Best Fat Burning Supplement

When used judiciously — and we emphasize the word ‘judiciously,’ meaning used in conjunction with a well planned diet and exercise routine — the best non stim fat burners can potentially make a difference to your physique. Whether you’re preparing for a bodybuilding show or you’re just focused on shedding fat for your own benefit, it may be worth looking at these supplements.

Many, if not most fat burner products contain stimulants, typically caffeine (although sometimes it’s yohimbine). Plenty of people are a little sensitive to these ingredients, or they just want to be able to take their pills at night time or any time they don’t want to get jacked up.

So what’s the best non stim fat burner?

Best Non Stim Fat Burner Overall: Legion Phoenix

The best fat burners, in our opinion, affect your physique in multiple ways: fat oxidation, appetite suppression, and increasing thermogenesis. Legion Phoenix came out on top because of its potent dosage and research backed ingredients.  

Legion Phoenix Highlights

Legion’s fat burner is very high in green tea extract, which has links to fat oxidation, and plenty of forskolin, which might help the body burn through energy reserves.(1)(2)

A really interesting draw is the synephrine, naringin and hesperidin, all extracts from citrus fruits that appear to increase the metabolism and speed up fat burning when used together, according to a research published in the International Journal of Medical Sciences.(3)

Who Should Buy Legion Phoenix

• Anyone who wants a variety of ingredients working in concert to increase fat oxidation and energy expenditure.
• People interested in mood boosters: there’s 5-HTP here, which may help to boost serotonin and help with satiety.

Who Shouldn’t Buy Legion Phoenix

• Those who want a lot of appetite suppressants, although the 5-HTP here may be sufficient.
• Anecdotally, it might not be ideal for people with very sensitive stomachs.

Legion is known for their rigorous standards their innovative use of different compounds, and we haven’t seen anyone with as wide a variety of well researched ingredients.

Best Non Stim Fat Burner for Focus: Transparent Labs Fat Burner Stim-Free

This is an all around effective fat burner but it’s unusually high in ingredients that could help with cognition. Transparent Labs takes the top spot for the following reasons.

Transparent Labs Fat Burner Stim-Free Highlights

This company has two different fat burners (here’s the one with stimulants) and the stim-free version has seven ingredients with an unusual focus on, well, focus.

There’s 5-HTP, which has links to appetite suppression but also mental wellbeing (this is all because it may help produce serotonin), and there’s also rhodiola rosea, a popular adaptogen used for focus and stress reduction.

So it may be extra useful for feelings of “hanger,” but the cayenne pepper, coleus forskolin, and fucoxanthin, which could help to increase fat metabolism.(4)

Who Should Buy Transparent Labs Fat Burner Stim-Free

• People who find restricting their calories negatively affects their mood may prefer this product.
• Anybody interested in the potential fat burning effects of cayenne pepper, perhaps the most popular ingredient in these supplements.
• Athletes; the acetyl l-carnitine may help with energy production during exercise.(5)

Who Shouldn’t Buy Transparent Labs Fat Burner Stim-Free

• People who are convinced by the benefits of green tea extract won’t find any here.

The ingredients list is short but Transparent Labs focuses on ingredients with solid research and links to mood stability. If that’s your stumbling block, this may be the product for you.

Best Non Stim Fat Burner for Appetite Suppression: LeanBean

LeanBean has a dozen ingredients, but it has a strong focus on what might be the most important aspect of weight loss: your appetite. This product has an emphasis on a Japanese root with some interesting links to reducing hunger.

LeanBean Highlights

Leanbean contains 12 ingredients intended to help you achieve your goals. A big part of the appeal is glucomannan, a thickener made from the root of the konjac plant that research suggests can suppress appetite.(6) The ingredients list also has other fat burner stalwarts like cayenne pepper and green tea extract as well as black pepper extract, which a 2016 paper found may increase metabolism.(7)

Leanbean fat burner seems a little low in green coffee extract and raspberry ketones, but we were pretty impressed. It contains a small amount of natural caffeine, about 10 milligrams — half the amount in a Tall decaf coffee from Starbucks.

