Most of us know the basics of what we should do to lose weight: eat right, exercise, and balance the thyroid are at the top of the list.
But what about when you’ve done everything right, and you still can’t lose the weight? Post-menopausal weight gain for women, and low testosterone-related weight gain for men, can be particularly tenacious. There are of course fad diets out there that can jump-start the process (most people think of the ketogenic diet here).
But another option are Fat Burner Shots.
What are Fat Burner Shots?
These shots contain four nutrients that help to boost your body’s natural fat-burning process.
Methionine
The point of methionine is that the body can use it to make creatine: a peptide made of glycine, arginine, and methionine. The body then attaches a phosphate molecule to creatine, in order to make phosphocreatine in the muscles.
Why this matters: your body’s major energy currency is ATP, Adenosine Tri-Phosphate. It releases energy by releasing one of those phosphate molecules, turning it into ADP (Adenosine Di-Phosphate). ATP is a very biochemically expensive molecule, though—so the quickest way to get more ATP is to just regenerate the ADP that’s already hanging around. Phosphocreatine can do this by donating its extra phosphate. So effectively creatine assists with formation of muscle during exercise. More muscle = faster metabolism. This of course requires you to be exercising too, though. (Sorry.)
Since creatine is made of three amino acids, why is only methionine included in Fat Burner shots? Of the three, only methionine is an “essential” amino acid, meaning the body cannot make it on its own. It has to be obtained from the diet.
Inositol
I wrote here on inositol’s role as a second messenger in general.
It acts as a second messenger for insulin, the hormone necessary to allow glucose inside the cells. It thus assists with insulin sensitivity. Probably because of this at least in part, it helps with many other markers of metabolic syndrome, including improvement in blood pressure, triglyceride and cholesterol levels.
It has also been shown to be helpful in gestational diabetes, and in raising adiponectin, necessary for weight loss.
Choline
I wrote here on the role of phosphatidylcholine specifically for weight loss. It does this in three main ways: first, it helps to keep cell membranes healthy, which encourages elimination of cellular waste products. Toxic buildup can certainly inhibit the liver’s ability to break down fat, as removing toxicity takes first priority.
Also along the lines of more global detoxification, choline directly supports one of the liver’s six pathways of Phase 2 Detoxification called the methylation cycle. It involves adding a methyl group (-CH3) to various toxins to render them water soluble. Phenols (like salicylic acid—aspirin, cannabinoids, estradiol, and BPA) and quite a few other chemicals go through this pathway. Choline contains three methyl groups, making it one of the body’s major methyl donors to contribute to the methylation pathway–in fact, 60% of the body’s methyl groups come from choline. Therefore, if the methylation cycle is compromised, leading to toxic backup which might hinder weight loss, choline helps to support it. The methylation cycle is also important for the production of choline (see above).
Finally, choline is necessary for transporting fat to your mitochondria (the powerhouse of your cells, where the aforementioned ATP is made). Energy is necessary for weight loss, of course–in fact, energy production is essentially the definition of metabolism.
B12
As mentioned above, methylation support helps to eliminate toxins, which can assist with weight loss, if toxic body burden is part of the obstacle to cure. B12 is another nutrient that can assist with methylation support (along with folate and Vitamin B6). It likewise is important in production of ATP a little further upstream, in a process inside the mitochondria called the Citric Acid Cycle.
B12 is often considered as a weight loss aid, as there are a number of studies that have shown a correlation with higher B12 status and weight loss—or conversely, lower B12 status and weight gain.
The Upshot
Fat Burner shots aren’t appropriate for everyone, of course. I would certainly encourage tweaking diet, exercise, and balancing hormones first. But if you’re in need of a little extra help, this is something to consider. (And yes, we do offer them at our office.) 🙂
