Stimulant free fat burners are like your average fat burners – just without the caffeine. When made correctly by a reputable brand, stimulant free options help with the big 3 for dieting:
- Improve satiety (often through fiber-fullness)[4]
- Hasten switching from carb to fat metabolism
- And lower cortisol (Lessen bodily stress)
To no surprise, this is very similar to traditional fat burners. The only difference is that regular fat burners can utilize caffeine to cover satiety and fat metabolism in one [1]!
After all, coffee on its own has been shown to aide fat loss [Healthline].
This is why so many caffeinated fat burners can get away with puny formulas; but for effective stimulant free options, we’re going to need more ingredients to get the job done.
Editor’s Note: It’s a common misconception that fat burners without stimulants will contain less ingredients. In reality, a stimulant free fat burner needs to over compensate with larger non-stimulant dosages to make up for caffeine’s loss. What is impressive though, is when both of these qualities are combined – like in the most effective fat burners with energy.
So regular fat burners have an easier time…
But that doesn’t mean we’re out of luck. Plenty of quality non-stimulant fat burners exist, just as many regular fat burners exist which do not rely completely on caffeine.
Ideal Stim-free Fat Burner Ingredients
CLA – Conjugated Linoleic Acid
Conjugated Linoleic Acid has bounced around as a both a ‘weight loss miracle’ and a ‘weight loss dud’ within the span of just a year. The truth is, CLA lies somewhere in between.
- Fact: CLA helps stimulate fat metabolism [2].
- Fiction: It works quickly and/or not at all.
- Overall health effects: beneficial.
Realistic Expectations: CLA will help with the mobilization of fat metabolism. It’s not entirely clear how this works, however we have a hunch that the digestion of CLA itself for energy actually ‘gets the fire burning’ to then burn stored fat. Interestingly enough, this often happens exactly where we want it – in the waist midsection [3].
Forskolin – Extract from Coleus forskohlii
Forskolin, the chemical isolated form the Coleus forskohlii is a particularly interesting weight loss aide and general tonic [5]. Its effect has to do with its similarity to alpha d-galactose, which is close enough to allow it to activate glucose transporter receptors which triggers the production of cellular energy [6]. This ‘call for energy’ requires the burning of fat to take place, thus improving metabolism and having other unexpected effects [7].
- Fact: Forskolin increases metabolism [10, 11].
- Fact: Forskolin improves lean muscle mass [9].
- Warning: Interacts with hypertensive drugs and coagulates [8].
Realistic Expectations: Forskolin is safe for both men and women, but men may benefit unfairly more! This is due to forskolin’s effect on testosterone levels and lean muscle mass, which is positive.
In our opinion, Forskolin has the highest probability of helping weight loss. Make sure your fat burner contains this critical and beneficial ingredient.
L-carnitine – l-carnitine l-tartrate in particular
Unlike Forskolin l-carnitine is not produced from some rare herb. Rather, l-carnitine is similar to CLA in that it is common in many foods we eat. But it isn’t a healthy fat…
What l-carnitine is: L-carnitine is an amino acid byproduct formed from Lysine, Methionine, and a bit of Vitamin C. Its active role is to transport fat directly into your mitochondria to be burnt as fuel [National Institutes of Health, Oregon State University].
- Fact: The vegan diet is often deficient in l-carnitine and its building blocks. This is a prime example of an l-carnitine dietary deficiency which reduces fat metabolism and energy [13, 14].
- Fact: Athletes can benefit performance wise and recovery wise from l-carnitine supplementation [15].
- Warning: Some people may take on a ‘fishy odor’ when supplementing with too much l-carnitine. This is due to the body not effectively excreting the excess, and so your skin excretes it [12]!
- Fiction: Everyone can lose more weight with L-carnitine supplementation. Basically, if you aren’t deficient due to diet or extensive exercise, your needs are met for l-carnitine enabled fatty acid transport.
Realistic Expectations: Supplementing with l-carnitine can ensure that you are burning the fats that you are meant to burn. Likewise, it can improve performance, recovery, and metabolism in athletes, most notably is the case of l-carnitine and doping with Olympic athlete Mo Farrah [The Guardian].
Green Tea – EGCG’s from Camellia sinensis leaves
Unless stated otherwise, green tea often does contain caffeine. But, it’s often in very small quantities unless over-done. Something that is easy to notice if you look on the back label. For that reason, we are including it here.
- Fact: Green teas caffeine content and EGCG catechins aid natural weight management and reduce stress [16, 17].
- Fiction: Green tea fat burners are miracles. This isn’t true. Green tea aids in a healthful way, but will not correct a poor diet, period [18].
Realistic Expectations: If you’re looking to keep caffeine intake at as near-zero as possible, but still want a kick… A Green Tea containing fat burner may be ideal for you. Green tea differentiates from coffee in sensation due to less caffeine as well as the presence of l-theanine which calms the experience. You shouldn’t expect any form of extreme weight loss from green tea, but it can help you to reduce stress thereby enabling greater fat metabolism that is typically halted by stress (cortisol).
Ingredients That Flat-out Don’t Work:
What We Looked For:
To fine-tune our best stimulant free fat burners, we refined products to review based on multi-ingredient formulas. This means, we bought and reviewed fat burners that contained not just one key ingredient, but many key ingredients together in ideal dosages. This qualification becomes apparent as we work our way up the ranking.
Note: in some cases, we doubled serving sizes to hit clinical dosages. We’ll state when we did this, if we don’t say, then assume one standard serving.
Top 10 Stimulant Free Fat Burners
#10 Vitadirect CLA
What really makes this brand stand out compared to other CLA makers is their high quality manufacturing paired with low cost. You can get 180 servings of Vitadirect CLA for under $13 on amazon.