Who Should Buy LeanBean

• People who have trouble with their appetite during weight loss; LeanBean has a strong emphasis on this aspect.
• Anybody who likes cayenne, garcinia cambogia, turmeric, or green tea extract — these popular fat burner ingredients are well dosed in LeanBean.

Who Shouldn’t Buy Leanbean

• People with an extraordinary sensitivity to caffeine. The amount found in LeanBean is less than 10% of a small cup of coffee, but it’s worth mentioning.
• Folks who like the green coffee and raspberry ketones here; it’s a little low on these ingredients.

LeanBean’s tiny amount of caffeine may disqualify it for some consumers but for the average person it’ll be barely noticeable, and it’s otherwise a terrific product.

Best Non Stim Fat Burner for Brown Fat: RSP Nutrition QuadraLean

This product is high in an unusual ingredient that may help to convert your body fat, or adipose tissue, to brown fat, which may be more beneficial to the body. QuadraLean also has plenty of standard fat burner ingredients like green tea extract and acetyl l-carnitine.

 

RSP Nutrition QuadraLean Highlights

This product is one of the most popular non stim fat burners because it delivers a hefty dose of green tea extract and acetyl l-carnitine, but where it really stands out is the grains of paradise extract called Paradoxine®.

Third party tested for purity, it’s stimulant free and has been shown in some research to increase thermogenesis, or the amount of calories you burn throughout the day, plus it may help to convert white fat to brown fat, which could result in better body composition.(8)

Who Should Buy RSP Nutrition QuadraLean

• Anyone interested in increasing fat oxidation through green tea extract.
• Athletes interested in the potential performance enhancing benefits of acetyl l-carnitine.
• Those looking to increase their brown fat and decrease white fat.

Who Shouldn’t Buy RSP Nutrition QuadraLean

• Those looking for raspberry ketones or chromium — they used to be in this product, but not anymore.
• Folks interested in appetite suppression. This product is more geared toward fat oxidation.
• Vegans, since the capsule is made from gelatin.

It’s not the most versatile fat burner on the market, but RSP’s QuadraLean has an unusual tactic of decreasing white fat while boosting thermogenesis and fat oxidation.

Best Non Stim Fat Burner for Burning Glucose: Evlution Nutrition Lean Mode

Some fat burners focus on increasing fat metabolism, others on promoting energy production, but Lean Mode is known for contributing to fat loss from a variety of different angles.

Evlution Nutrition Lean Mode Highlights

Lean Mode highlights multiple “modes of action” for promoting weight loss: the green tea and green coffee extract might elevate resting metabolism, the chlorogenic acid might burn stored body fat, the acetyl l-carnitine might help with energy metabolism and with transporting fatty acids.

This makes for a pretty well rounded fat burner that has a solid following in the bodybuilding community.

Who Should Buy Evlution Nutrition Lean Mode

• Those who like the idea of taking green tea and green coffee to help burn stored body fat.
• Athletes, as there’s a good dose of acetyl l-carnitine for energy production.

Who Shouldn’t Buy Evlution Nutrition Lean Mode

• Those who want a precise dosage of the EGCG in the green tea extract, as it’s not mentioned.
• Vegans, as it comes in gelatin capsules.

Lean Mode is widely reported to help with energy levels in big calorie deficits without containing stimulants, a rare feat that helps to elevate the product.

How We Decide the Best

When assessing the usefulness of a fat burner supplement, we looked at several factors. Sure, it has green tea extract, but is that enough? Here’s what you should think about.

Fat Oxidation

Perhaps the most popular ingredient in “fat burners” as this means it helps to burn fat, or more specifically, it helps to increase the amount of energy you burn from stored fat as compared to stored carbs. Popular examples include green tea extract and l-carnitine.

