Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was some super effective weight loss pill you could take that instantly sheds the excess weight? What vitamins aid in weight loss?

That kind of thing would sell like hot cakes. Sadly, there isn’t such a pill. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t vitamins available that can help improve your weight loss. Vitamins, after all, help enhance your body’s performance in certain ways.

Vitamins for Weight Loss

Some of these ways will include allowing your body to burn more calories when working out, boosting your metabolism, and assist in other ways that can result in dropping weight faster. While you will still need to focus on your diet and exercise routine, here are some of the very best vitamins for weight loss you need to add to your diet.

What Vitamins aid in Weight Loss? Well we are here to give you the low down…

Stock Up On B Vitamins

Don’t just grab the “Vitamin B” supplement at the grocery store and call it good. There are a number of B vitamins that will help boost your metabolic rate. What Vitamins aid in Weight Loss? Well B vitamins certainly have an impact!

When you boost your metabolic rate you’ll burn more calories when doing the same activities throughout the day, which means you’ll drop weight faster.

The B vitamins you want to go for include Vitamin B 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12. In some instances the product you purchase will just say Vitamin B and then the number. Other times it will refer to it as the specific name. The names of these vitamins are: thiamine (B 1), riboflavin (B 2), niacin (3), pantothenic acid (5), pyridoxine (6), biotin (7), folate (9), and cobalamin (12).

Each one of the listed B vitamins help your body perform certain tasks. Take B1. It helps your body take the carbs you consumed and convert it into energy.

Biotin (B7) is a vitamin that also helps with hair growth and converting proteins into useable energy throughout your body. So make sure you’re receiving your daily dosage.

Otherwise, as Healthline (2016), points out, you’re doing your body a disservice and run the risk of not only crashing your metabolism but also reduce your body’s ability to efficiently use food you consume.

Chromium Picolinate

Now for a vitamin that is a bit more obscure. It is naturally found within your body and is used to enhance insulin. Your body also uses chromium picolinate to help store protein, carb, and fat. When you consume more chromium picolinate you will reduce your appetite. As long as you have some self-control and don’t eat just to eat you’ll end up eating less. 

It is important to start out a bit on the smaller dosage side with this though. When starting out you may suffer some headaches, irritability, and insomnia.

In fact, it is likely a good idea to start out with smaller dosses with all of these supplements and vitamins to help your body become adjusted to it.

Additionally, it is a good idea to not add all of the vitamins to your system all at once. If you do and you have some kind of health side effect you won’t know which supplement or vitamin is causing it (other supplements, including certain B vitamins, have been known to cause headaches if the dosage is too much).

By adding a new vitamin every few weeks you’ll have enough time to figure out if the supplement is going to cause you any problems (WebMD, 2019). 

Calcium

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There’s a chance you’re not getting enough calcium in the first place, so you should probably add a calcium supplement to your daily regimen (calcium is not found in as many foods as other vitamins, and if you are vegetarian it can be very difficult to consume enough food to reach the recommended amount of calcium). 

Calcium is an important vitamin for both your bones and muscles.

However, it can also help with weight loss as well. According to a study reported by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition (2010), calcium intake when combined with vitamin D helps boost your weight loss potential.

The study showed someone who took their nutritionist recommended level of calcium dropped at least 4.5 kilograms more than those not taking the recommended calcium and vitamin D dosage over a six month period. Not bad for simply adding a supplement to your daily vitamin regimen. 

Iodine

This is one of the more obscure vitamins to consider, but in some instances it can prove especially helpful in your battle for weight loss.

In many individuals who are unable to put off weight, it is because they have an underactive thyroid gland. In order to help, supplements containing iodine can help stimulate the thyroid and assist it in your weight loss journey by improving your metabolic rate. There’s one thing to keep in mind though.

You should avoid taking too much iodine as it can over stimulate the thyroid, which causes it to become inflamed. This increases your chance of suffering from anxiety.

So, check the labels of your supplements. Many multivitamins do contain iodine (the recommended dosage is 150 mcg) (National Institutes of Health). 

Glucomannan

This is a kind of fiber commonly found in roots (specifically the root of an elephant yam). While you can take fiber supplements or increase your fiber intake a number of ways, this particular supplement is especially potent, which makes it worth mentioning.

Fiber helps your body in a number of ways.

 First, it helps keep you regular by allowing your body to pass foods without the foods clinging inside of your digestive system. Second, with this particular kind of fiber, it helps keep you feeling fuller, longer.

This way, you won’t eat as much during meals following the consumption of the supplement.

Due to this, it is recommended to take the supplement about 30 minutes to an hour before your meal. This way, when it comes to meal time, you can eat smaller portions and feel just as satisfied as you would with larger meals. 

