BUH Blog

Adios unwanted Christmas fats

January 8, 2007 on 3:02 pm | In Musing |

While shopping, you come across a drugstore or pharmacy, walk in, and you see dozens of fat burners, slimming teas, and other products promising to make unwanted body fat melt away. And with the extra weight you gained over this Christmas Season, plus all the alluring ads you see on newspapers, magazines and TV, you start to think towards this line. “Hmmm, maybe I should try one.”

Halt!

Before you do try one, it is important to first know what diet supplements and fat burners are. Diet supplements fill in for the missing nutrients (such as vitamins, minerals and amino acids) that you were not able to consume in sufficient quantity for the day. That is, you take it in addition to regular food. Examples of this are energy bars and protein mixes. Fat burners are generally in a form of pill and contain herbal ingredients to help you shed off your excess body fats. It could burn your stored fat by either speeding up your metabolism; suppressing your appetite; inhibiting your body from absorbing fat during digestion; or combining all three.

Tempting huh? Still, before swallowing any supplement or burning pills I suggest you first find out what your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) is. This is the approximate number of calories you require on a daily basis. Weight loss begins with this important information because by knowing your BMR, you will know how much in excess or deficient your calorie intake is. Consequently, you will know if you need a diet supplement or a fat burner.

Afterwards, do your homework - research! In spite of the myriad of pills in the market today, only few are really that effective. And even if you see it labeled with “proven in clinical trials,” you need to delve deeper. You wouldn”t want to waste your money, not to mention swallow something without knowing how it works and its possible health complications, would you?

Keep in mind though that there are really no shortcuts to losing that excess body fats. And the weight loss product that is effective to your friend may not produce the same results with you since each person stores fat and burns it differently. Still, if you combine your carefully selected diet supplements or fat burners with a properly balanced diet coupled with regular exercise, you will be able to say “adios!” to your pounds of fat and finally get the lean body you”ve been pining for.