In parts one and two of the series, I described the importance of knowing what’s in the food and products that you put in your mouth or on your skin, as well as options for creating your own recipe for muscle building and energy. This entry will break down the ingredients (as well as the functions of these individual products) to make a fat burning stack. The recipe included in this article will address various means of increasing your metabolism to burn calories before they are stored as fat, as well as accessing or using stored body fat and preventing it from being stored in the first place. Please remember to consult with a doctor before taking these supplements, and that this stack is part of a healthful diet and regular exercise program.
Releasing Stored Body Fat
This part of the stack encourages the fat cells beneath your skin to empty their contents, thus becoming smaller and taking up less space. The two most scientifically studied substances for this are caffeine and yohimbe. Please remember that there is already caffeine in the muscle building stack. Do not add more caffeine if you are doing both muscle building and fat burning stacks simultaneously. Use smaller doses of yohimbe in this stack as you gauge your tolerance, if you have included caffeine elsewhere in your day. Also, avoid yohimbe if you have liver, kidney or heart diseases, if you are pregnant or breastfeeding or if you have anxiety or other psychological disorders.
Boosting Metabolism
Once the fat has been purged from your fat cells, it needs to be burned or else it could be stored again. Boosting your metabolism will force your body to use the accessible energy it has at the ready. The two ingredients to choose between are green tea extract and capsaicin. Green tea extract creates a metabolic burn that causes you to burn more calories each day, whether you exercise or not. Capsaicin is the chemical that makes peppers taste hot. As with green tea extract, capsaicin increases metabolism. Be cognizant of whether or not boosting your metabolism negatively impacts your heart.
Transporting Free-floating Fat
Freeing fat from storage allows more of it to be used; however, even with an increased metabolism, you may not burn it all. To be burned, fat has to be transported into the mitochondria of your cells, where it is used for energy. L-Carnitine is an important transporter of fat into the nuclei of cells.
Blocking Fat
Conjugated Linoleic Acid (CLA) inhibits the fat cells under your skin from storing excess fat in the first place. Another benefit of CLA is that it not only inhibits the storage of fat, it also contributes to burning more fat. It is part of the group of good fats called omega-6 fatty acids.
Accessing Genetics
In addition to the omega-6 fatty acids, another group that may sound familiar to you is omega-3 fatty acids. Some food sources include seeds, nuts, fortified eggs and dairy products, and especially fish. Fish oil capsules are a concentrated dose of omega-3 fatty acid. It works for fat loss by activating genes that regulate fat burning while also deactivating genes that regulate fat storage.
Of course, there are other health benefits of consuming foods with caffeine, green tea, carnitine, CLA and omega fatty acids that go beyond the intention of this fat burning stack; however, one of the benefits of stacking is getting the concentrated fat burning affects without consuming the extra calories in the foods that contain them. Use one ingredient from each function to test your tolerance levels and to create the combination that works best for you.
info: Jack Kirven completed the MFA in Dance at UCLA, and earned certification as a personal trainer through NASM. His wellness philosophy is founded upon integrated lifestyles as opposed to isolated workouts. Visit him at jackkirven.com and INTEGRE8Twellness.com.