Ideal Recommendation: Pair CLA alongside your current stimulant-based fat burning supplement, pre workout, or protein. This CLA can also be stacked with other non-stimulant products without interference.
#9 Beverly International Quadracarn
Together, these all add up to 1515 mg per 3 tablet serving.
If you’ve been interested in l-carnitine, then you’ve likely seen many liquid l-carnitine products. We prefer to avoid the liquid forms because they are loaded with preservatives.
Ideal Recommendation: Quadracarn will be most useful for men due to the added ingredient Gymnema sylvestre which Beverly International claims helps boost testosterone levels alongside the l-carnitine complex. Again, this can be taken alongside other fat burning products.
#8 Green Tea Extract by Nature’s Nutrition
Nature’s Nutrition makes a potent green tea extract that delivers 1,000 mg per serving of 98% concentrated EGCGs. If you’d like an extremely natural way to boost metabolism alongside a mindful diet and exercise program – this is a good choice.
Ideal Recommendation: Green tea supplements do often contain a bit of caffeine, so this is a good option for getting a morning kick in – both for your mood and metabolism! If you are super caffeine intolerant, avoid green tea products.
#7 Lean Mode by Evlution Nutrition
The other two ingredients in Lean Mode are: Green Coffee Bean Extract and Garcinia Cambogia. Together, they account for nearly half of the formula.
The problem with these two ingredients is that there really aren’t any good studies backing them up. For that reason, we had to demote this product.
Ideal Recommendation: Lean Mode can be taken in many situations like the majority of stimulant free fat burners. For best results, take 30-60 minutes before meals as an appetite suppressant.
#6 Quadra lean
Quadra Lean doesn’t contain 4 different types of one ingredient. Instead, Quadra Lean contains 4 completely different ingredients. They are: CLA, Acetyl l-carnitine HCL, Green tea extract, and grains of paradise (paradoxine).
Together, these ingredients work synergistically to aid weight management, and under ideal conditions – weight loss.
Note: compared to other stimulant free fat burners, this product may cause sweating due to the paradoxine. This is a thermogenic effect.
Ideal Recommendation: Quadra Lean is an extremely versatile fat burner. You can add it to nearly any regimen. Like all diet aids, it’s best taken alongside calorie restriction and meal-timing restriction.
#5 Hydroxycut LeanX
- We’re talking: Dill extract, Lion’s mane, Rhodiola, Ophiopogon extract, and cayenne.
- In addition, we also have: N-acetyl l-carnitine HCL and choline.
Compared to other products, LeanX is going to offer you an additional mental kick thanks to the choline which is great for focus. Overall, many of these ingredients are ‘new’, but enough proven ones are present that we’re confident in this fat burner.
Ideal recommendation: Like Lean Mode, LeanX is best taken 30-60 minutes before your two biggest meals of the day. This will help suppress your appetite as the primary method of weight loss.
#4 PES Forskolin-95
This is interesting, and a huge plus for men seeking a solid add-on natural fat burner.
However, the only thing that we do not like, is that the forskolin dosage itself is a bit weak at 50 mg per serving.
Ideal recommendation: Take daily with or without food. Forskolin acts in many different ways to effect men, so timing is less important.
#3 Xtend Ripped
Xtend Ripped is a large-dose standard BCAA supplement, but it also contains 3 non-stim fat burning ingredients: CLA, L-carnitine, and Capsimax cayenne.
If you are working out, and not taking a pre workout supplement, then Xtend Ripped is absolutely ideal for you to take before the gym or before running. The BCAAs will help you go farther despite a low calorie diet, and the fat burners will optimize further calorie burn.
Ideal recommendation: Athletes, take 30 minutes before workout. Optional on off-days.
#2 Optimum Nutrition Daily Fit
Daily fit combines a b-vitamin complex with non-stim fat burners like: acetyl l-carnitine, green tea extract, and both red and black pepper extract.
When taken daily for a long period of time, this can help you to burn a few extra calories without putting stress on the body.
Ideal recommendation: Take ON Daily Fit 30-60 minutes before meals like other appetite suppressing fat burners.
#1 TL Fat Burner Stimulant-Free Version
Ingredients include:
- Forskolin: This fat burner contains the clinical 250 mg of forskolin.
- L-carnitine: Stim-Free contains 750 mg of Acetyl L-carnitine
- 5-HTP: This product contains 150 mg of 5-HTP which naturally reduces appetite and improves mood.
- Rhodiola: Fat Burner contains 100 mg of rhodiola, twice of that found in LeanX.
- Cayenne: 50 mg of cayenne pepper extract.
- Fucoxanthin: An interesting and very expensive ingredient, Fucoxanthin from kelp helps to burn fat stores.
Overall, Fat Burner delivers more per serving than many of the main competitors combined. But don’t take our quick review’s word for it.
Ideal recommendation: Take a serving 30 to 60 minutes before your largest meal of the day to aid with appetite suppression and fat metabolism throughout the day.
Non-Stim Fat Burners Vs Exercise and Diet
To get the body you really want, a proper diet and exercise routine is absolutely essential [23, 24]. Taking a non-stimulant fat burner can help you get there faster, but moderating your food intake and supporting your body’s lean muscle is mission critical to lasting success.
Conclusion on our ranking:
We hope that this ranking helps you to avoid bad products and make a solid decision with your hard earned cash. Likewise, realize that exercise and diet are the primary means to weight loss success. Fat burners are simply aids to make it a little easier. If you’re mad broke, don’t sweat looking to buy a fat burner supplement – just workout harder and cut those carbs!
