Truth About Supplements

Perhaps no other weight loss subject has been the topic of more heated debates than the use of supplements. Some dieters and experts alike call supplements worthless or a scam, others say they're useful or worked wonders. You hear marketing pitches that essentially claim miraculous results. There's a huge amount of scientific literature to consider. There's so much conflicting information it's hard to know who to trust and what to do.

What you'll find here is (in our opinion) a fair and balanced treatment of the subject. We don't feel it's smart to outright ignore supplements in a weight loss plan but you have to take a rational and intelligent look at the facts.

We'll start with this...

Who Shouldn't Try Supplements

People who believe in miracle pills should not try supplements because of course miracle pills don't exist.

The most effective methods of weight control are first, your diet. Exercise helps as well. If you're eating too much every day, even if the food is healthy, no amount of pills can help you. Ultimately, you need to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

On the other hand, the right supplements CAN in fact really help. Especially when chosen intelligently for specific purposes that are backed be credible scientific evidence.

Who Should Try Supplements

Let's be honest. Losing weight takes time, discipline, and perseverance. It's rarely easy.

So if you can get a little help in one way or another... why not?

The fact is, supplements can make good finishing touches to a diet plan and assist with specific functions in the body.

If there is reasonable evidence that a supplement is be effective for its intended purpose, and it is healthy/safe, there are certainly reasons to give it a try.

Four Reasons Supplements Are Useful

1. Why diet and exercise more than you have to?

Many people do find that ANY amount of fat loss from supplements are worth the cost -- simply because it's fat loss they didn't have to lose the more painful way.

Depending on your body size (and hence metabolic rate), and the program, losing one pound of fat may represent roughly a week or so of calorie restriction on a moderate diet. It could take a month to lose 5 pounds of fat on a moderate diet. Or a week on a very restrictive program. If you are counting on exercise to lose weight, you're looking at an even longer timeframe to lose 1 to 5 pounds (because dieting is typically more effective).

So, many people figure that even if a supplement's contribution -- whether directly or indirectly -- is even 1 or 5 pounds, it puts you ahead in terms of time and effort and is worth paying for.

2. When every pound really matters.

This is similar to the point above, but there are a number of reasons why any amount of weight loss is a big deal. Again we're being conservative and assuming that supplements only make a modest difference. They may actually make a big difference (see the next point, #3).

A few scenarios:

• If you are in the beginning stages of weight loss and ANY progress is HUGELY motivating.
• Maybe it's been a struggle losing or maintaining and you are looking for an edge, or that missing piece.
• Maybe you have health reasons for losing weight, where every pound can make a significant difference.
• Maybe you are simply an achiever or serious about your success and you want the best possible program in every way.

3. It could be the missing piece to your weight loss puzzle.

The fact is, for some people supplements were the missing link to their weight loss. Some people have sworn that a supplement alone was their silver bullet, the one thing that finally enabled weight loss. The supplement may have reduced their appetite, stress, helped with sleep, or any other function that finally solved the weight loss puzzle. Whatever it did, it worked.

4. Supplements for health benefits (and maybe weight loss).

Some supplements are purposefully created for specific health conditions like sleep, stress or blood sugar that may likely help you achieve extra weight loss, but even if they didn't, are worth taking for the health benefits alone.

Other ingredients targeted for weight loss happen to be good for overall health, too. Again, even if extra weight loss didn't happen, you still have the health improvements.

Not all ingredients are like this though (e.g., stimulants like caffeine). Just certain ingredients.

Please see our recommendations page for more information on recommended ingredients.

On this subject, keep in mind that millions of people take supplements for health alone -- such as multivitamins, fish oil, vitamin D, and so forth. If a supplement improves your health, it certainly can't hurt your efforts.