The Best 5 natural supplements for weight loss

  Authors note:  I never thought my weight was an issue until I had a visit with my Dr. for an unrelated issue. He told me that I was "obese" with a BMI just north of 30.  Honestly, I knew I was packing on a few pounds, but never thought I'd ever hear the words "obese" come from the Dr.'s mouth when referring to my weight. However, it was that one word that made me decide to jump start my weight loss program.  I had previously experimented with a multitude of natural supplements geared for weight loss, however only a few of these natural weight loss supplements actually helped me lose weight. The following are supplements that actually aided my weight loss goals. This is my experience and my experience alone.

5. Cinnamon: Keeping your blood sugar levels in check is one of the necessities of losing weight. With this being the case, supplementing with cinnamon is a really good idea for most folk. According to research, Cinnamon (in doses of around 4 grams/day) has shown to lower the glycemic index of foods. On a personal level, I lost 12lbs after taking cinnamon for 5 weeks ( 3 grams).  While that seems like an awful long time to lose just 12 lbs., I lost said weight around my belly area, making the loss much more visually noticeable. I went from a size 14 to a size 10.  Cinnamon is also really cheap, at least relative to other weight loss products. A bottle of cinnamon runs from $10-$15 for a 1 months’ supply at most health food stores, i.e. iHerb.  I continue to take cinnamon to help lower my glycemic index, which not only helps with weight loss, it also can help reduce glycation in the body.  What brand should you use? I like to use NOW FOODS brand, as it's one of the cheaper brands.

4. HCG (diet): This is such a controversial method of weight loss.  Notice how I put "diet" in parentheses. This is because I assume that the HCG diet, which is quit strict, will probably work whether or not you actually take the HCG hormone. Because the HCG diet calls for a very strict calorie reduction,  and severely limits food choices during different stages of the diet, it's bound to cause weight loss.  I lost a whopping 26 lbs in just 3 weeks sticking to this diet. I don't know whether or not the diet would actually be as beneficial without the hormone (I take the HCG hormone 3x per day), but it seems like this diet would work for anyone with or without the hormone. If you decide to go by the HCG diet's rules, which requires you to take the hormone, it's not expensive. The HCG hormone runs about $50 these days at most health food stores. iHerb sells a number of HCG products and you will get an additional $5 off by using this iHerb Coupon.         

3.  CLA(conjugated linoleic acid): CLA is a fat, but unlike typical fats, CLA boats a ton of benefits for the human body that span much further than just its ability to cause weight loss. As for weight loss, CLA seems to do an ok job. While  I did have better results on the HCG diet, I did lose about 10lbs while taking CLA (3 grams/day) after 3 weeks.  This weight loss came without changing my diet or increasing the amount of exercise I was doing. The problem is, is that I never lost anymore. My goal was to lose 40lbs, but after 6 months of taking CLA I was still at only a 10lb loss, so while I appreciate the weight loss, it simply wasn't enough for me to reach my goal. If you would like to experiment with CLA, it's relatively cheap - costing about  $15 for a 1-month supply.  

 2. Chitosan: Chitosan is a fiber that is not digested by the body. It is theorized that chitosan binds to the fat of the foods we eat and thus fat also passes through the lower intestine undigested and non-absorbed. Whether or not this is the case, I have found Chitosan products to work for me, albeit not on a grand scale. Taking Chitosan alone, I lost maybe 5 lbs over a 1 month period.  While this may not be allot, I find that Chitosan adds that extra boost ion losing weight with conjunction with exercise. Actually, all of the aforementioned products will work energetically with exercise. The only exception might be the HCG Diet. I say this, because eating 500-800 calories per day may cause ill affects if exercising hard.

1.   Green Tea:  Green Tea is probably my favorite weight loss supplement. The only downside with green tea is that the results are very slow, so if you are looking for super-fast weight loss, this isn't your supplement.  Green Tea is known to raise your metabolic rate, thus your body  will theoretically burn calories faster than it otherwise would.  In addition, there is plenty of research demonstrating that Green Tea is an excellent antioxidant. You can't go wrong with a product that is going to help keep you lose weight and also help you stay healthy. Green  Tea is also dirt cheap, costing about $3-$4 for a good tasting organic brand. For more info on green tea you can click this LINK

Conclusion:    While  no supplement will make you lose all the weight in the world (and keep it off) without modifying your diet and exercise routine,  there are products out there that can help boost your results .I highly suggest consulting your Dr. before starting any weight loss regimen, be it the all-natural way (exercises) or not.