredients that can increase satiety.
Key features and benefits:
- Suppress your appetite to curb snacking and cravings
- Supercharge your metabolism to fight off stubborn fat
- Increase focus and concentration for consistent weight loss
- High Quality Ingredients
- Loaded with fat burning ingredients and clinically proven to help you lose weight safely and effectively
PhenGold at a Glance
What you first notice when you look at the ingredients list of PhenGold is the focus on mood-enhancing ingredients. DMAE, L-Tyrosine, Rhodiola Rosea, and L-theanine are all known to help banish fatigue, boost mood, and allow you to think clearly. You also have the anti-fatiguing effects of caffeine, and caffeine can also increase cognition and temporarily raise your mood.
Pros
- High in caffeine
- Mood-enhancing ingredients
- Cognitive enhancing benefits
- 100-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Not particularly good at reducing appetite
- Green coffee is unproven
PhenGold Ingredients Review
There are some really good ingredients found in PhenGold; 500 mg of green tea, 250 mg of l-theanine, 200 mg of cayenne pepper, 225 mg of caffeine, 250 mg Rhodiola Rosea, and vitamins B3, B6, and B12. There are also a few ingredients that aren’t particularly effective; 100 mg green coffee, 350 mg l-tyrosine, and 150 mg DMAE.
It’s not that these less effective ingredients are completely without merit, but they don’t really contribute much to the fat-burning process.
For example, there is some evidence that green coffee extract may help with weight loss [4], possibly by working as a carb-blocker. But there is nothing specific, and it certainly doesn’t “burn fat, boost metabolism, and increase energy”, which is what PhenGold claims.
DMAE may help to prevent cognitive decline, but that does not mean that it is effective at enhancing your mood. In any case, there are more than enough ingredients in PhenGold that can do this effectively.
L-tyrosine is an interesting ingredient, it does not appear to have any effect on weight loss, but it does appear to reduce stress and fatigue. It may also be able to reduce muscle damage after a workout. But that’s about it. L-tyrosine is a decent supplement ingredient for training, but it is not a fat burner.
PhenGold Review
PhenGold does a great job of targeting all aspects of fat burning. The mental side in particular. They have a powerful, stimulatory formula but have also included ingredients that can mitigate this and ensure that you are not affected by jitters, nausea, or high blood pressure.
It’s a really smart formula that perhaps includes a few too many ingredients.
Brutal Force CCUT
Brutal Force CCUT is marketed as a safe alternative to clenbuterol, a powerful (and illegal) stimulant that became really popular in bodybuilding due to its incredible fat-burning effects. The decision to market themselves as a natural alternative to clenbuterol is clever, as it hints at incredible results without the risks to your health or legal status.
It goes without saying that Brutal Force CCUT is not as effective (or dangerous) as clenbuterol, but how does it stack up to other fat burners on the market?
Mimics the thermogenic properties of Clenbuterol in a safe alternative to shred fat fast and showcase your lean physique!
Benefits at a glance
- Burn body fat fast
- Retain lean muscle
- Fast-acting formula
- 100% safe & natural
- For men and women
Brutal Force CCUT at a Glance
The thing that immediately stands out when you look at the ingredient label for Brutal Force CCUT is that the ingredients are unique. Guarana, instead of regular caffeine, bitter orange (Citrus aurantium), garcinia, and Griffonia, alongside vitamin B3.
Pros
- Excellent value for money
- Low-stim formula
- Appetite suppression
Cons
- Could do more for burning fat
Brutal Force CCUT Ingredients Review
There are five ingredients in the Brutal Force CCUT formula: vitamin B3, bitter orange, Garcinia cambogia, guarana, and Griffonia. Bitter orange has been added as this is similar to ephedrine. It can boost your metabolic rate, increase alertness, and it may also help to suppress appetite.
Garcinia is an interesting ingredient, and there is certainly evidence that it can help to increase weight loss. A 2000 study on overweight women found that taking Garcinia cambogia led to an additional loss of 1.3 kg over 12 weeks compared to the placebo [5].
The vitamin B3 (niacin) addition is clever as it helps to increase your body’s production of leptin [6]. This is good because leptin can increase satiety, helping you to regulate your appetite and reduce your calorie intake.
Guarana, instead of caffeine, is an interesting choice. It is often claimed that guarana has a higher amount of caffeine per gram than coffee beans. However, the actual amount of caffeine in Brutal Force CCUT is not that high.