Increasing Metabolic Rate

In other words, whether or not a product burns more calories. A popular example is cayenne pepper, which some research has found to burn an extra 50 or so calories, depending on the dosage. Other examples include hordenine and synephrine, found in Legion’s Phoenix.

Appetite Suppression

There are a few ways appetite suppression works. A popular one is with ingredients that expand in the stomach, like glucomannan (found in LeanBean) and psyllium husk. A more popular method is 5-HTP, which may help with serotonin production, which appears to help with satiety and cravings.

Transparency

Scores of fat burners hide their ingredients behind proprietary blends so that the customer doesn’t know the exact amount of each. It helps them to keep their formula from being stolen by competitors, sure, but it also means that you don’t know how effective the product is.

Before Buying Fat Burners

These products are prone to exaggeration on the part of the manufacturers and wishful thinking on the part of consumers. Make sure you’re mindful of these points.

Know Your Calories

Way too many people think adding a fat burner, with no other changes to their diet, will product a six pack. Fat burners might help to burn some extra calories, but if you don’t know how many calories you’re burning then it’s kind of a moot point. Find out your ideal calories with this calculator — then adding a fat burner might give you some support.

Manage Your Expectations

It’s generally understood that a pound of fat loss per week is very fast, and you can maybe get to two pounds if you’re quite overweight or obese. Anyone who says they lost 20 pounds in a month is exaggerating — you need to be patient.

Exercise Regularly

A lot of the ingredients linked to fat oxidation produce their best results with a solid exercise routine: they’re meant to increase the amount of fat burned during exercise. In addition, exercise helps to burn more calories and improve body composition. Taking a fat burner without a workout routine may produce suboptimal results.

Speak to a Physician

This is absolutely key. You should never make any changes to your diet or exercise regimen without first speaking to a doctor, and this is especially the case with the easily misunderstood supplements like fat burners.

Wrapping Up

As you can see, there are a lot of things to keep in mind when choosing the best non stim fat burner, even when you’re trying to uncomplicate the ingredients list by removing caffeine. The right product totally depends on your own preferences, but we’ve found many like those that operate on multiple fronts: appetite, fat oxidation, and increased thermogenesis. Whatever your preference, there’s an option for you on this list.

Featured image via  Bojan Milinkov/Shutterstock

References

1. Godard MP, et al. Body composition and hormonal adaptations associated with forskolin consumption in overweight and obese men. Obes Res. 2005 Aug;13(8):1335-43.
2. Greenway FL, et al. Regional fat loss from the thigh in obese women after adrenergic modulation. Clin Ther. 1987;9(6):663-9.
3. Stohs SJ, et al. Effects of p-synephrine alone and in combination with selected bioflavonoids on resting metabolism, blood pressure, heart rate and self-reported mood changes. Int J Med Sci. 2011 Apr 28;8(4):295-301.
4. Woo, M et al. Anti-obese property of fucoxanthin is partly mediated by altering lipid-regulating enzymes and uncoupling proteins of visceral adipose tissue in mice. Mol Nutr Food Res . 2009 Dec;53(12):1603-11.
5. Stephens, FB et al. New insights concerning the role of carnitine in the regulation of fuel metabolism in skeletal muscle. J Physiol . 2007 Jun 1;581(Pt 2):431-44.
6. Walsh DE, et al. Effect of glucomannan on obese patients: a clinical study. Int J Obes. 1984;8(4):289-93.
7. Nogara L, et al. Piperine’s mitigation of obesity and diabetes can be explained by its up-regulation of the metabolic rate of resting muscle. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2016 Nov 15;113(46):13009-13014.
8. Sugita, J et al. Daily ingestion of grains of paradise (Aframomum melegueta) extract increases whole-body energy expenditure and decreases visceral fat in humans. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol (Tokyo) . 2014;60(1):22-7.