SLIM PICKINGS

Here are M&P’s supplement recommendations to support fat-loss in multiple ways. 

There’s more than one way to thin a cat. When you’re trying to lose body fat you’ll have much greater success if you address multiple physiological processes that increase fat reduction. You not only want to reduce your calorie intake, but you also want to reduce the impact those calories have on body fat stores. In addition, you want to encourage your body to pull additional fat from storage, doing all this while feeling as good as possible. When you address all these different ways of losing body fat, you’ll not only look better, but you’ll feel better, too.

* Boost your metabolic rate: Pick green tea extract

The active ingredient in green tea extract, epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), induces thermogenesis through at least two well-defined but related means: First, by increasing the amount of fat used as energy under exercise and post-exercise conditions; second, by inhibiting the reuptake of norepinephrine (noradrenaline), which is a key player in metabolic regulation and appetite control. Often, your body prefers to burn muscle tissue, so triggering the release of body fat while boosting metabolic rate is among the best ways to target stored fat while sparing hard-earned muscle tissue. 

* Reduce your appetite: Pick glucomannan

One of the reasons that diets fail is that dieters often cut calories too drastically. This not only encourages your body to drop water and muscle mass, but it also makes you very hungry and feel terrible. Glucomannan comes from the konjac plant, and it’s a soluble fiber that mixes with fluids in your body or those you consume, expanding in your stomach, making you feel full and reducing your appetite as well as the amount of calories you consume. In addition, glucomannan slows the release of food into your system, fueling your body for longer. It also blocks some of the calories from entering your system altogether, carrying them out of your system. 

* Release fat from storage: Pick yohimbine

The bottom line is that fat has to come out of storage before you can lose it. Yohimbine, the active ingredient from the Pausinystalia yohimbe tree, is a potent fat-mobilizer. Yohimbine gets fat to march out of storage cells by inhibiting the ability of alpha-2-receptors on fat cells, which act as gatekeepers that only allow the release of small amounts. By putting these gatekeepers to sleep, yohimbine encourages fat to flow more freely into your system where it can be used to fuel activity.  In addition, yohimbine allows sympathetic nerves to release more norepinephrine to increase fat burning.

* Increase brain chemicals: Pick Mucuna pruriens

Diets are challenging, and your brain needs to be at its best. One of the ways to boost brain power while dieting it so take Mucuna pruriens, a tropical legume that’s also known as cowhage or velvet bean. It boosts dopamine, a key brain chemical that promotes a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. Dieting causes a reduction in both, obviously, so taking Mucuna pruriens helps you succeed on your diets because it reduces cravings. In addition, this supplement also boosts the release of growth hormone, helping you keep or add muscle mass while losing body fat. 

[JORDANA—This one’s pretty long. I’d cut Yohimbine first, if you want to make it shorter.]