There is 342 mg of guarana per serving, and it contains 22% caffeine. This works out at 75 mg of caffeine, which is around the same amount as one shot of espresso. Sounds like a lot, but most fat burners contain around 200-300 mg of caffeine.
That being said, guarana does have some benefits. It is slower releasing than regular caffeine and provides a smoother experience. There are many cognitive and mood-enhancing benefits.
The final ingredient is Griffonia, which is a natural shrub that grows in parts of Africa. It is a natural source of 5-HTP, which offers mood enhancement and appetite reduction. This is a clever ingredient to add, but it might have been better to provide an isolated version of 5-HTP, which has more research backing it and appears to be slightly more effective.
Brutal Force CCUT Review
If you are looking for a fat burner that provides mild stimulation and a powerful appetite-suppressing effect, then Brutal Force CCUT is a great choice. But as a pure fat burner, it leaves a lot to be desired. They are placing most of their hope in bitter orange and guarana, neither of which are particularly effective at increasing fat oxidation.
Sometimes it is better to just use the standard ingredients rather than trying to get too cute with the formula.
Burn Lab Pro
Burn Lab Pro is like no other fat burner in this list, and it is important to note the difference before considering whether it is right or wrong for you. While the other fat burners are focused on increasing your metabolism or reducing body fat, Burn Lab Pro is all about helping you to exercise at peak performance while already dieting.
The idea is that taking Burn Lab Pro will allow you to train better and therefore burn more calories during your workout. The ingredients are based on reducing fatigue and reducing appetite, with a little bit of effort put into increasing fat burning (cayenne pepper).
Viewed in this context, Burn Lab Pro is an excellent supplement for anyone who is following a training program while dieting. But as a regular fat burner? Burn Lab Pro does not pack a serious punch, and this holds it back somewhat.
Benefits and key features:
- 5 Key research-backed ingredients including Bioperine Black Pepper Extract and GTF Chromium
- Increases body heat and fat breakdown
- Fast Shipping
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Burn Lab Pro at a Glance
Burn Lab Pro contains six ingredients: chromium, calcium, HMB, ForsLean, Capsimax, and Bioperine. These ingredients help to prevent/reduce fatigue, improve mood, reduce hunger cravings, and raise your metabolic rate.
Pros
- Excellent anti-fatiguing formula
- Improves exercise performance
- Good appetite regulation
- Stim free
Cons
- Fat burning isn’t fantastic
Burn Lab Pro Ingredients Review
Burn Lab Pro doesn’t have any of the ingredients you would expect to see in a fat burner, except for Capsimax (capsaicin) and Bioperine. It contains high levels of chromium, calcium, and HMB, as well as ForsLean (Coleus Forskohlii).
Chromium has been added because it is good at reducing your appetite. Studies have shown that it can lead to a reduction in carbohydrate cravings in some people and may help people who struggle with portion sizes [7]. It may also help to improve exercise performance, but more research is required before this claim can be proven.
It isn’t clear what benefit calcium provides. Burn Lab Pro doesn’t mention it at all on its website, except on the label. HMB is well known for its ability to reduce muscle damage, making it easier to recover from your workout while dieting. It has been added to allow you to train harder and build muscle even while remaining in a calorie deficit.
Coleus Forskohlii has been added because Burn Lab Pro claims that it can help you to burn fat and build muscle simultaneously. Sadly, this claim has no evidence supporting it. The biggest (proven) benefit of Coleus Forskohlii is that it can reduce fatigue, very important during a diet, particularly if you are looking to train hard in the gym.
Capsimax is good at increasing thermoregulation, raising your heart rate and increasing your fat-burning potential. This would be a good supplement to take before a workout.
Burn Lab Pro Review
Burn Lab Pro is one of a kind, and it’s a fat burner that you will either love or hate. If you are a frequent gym goer and you want your performances in the gym to be unaffected while you diet, then Burn Lab Pro is a decent product.
If you are looking for something to reduce your appetite or increase your metabolism, then it does not fare well against the likes of Instant Knockout Cut or Hunter Burn. In fact, Hunter Burn is a prime example of what Burn Lab Pro should be doing. There are better stim-free fat burners out there.
