From CLA to L-carnitine to protein bars and chips, these are the supplements that can make your weight-loss journey easier and tastier!
When many people think of weight-loss supplements, they think of fat burners. And while fat burners can play a crucial role in leaning out, they’re not the only tool you need in your toolbox! Other supplements, ranging from CLA to protein to L-carnitine, can all help you break through the barriers and finally achieve lasting, sustainable weight loss.
Read our fat-burners guide to learn about the best fat burners of 2021. These are the best “other” weight-loss supplements that are worth your money. Just remember: Every single one of them works best as part of a comprehensive nutritional and training plan built around losing weight.
How We Chose The Best Weight-Loss Supplements
Weight loss is complicated, and there are many factors that go into getting the results you want. But with over 20 years in the game, we know weight-loss supplements because we’ve taken them. Our team of fitness experts and our discerning online reviewers informed this list by these standards:
- Ingredients: We looked for products with quality ingredients and dosages backed up by research, not just trendy buzzwords. No inadequate “dustings” of key ingredients here!
- Customer Feedback: To know what works, we listen to the people who use them! Many of our customers are physique competitors and bodybuilders, so they’re extra picky about what supplements they use.
- Value: Our community knows its prices, so we only included products that deliver high quality at a good value.
Best L-Carnitine Supplement: RSP Nutrition Liquid L-Carnitine
- Key Ingredients: L-carnitine
- Rating: 9.5 out of 10
L-carnitine is a stimulant-free supplement that supports the body’s natural fat-burning processes. Some people find it also helps control fatigue and even muscle soreness during intense training, so they can put more into their fat-torching workouts. The timing of when you take it doesn’t make a huge difference, but experts say it’s more effective when taken with carbs—preferably your highest-carb meal of the day.*
RSP’s liquid L-carnitine comes in two highly-rated fruit flavors, which you can either swig as-is or add to a protein shake or smoothie.
Flavors: Peach Mango (9.8), Berry (9.7)
Best CLA: Bodybuilding.Com Signature CLA Weight-Loss Supplement
- Key ingredients: Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA)
- Rating: 8.6 out of 10
CLA is a popular nutrient for helping hold onto muscle mass as you lean down, so your workouts, body composition, and hard-earned definition don’t become casualties of your diet. Since Signature CLA is completely stimulant-free (it’s actually a healthy, naturally-occurring polyunsaturated fat that helps you lose fat), this is a great weight-loss supplement to add any time of day if you’re sensitive to caffeine, or in addition to a stimulant fat burner.*
Best Diuretic: MHP Xpel Maximum Strength Diuretic
- Key ingredients: Juniper berry fruit, dandelion root
- Caffeine per serving: 75 mg
- Rating: 8.9 out of 10
Diuretics cause you to lose water weight, not actual fat. That said, water weight and fat weight both look the same from the outside. MHP Xpel is a favorite of physique athletes to “peak” for an upcoming special event like a contest or photo shoot. In addition to its herbal diuretic blend, it includes green tea and guarana for a little energy bump and appetite support.
Best Weight-Loss Drink: REIGN Inferno Thermogenic
- Key ingredients: Caffeine, BCAAs, electrolytes, CoQ10, ginseng, L-carnitine, green tea
- Caffeine per serving: 300 mg
One of our favorite energy drink brands, REIGN, made Inferno Thermogenic specifically to support weight loss. Leaps and bounds beyond your typical gas station energy drink, REIGN Inferno adds BCAAs, CoQ10, and other goodies to 300 milligrams of natural caffeine per can. Three unique zero-sugar flavors make this a real treat in your day, either to rev you up for a workout or when you need a mid-afternoon pick-me-up—or diet-friendly cocktail mixer. You heard it here first: Jalapeño Strawberry margaritas are the new Red Bull vodka.
Flavors: Jalapeño Strawberry, Red Dragon, True Blu
Best Protein Bar For Weight Loss: Bodybuilding.Com Signature Protein Crunch Bar
- Key ingredients: Protein blend, 20 g
- Rating: 9.4 out of 10
Meet the only protein bar good enough for Bodybuilding.com to put its name on! Signature Crunch bars nail it with decadent layers of cream and crunch and spot-on flavors. And with super-clean, high-quality ingredients, you can feel good about eating them every day. Snag a box when they go on sale, or even better, sign up for Subscribe and Gain and get them at a discount with free shipping all the time.
Flavors: White Chocolate Raspberry (10), Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (9.5), Cookies and Cream (9.3), Chocolate Peanut Butter (9.2)
Best Low-Carb Protein Powder For Weight Loss: Isopure Zero Carb WPI
- Key ingredients: Whey protein isolate
- Rating: 8.6 out of 10
Many popular weight-loss diets cap the number of carbs you can eat. This is where Isopure Zero Carb WPI fits beautifully into any diet, delivering, as advertised, zero carbs. Its stripped-down formula is easy to digest, so you can combine it with heavy-hitter ingredients like peanut butter and avocados in a low-carb shake that fills you up without weighing you down.
Flavors: Cookies & Cream (7.8), Creamy Vanilla (7.7), Strawberries & Cream (7.6)
Best Weight-Loss Snacks: Quest Nutrition Tortilla Style Protein Chips
- Key ingredients: Milk protein isolate, whey protein isolate
- Rating: 10 out of 10
Not everyone is craving sweet all the time! Finally, a protein snack for those of us who prefer savory to sweet. Quest chips provide a solid defense against the siren song of the vending machine, but with 19 grams of protein, they’ll keep you satisfied much, much longer. The flavors rival your favorite diet-destroying chips, but at just 140 calories per bag. Seriously! Try them with salsa to make them even more filling and nutritious.
Flavors: Ranch (9.2), Loaded Taco (no ratings)