Carnitine

When you exercise your body converts stored calories into energy. You want your body to not only burn more calories during a workout (thanks to a higher metabolism) but you want to burn fat instead of muscle.

Carnitine is an amino acid that helps with this. When in your system the amino acid will cling to fatty acids found in cells throughout your body and pushes these fats forward to be used by your body. This helps your body burn through more fat and more fat calories during any given workout. 

In an article published by Food and Nutrition Sciences, individuals who took 500 mg of carnitine every day saw an increase in weight loss over those who did not take the supplement. In fact, these individuals dropped about a pound of body fat every four weeks, all without having a different exercise or diet than those without the supplement.

Iron

Iron provides your body with a number of benefits. First, it helps your body take the calories it consumes throughout the day and convert it to energy. Iron is also important in helping deliver oxygen throughout the rest of your body. This is especially important regarding weight training. 

When you perform weight training you will tear the muscle fibers in your body. The body will then move to repair these tears (which is how you increase the size of your muscles).

By improving the oxygen flow throughout your body you will deliver energy, such as protein, to the damaged muscles. This helps your muscles rebuild faster and recover sooner. By reducing the recovery time it takes for your body to rebuild muscle tissue you’ll be able to get back in the gym and get more out of each workout. 

Iron deficiencies is one of the easier vitamins to identify. Typically if you have lower energy levels, are easily fatigued or feel weak you may have a low iron count.

If you suffer from either of these issues you’ll need to consult with your doctor to see if this is the problem. Most iron comes from meat, such as lean cuts of beef and shellfish. You can consume some iron from beans and spinach. If you ever watched those old Popeye commercials you’ll remember Popeye squeezing a can of spinach to give him strength.

While in reality spinach won’t make you stronger, it will deliver more oxygen and blood to your muscles, which repairs the muscles, increases your muscle size and improves recovery. 

By increasing the size of your muscles and improving how your body is able to metabolize energy you’ll burn through more calories.

Larger muscles require more calories as well, so the more muscle weight you have the more calories you’ll burn during a workout. This is why iron is one of the most important vitamins you need to include with your diet (Cleveland Clinic). 

Magnesium

Looking for an energy boost?

Add magnesium to your diet. Now, magnesium isn’t energy itself.

However, it helps your body produce energy from the stored fat cells. With the aid of magnesium your body will be able to pull from fat cells within your body, which means you will not only feel more energized during the workout but you’ll shed more weight as well.

Magnesium is one of those vitamins many people do not consume enough of because it isn’t found in everyday foods. If you’re a big eater of nuts, seeds, leafy greens, or legumes than it is possible you might be taking in enough magnesium. If not, you will need to add a supplement (Medical News Today, 2017). 

Fish Oil

Fish oil is one of those supplements that comes packed with all kinds of health benefits. While not a specific vitamin, it is found in the vitamin section of your grocery store, so it’s worth looking at. 

Fish oil, in addition to helping with strengthening your heart and improving your cardiovascular system, it helps your body recover from inflammation.

Inflammation happens after you workout with weights and tear the muscle fiber. Just like other muscle injuries, following a workout your muscles will be sore and inflamed. You want to improve recovery from this inflammation. This will help improve your ability to return to the gym and to get more out of every workout (Healthline, 2018).  

What About Fat Burners?

When walking through the vitamin section at your local grocery store you’ll probably come across the fat burner section. While these are not specifically vitamins it is important to talk about them.

Now, a fat burner is not something that will simply melt away fat without you doing anything. Fat burners are a supplement, so it needs to supplement your diet and exercise. With that said, it can help you lose weight. 

Fat burners (depending on which you purchase, so make sure to always read the product label completely) will come with some caffeine. This will help improve your metabolism.

There are usually a number of other metabolic boosters found within the fat burner. There’s also a good chance it contains some of the previously mentioned vitamins as well.

So, if you are looking at adding a fat burner make sure to go over all the ingredients. You don’t want to take a fat burner that has 500% of your daily vitamin B 12 only to purchase a separate B 12 supplements and overdo the dosage. 

In Conclusion

These are just some of the vitamins you can take to help boost your weight loss. It is important to not go beyond the recommended dosage on the product label (there can be such a thing as too many vitamins). And if you have any current health concerns, are pregnant, breast feeding, or may become pregnant you should talk to your doctor ahead of time as well.

However, beyond all of this, each one of these vitamins can help enhance your ability to drop weight and reach your personal fitness goals sooner rather than later.

Best of all, none of these vitamins are all that expensive, and most you can pick up at your local grocery store. Combined with a healthy diet and exercise, you’ll feel better and look better than you ever have before. 

-Terry Asher