Lean Bean
At first glance, Lean Bean looks very similar to Hourglass Fit. Its main ingredient, just like Hourglass Fit, is glucomannan. It also contains chromium, zinc, and B vitamins. But after that, the differences become clear.
While Hourglass contains chromium almost as an afterthought, Lean Bean has it as one of its most important ingredients. Lean Bean also uses several ingredients that are not particularly effective. Green coffee extract, for example, has no evidence supporting its use.
That’s not to say that Lean Bean does not have some great ingredients. It contains turmeric, which has many health benefits. But the actual fat burning and appetite suppression side of Lean Bean is a little light.
Key features and benefits:
- Powerful, natural supplement for women
- Cutting edge, natural ingredients including Glucomannan and Green Tea extract
- No harmful stimulants
- 90-day money-back guarantee
Lean Bean at a Glance
The formula for Lean Bean is decent, if not spectacular. You will certainly notice a reduction in appetite thanks to the glucomannan, but the mood-enhancing benefits that can be so helpful are largely absent. There are several ingredients that have no practical use, and this does hold Lean Bean back slightly.
Pros
- Well-dosed glucomannan helps suppress appetite
- B vitamins reduce fatigue
- Turmeric provides numerous health benefits
Cons
- Too many useless ingredients
- No real fat-burning element
- Not specific to women
Lean Bean Ingredients Review
The glucomannan in Lean Bean does all of the heavy lifting. This supplement would not change much if you removed everything else and turned it into a glucomannan supplement. It is well dosed and is an effective way to increase satiety and reduce hunger cravings.
It’s not that the other ingredients are useless; it’s just that they aren’t going to make a huge difference to your diet. B vitamins, chromium, zinc, potassium, choline, Garcinia Cambogia, green coffee bean extract, turmeric, acai berry, and Bioperine.
Some of these ingredients provide unique health benefits. Garcinia Cambogia may help to slightly increase satiety, but its use as a fat burner is unproven. Acai berries may help to improve cognition and heart health, but there is no fat-burning or appetite-suppressing benefits associated with them.
Lean Bean Review
Lean Bean is not a bad supplement. It can help you to regulate your appetite and may also help to prevent certain nutritional deficiencies. But it is not quite as good as Hourglass Fit, and when you consider how similarly priced they are, it’s a simple decision to choose Hourglass instead of Lean Bean. Both supplements can help women (and men) to lose weight, but Hourglass offers more direct help and has better ingredients.
PhenQ
PhenQ is a well-known fat burner, and it always finds its way onto top ten lists. It is by no means a bad fat burner. It contains a decent amount of caffeine and l-carnitine. It also contains Capsimax (though the dosage is tiny).
But there are a lot of issues with PhenQ that stop it from rising higher on this list. PhenQ makes it very hard to find its ingredient label, and on the website, it completely hides it behind a proprietary blend.
It also relies on compounds that have no real scientific backing, such as alpha-lacy and nopal. No other supplement company uses these ingredients, and although PhenQ states that alpha-lacy is “scientifically proven” to induce weight loss. There is no mention of relevant studies on the website.
Key features and benefits:
- α-Lacys Reset® to decrease both body weight and body fat
- Vegan Friendly
- Burn stored fat and reveal your hidden dream body
- Suppress your appetite to eat less and cut calories
- Block fat production to stop weight gain
- Improve your mood and energy levels for hassle-free weight loss
- High quality formula produced in the UK and US
PhenQ at a Glance
PhenQ is a stimulant-containing fat burner, making it very effective in a direct way, but it doesn’t offer the subtlety of Instant Knockout Cut or Hunter Burn. The use of a proprietary blend is a big red flag, though it is possible to find the correct dosages elsewhere on the internet.
Pros
- Good stim ingredients such as caffeine
- Good price per serving
- L-carnitine can help with fatigue and tiredness
Cons
- Proprietary blend, no transparency
- Unproven ingredients such as alpha-lacy
- Underdosed ingredients
PhenQ Ingredients Review
The caffeine content in PhenQ is a little low, but there is enough to elicit a fat-burning response. You also have some clever ingredients, such as l-carnitine, that can help with fatigue and tiredness. But there are also a lot of confusing ingredients. For example, there is 625 mg of calcium in each serving, but nowhere on the PhenQ website is calcium mentioned. Why is it there?
