While there are countless fat burner supplements on the market, most of them do nothing besides ridding you of your hard-earned money.

In this article, you’ll discover three popular but useless fat-burners. (Avoid them.) Plus, we’ll introduce you to three alternatives that have been proven to work.

The Three Best Fat Burner Supplements

What follows are the three best fat burner supplements. These have been proven to work by research. So feel free to enhance your fat loss results with these compounds.

1) Caffeine

Caffeine can help you lose fat in three main ways: 

• By increasing fat burning. One study, for instance, found that caffeine increased fat burning by up to 29% in lean people and 10% in obese individuals.(1)
• By improving workout performance and reducing feelings of fatigue. That helps you to train harder and burn more calories at the gym.(2)
• By enhancing your metabolism. Research shows that caffeine increases resting metabolic rate by between 3% and11%, with larger doses producing even more radical effects.(3)(4)

It's important to note, however, that you’ll only reap caffeine’s fat loss benefits if you aren't immune to the compound. So, if you drink coffee every day, caffeine won't help you get leaner.(5) 

Fortunately, you can reverse a caffeine tolerance by abstaining from all caffeine-containing products for two weeks. Then you will enjoy the fat loss benefits again.

2) Protein Powder

Upping your protein intake is an easy and effective way to boost your fat loss results. That’s because protein is highly satiating. Consuming more of it tends to result in an automatic reduction of total calorie intake.  

One study, for instance, noted that when people increased their protein consumption from 15% to 30% of their total daily calorie intake, they automatically took in an average of 441 fewer calories per day.(6) 

As a result, the participants lost, on average, eleven pounds in twelve weeks. All that just by consuming more protein! 

Since protein is highly satiating, you can increase your fat loss efforts by enhancing your nutrition plan with a protein supplement. This is the product we recommend.(7)

3) Multivitamins

While most people don’t view multivitamins as a fat burning aid, such supplements can help you get lean. 

One randomized, placebo-controlled study on obese Chinese women, for instance, found that taking a multivitamin daily for 26 weeks caused the following results:(8)

• 3.6 kg of weight loss
• 2.4 cm waist circumference reduction
• 1.4 points decrease in BMI 
• 2.8 kg of body fat loss

The reason multivitamins can help you lose weight is that all vitamins and minerals are, in one way or another, involved in fat burning.

Zinc, for instance, is essential for your metabolism. Failing to get enough of this mineral can downregulate your metabolism by hundreds of calories, making it much tougher to lose weight and keep it off.(9)

Now, in an ideal world, we would get all of our nutrients through our diet. Unfortunately, however, factors like soil depletion, over-filtration of water, chronic stress levels, and junk food consumption often put a halt to that.

The good news? You can ensure that you'll get all the micronutrients you need by consuming a multivitamin. So, feel free to upgrade your nutrition plan by consuming a high-quality multivitamin.

The Three Worst Fat Burner Supplements

By now, you know three proven fat burner supplements. Unfortunately, however, almost all of the other supplements that are on the market don’t help you lose fat. Avoid the following three popular but useless compounds. 

1) CLA

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) refers to a mixture of polyunsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids are primarily found in the meat and milk of ruminants, and they’re often marketed as potent fat burners.

Marketers claim that CLA boosts fat loss by boosting metabolism and activating PPAR receptors. These receptors aid the breakdown and burning of fatty acids.

Except for studies on rats, however, there’s no quality evidence that CLA aids fat burning. In fact, human studies show no difference in weight and fat loss between participants consuming CLA or a placebo.(10)(11)(12)(13)

Worse yet, one study on obese men found that CLA decreased insulin sensitivity by 15%. Not only is that bad health-wise, but it also impairs fat loss by worsening nutrient partitioning.(14) 

2) Garcinia Cambogia

Since Dr. Oz labeled Garcinia cambogia as a powerful fat burner, this pumpkin-shaped fruit has gained a lot of popularity. It’s supposed to block fat production by inhibiting the citric lyase enzyme.

Unfortunately, though, this compound is a waste of money if you want to lose fat. That’s what was indicated by a randomized, placebo-controlled study published in the Nutrition Journal.

In the study, eighty-six overweight individuals either took a Garcinia supplement or a placebo daily. The result? After ten weeks, there was no difference in weight loss between the groups.(15). 

What's more, another randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study found that people  who took a placebo lost more weight than those who supplemented Garcinia’s active ingredient hydroxycitric acid.(16)

In other words, leave this compound on the shelf if you want to reduce the number on your scale. 

3) Raspberry Ketones

Raspberry ketones are substances naturally found in various fruits like raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, and kiwis. The raspberry ketones you’ll find in supplements, however, are synthetically derived.

Supplement manufacturers often sell raspberry ketones with the claim that the compound aids fat burning. But studies on mice aside, there’s no evidence that this supplement can help you get leaner.

In fact, mice research shows less weight gain in response to taking ketones, not more fat loss. There’s a big difference between the two in terms of the mechanisms involved.(17)

Besides, based on the mice study, you would have to take raspberry ketones in amounts that are equivalent to about 100 times the maximum recommended dose. Not only will that be pricey, but also irresponsible.

Thus, unless quality research becomes available that raspberry ketones do indeed help you lose fat, don’t waste your money.

Here’s the Bottom Line on Fat Burner Supplements

There are a lot of supplements that are marketed as potent fat burners. Most of those products, however, don’t do anything besides wasting your money. Examples of these are CLA, Garcinia Cambogia, and raspberry ketones.

The good news? Some supplements have been proven to work. These include caffeine, protein powder, and multivitamins. So, if you want to upgrade your fat loss results, take those instead.