Today I decided to use my gym membership, and hired a personal trainer ( in order to combat my laziness).
As a bonus, the gym threw in all sorts of pills, including this ‘fat burning complex’ that I was told I should take.
I am now trying to figure out how it’s supposed to work; especially since if it did I wouldn’t have to do all that nasty exercising. Just sit back and wait for the fat to ignite!
Alas, I have a sneaking suspician that it’s only to try to get me to shell out for them when I run out of the supply. Anyone know what the non vitamin/mineral portion of these pills is?
If this is the stuff that you take “just before bed, at least three hours after your last meal,” they are relying on natural processes to make their placebo appear to have some benefit.
It has been recognized that food eaten just before a night’s sleep is more likely to be converted to fat than muscle. Telling you to stop eating early, then taking the pill “at bedtime” just gives you an incentive to cut out the late-night, thigh-and-gut-spreading snacks (or meals). This has the basic effect of causing you to not continue to put on weight and, if you are exercising at all, to lose modest amounts of weight by natural processes.
If they are not telling you to modify your eating habits, it is simply snake oil and they hope that your gym regimen will cause you to not notice that the pills have no effect.
L-carnitine - the fat burner,allows body to use fat as energy - energy booster
This is a fallacy, or misunderstanding. There are no “fat burners” or “calorie burners”.
carnitine, in particular, is needed for long-chain fatty acids oxidation (“burning”). Fatty acids are a component of fat. Without it acetyl group will not be carried across the mitochondrial wall. (I apologize for the details, but I am afraid of some vicious guys here who will say that I know nothing if I do not use long words).
Anyway, usually there is enough L-carnitine in the liver and muscle to oxidize fat. Extra amounts will do nothing: fat got to be oxidized first. It is oxidized if there is no glucose immediately available; then fat stores are used. Exercise is a good way to deplete fat stores. Limit your caloric intake, if you can. Otherwise, the stores will be replenished as fast as they are depleted. There are (and cannot be) magic pills. Even in your gym.
If you eat enough of them, they are supposed to help with spontaneous human combustion. Of course, since noone knows what causes spontaneous human combustion, these haven’t ben proven to work.
Alatariel, I notice that you replied to this thread with the new thread 0oof.
Please don’t. If you will notice at the top and bottom of each thread (this list of posts and answering posts), there is a blue bar with the words “new topic” and “post reply”. To post a new reply to the same thread that you have started, open thet thread, then click on “post reply”. This will keep all the questions and answers in a single place for everyone to review without having to remember the names of several different threads to know how the “conversation” is going.
Dave, I realize it was an inadvertent confusion. To clear the smoke (from burning fat) completely.
In theory, fat would not oxidaze without carnitine. In practice, there are plenty of carnitine available, but its availability would not, by itself, cause fat oxydation. Body (increased) energy requirements can do that.
basically you shouldn’t take them unless prescribed by a doctor, especially if you are exercising because you could cause complications.
Next time someone gives you stuff like that ask them politely if they are licensed to prescribe such & that should keep them from ever asking you again to take it.
To Handy:
I think these aren’t the diet pills that you need a prescription for…I was just curious if they could have any good effects. Like (I think) St. John’s Wort, which (the plant) has small amounts of a chemical that acts like an antidepressant-I’ve heard you shouldn’t take it if you are currently on antidepressants.
To weapons grade bullonium:
I’m not real clear on the celebrity diets- a friend told me about one where you just eat meat and vegetables for a while, and then your body goes into ketosis, and this burns much fat (as it was explained to me). I just don’t much like the idea of trying to get my body to go into a state that sounds like it’s sick, so I’m opting for exercise instead.
Alatariel, I do not know you and you did not ask for my advice (other than about diet pills/carnitine), but I feel that you get a lot of low quality advice, where you hang out. Not that I am a diet doctor, or something. I do not even know, are you a pleasantly plum young lady or an obese dude, but please remember, that any reasonable diet (like meat and veggies) will not give you ketosis. Untreated diabetes might.
So, first of all, do not overdo it.so I’m opting for exercise instead. That sounds pretty reasonable and save. If you are young and healthy, exercise should be fun.
Enjoy it.