There is also 10 mg of magnesium and 5 mg of silicon dioxide. There are also some underdosed ingredients. With only 8 mg of capsicum PhenQ is going to struggle to raise your metabolism. Of course, these ingredients may differ in dosage to what is written in this review, but that’s PhenQ’s fault for using proprietary blends and hiding dosage information.
PhenQ Review
PhenQ is one of the big hitters, and is very popular. But it has a lot of issues. There is evidence that it can raise your metabolism, and it may also help with appetite suppression. But there are better supplements out there such as Instant Knockout Cut, that use more potent ingredients and can provide faster results.
Trimtone
Trimtone is another fat burner that is aimed at women. We’ve already looked at the best female fat burner (Hourglass Fit) and its closest competition (Lean Bean), but what does Trimtone have to offer?
Features and benefits
- Burns fat and reduces appetite
- Boosts your metabolism
- 100% Natural Ingredients
- 1 Capsule per day, before breakfast
Trimtone At A Glance
On paper, Trimtone contains a lot of ingredients that can help with fat burning. There is caffeine, green tea extract, and glucomannan alongside useless ingredients such as green coffee bean extract and grains of paradise. The problem is that all of the ingredients are underdosed. You would need two servings to get good results, which means that you are doubling the price per serving.
Pros
- Glucomannan can reduce appetite
- Caffeine and green tea can raise metabolic rate
- Good price
Cons
- You need to double the serving size to get proper dosages
- This makes Trimtone more expensive
- Useless ingredients such as green coffee bean extract and grains of paradise
Trimtone Ingredients Review
There is 120 mg of caffeine in each serving and only 100 mg of glucomannan. Compare this to Hourglass Fit, which contains 30x as much glucomannan, and you can see the issue here. The green tea extract is also 5x smaller than it should be, while caffeine could do with being over 200 mg.
If you double the serving size, you end up with a decent amount of caffeine (240 mg), and the green tea extract is a little more respectable. But you are still way off when it comes to glucomannan.
Trimtone Review
Trimtone is an okay fat burner. The caffeine and green tea can theoretically help to raise your metabolism, while the glucomannan may help to reduce appetite. But the underdosing of all three ingredients is an issue. Doubling the serving size is possible, but this doubles the price per serving and makes Trimtone one of the most expensive fat burners on this list.
Powher Fat Burner
The final fat burner on this list is PowHer. This is yet another female-focused fat burner, and one that contains both caffeine and glucomannan. PowHer has quite a small ingredients list, relying heavily on glucomannan to help with weight loss. There is nothing wrong with that, but there really isn’t anything in this formula to worry the competition.
Key features:
- Support greater weight loss for women
- Banish naughty cravings with proven appetite suppressants
- Boost your metabolism with a natural caffeine kick
- Simple to use – 2 capsules with breakfast, lunch and dinner
- Help you shift through the gears with your weight loss programme
PowHer Fat Burner at a Glance
There are ingredients here that are designed to increase your metabolism, reduce your appetite, and increase your energy levels. But they are so comically underdosed that you would need to double or even triple the serving size for them to be effective.
Pros
- Lower price per serving
- Decent appetite suppressant
- No side effects likely
Cons
- All ingredients are underdosed
- Nothing special to justify choosing PowHer over other brands
PowHer Fat Burner Ingredients Review
PowHer contains 1000 mg of glucomannan per serving, which is pretty decent when compared to Trimtone, but quite low when you compare it to Hourglass Fit (which has 3000 mg). It does contain caffeine, but only 33.33mg of caffeine, which is absolutely nothing!
The idea is that you take three servings per day, so that’s 3000 mg of glucomannan (excellent) but still only 100 mg of caffeine which isn’t going to achieve anything. The only other ingredients are choline and chromium. Both are good auxiliary ingredients, but they aren’t supposed to be the star of the show. Which is what they are, by default, in PowHer.
PowHer Fat Burner Review
For PowHer to rise on our list, it would need to be a little more creative with its formula. It needs to stand out somehow. If it is going to contain caffeine, then contain enough to elicit a response. If it is going to focus instead on appetite suppression and mood, then add something that can complement the glucomannan. This is not a bad supplement, it just needs to make some minor adjustments to the formula.
How Does a Fat Burner Work?
There are several ways in which fat burners can help you to lose weight (and burn fat). Here is a list of all four:
Increasing Metabolism
This is the most common method, and it is what fat burners are famous for. If you used fat burners in the early 00s, then you would have experienced this and nothing else. Ingredients such as caffeine, capsaicin, and green tea will raise your metabolic rate, allowing your body to burn more calories.
Increasing your metabolism is the goal of most people who want a fat burner. They like the idea that taking such a supplement will rev their metabolic rate up and help them burn more calories while living the same lifestyle.
When you diet and start to lose weight, your metabolism slowly declines. This is because you have lost body weight, meaning that you require less energy for maintenance. Raising your metabolism via a fat burner is a great way to combat this.
Reducing Appetite
Many fat burners are now turning towards appetite regulation as their best fat-burning weapon. There are two reasons why many people are overweight. Either they are leading a lifestyle that is too sedentary, or they are eating too much food.
Reducing your appetite is a great way to deal with overconsumption. There are many factors that can affect your appetite. Stress, insomnia, inflammation, and excess body fat can all lead to increased appetite as your hormones are affected.
Fat burners use ingredients such as glucomannan to help you feel more full after your meals, making it easier to avoid snacking or overeating.
That’s something that people don’t really talk about when dieting. You are going to spend a lot of your time feeling hungry. You are eating fewer calories than usual, and you are often exercising more. So hunger and cravings are going to be stronger.
Finding a fat burner that can ease this situation slightly could make a huge difference to your long-term success rate.
Improving Mood
The connection between your mental state and your chances of successfully dieting is strong. Feeling low, feeling tired, sad, fatigued, and irritable can make dieting feel horrible. It is another aspect of dieting that people forget.
That’s why many fat burner supplements now contain ingredients that can help to raise your morale, make you feel more motivated, and keep you feeling relaxed and as stress-free as possible. Ingredients such as L-theanine and vitamin D have been correlated with improved mood and reduced symptoms of depression.
It’s not something that people often associate with dieting, but the mental health effects of prolonged hunger should not be underestimated. It’s great to see these fat burners are addressing such a crucial issue, and it may help many people to stay on diets for long enough to see results.
Increasing Daily Activity Levels
Another aspect of dieting that people overlook is the drop in your activity levels that a diet can lead to. Think about it, you are reducing the amount of energy you consume, this energy is usually used to fuel your lifestyle.
Many people who go on diets not only see a drop in their metabolism but they will also see a drop in non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT). This can make fat loss harder, as the calorie deficit that you are creating is narrowed or even expunged.
Fat burners such as Hunter Burn often contain ingredients that can help to increase your energy levels, without increasing your calorie intake. Instant Knockout Cut and PhenGold use caffeine to achieve this, which is great for banishing fatigue and increasing activity levels.
This is also tied into improving your mood, which we looked at above.
Set your fat burning goals
Your main goal should be to eat less calories then you burn, not by starving yourself (although there are proven benefits to intermittent fasting over short periods where you eat up to 600 calories per day). The best way to achieve this is to eat less and more healthy food and take regular exercise.
Natural Fat Burners
There are any number of ingredients that lay claim to help to burn fat, manufacturers of fat burners will tell us that we should take some of these ingredients together to get the most out of them, as some ingredients are in a stack to get other ingredients to work better or be absorbed more easily by the body.
Caffeine
One of the most common ingredients in a fat burner is caffeine, which is known to increase the hormone epinephrine [1], which can help to breakdown fatty acids in the blood when exercising [2].
Caffeine can also increase your heart rate and metabolism helping to burn more fat as fuel, but there are side effects of too much caffeine including anxiety, insomnia, rapid heart rate and fatigue. Not great if you are trying to work out.
This ingredient is also used as an appetite suppressant so good news for those who can’t summon up the energy for a vigorous workout although if you have too much you may need a workout to calm yourself down.
Most fat burners include caffeine so that you get all of the benefits above, coupled with other ingredients it can really give a jolt to your fat burning routine, but there is a note of caution. You can have too much of a good thing and yes you can get similar results from a couple of strong coffees in the morning, but the body can get used to caffeine, so you end up having to drink more and more coffee to have the same effect (sounds familiar).
Taken in a stack with other ingredients can help to nullify the effect of the body getting used to it by combining its power with the other ingredients to get the best out of them, not just using the caffeine by itself – hence why you want to take a fat burning stack not just drink coffee all day.
Green Tea
Another staple of a fat burner is fat burning supplement stack: is green tea, which can help to boost your metabolism and therefore help to lose fat and weight. So you can just drink a few cups of green tea, look in the mirror and you are 10 lbs lighter, not really no if only it was that easy.
The green tea used in most fat burners is usually an extract which is stronger and more effective than guessing how much you are getting in a cup. There are also studies that suggest a combination of green tea and caffeine together can have a greater effect on fat loss than caffeine alone. [3]
The study also suggests that green tea has thermogenic properties that can promote fat oxidation, more that just the amount explained by the caffeine in the tea (caffeine also has thermogenic properties).
That isn’t to say that you need caffeine and green tea, you could have green tea on it’s own and still have the effects of the fat burning thermogenesis, and caffeine alone won’t give the same effect as both together. From this we can conclude that green tea extract is a powerful thermogenic fat burner that will help to shed fat as part of a fat burning supplement, often coupled with additional caffeine.
Green tea also contains Epigallocatechin Gallate (EGCG) which is a catechin, a natural antioxidant that helps to prevent cell damage and has been shown to promote weight loss in some studies. [4]
Fibre
We all know that you need fibre in our diets to keep you regular, but it is also essential to keep your body working as it should. Fibre can help with weight loss because it can’t be easily broken down in the body or absorbed into your system, so you feel fuller for longer as your body thinks there is still fuel in it, even though the body can’t digest it.
Your body will also take longer to digest other nutrients that you have eaten, also making you feel full. Your body will also absorb less fat and take on board fewer calories with increased intake of fibre [5] so it is no wonder this is one of the mainstays of fat burning supplements.
There are two types of fibre, soluble and insoluble. The soluble fibre takes on water in your stomach to for a gel-like substance that will make you feel full and possibly a bit bloated, not really in the right mood to eat!
The most common fibre used in a fat burner is soluble glucomannan, which is the only fat burning ingredient endorsed by the FDA and the FSA. Other natural sources of soluble fibre are oatmeal, nuts, beans, apples, and blueberries although it is difficult to tell how many apples you would need to eat to have the same effect as glucomannan, plus think of the sugar however natural it might be.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a fat burner?
A fat burner is a supplement that helps you to lose weight by creating a calorie deficit. This can be by raising your metabolic rate often through thermogenesis. It can also be reducing calorie intake via ingredients that increase satiety and reduce hunger. There is a minor distinction between fat burners and weight loss aids, which tend to be less focused on boosting metabolism and more on appetite suppression.
Do fat burners work?
Fat burners can work well, but they need to be used in conjunction with other lifestyle changes (diet and exercise). If you are already operating a calorie deficit, then a fat burner can jump-start your results and make the dieting experience more pleasant (by reducing cravings).
How do fat burners work?
Most fat burners will attempt to raise your metabolic rate by increasing your body temperature and raising your heart rate. Some fat burners also try to reduce your calorie intake by reducing appetite and increasing satiety after a meal. They may also attempt to improve your mood and motivation by using nootropics such as l-theanine.
Are fat burners safe?
Fat burners get a bad rep from illegal fat burners such as ephedrine, but real fat burners are perfectly safe. If you don’t like stimulants such as caffeine, then you can stick to a non-stim fat burner, which tends to focus on reducing hunger pangs/cravings rather than raising your heart rate.
References
[1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15378679/
[2] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29202887/
[3] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30635144/
[4] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18035001/
[5] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11134690/
[6] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16887123/
[7] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20022616/
[8] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22142813/
Frequently Asked Questions About Fat Burners
What is a fat burner?
A fat burner supplement can help you speed up your goals for losing fat. Fat Burners typically including ingredients like caffeine and pepper extracts. Together with a balanced diet and exercise plan you can add a fat burner supplement to reach your goals.
Do fat burners work?
It usually depends on which fat burner supplement you buy. Some fat burner products might contain ingredients that really don’t work, but still claim that they do. We only recommend products that contains ingredients that are proven to help you lose fat.
How do fat burners work?
The affective ingredients in fat burners help to increase your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) which is how many calories you burn in a day.
How long does it take for fat burners to work?
The honest answer is it depends. It depends on what your diet and exercise regime looks like and what your fat burning goals are. Not everyone responds to fat burners that contain stimulants, which can give you faster results. Fat burners that don’t contain stimulants such as caffeine can still give you results but but as quick as those that do. It all depends!