Diet pills for women are select supplements that either increase your metabolism, reduce fat absorption, or increase your body’s ability to burn more fat – specifically for women (1).
Below you’ll find the best diet pills for women, throughly researched and ranked by our expert health team.
Rankings
1. Leanbean
Leanbean is an all natural diet pill solution, without the harmful stimulants. The main ingredient inside Leanbean is Glucomanna which is derived from the konjac plant. It’s a soluble fiber that expands when it gets to your stomach and helps to contribute to weight loss efforts.
Other supporting ingredients include choline, chromium picolinate, and vitamins B6 and B12. This product is also certified organic. For these reasons, it’s our #1 pick.
2. PhenQ
PhenQ works to help you in weight loss in five different ways: it helps to burn fat, suppress your appetite, stop fat production, improve your mood and boost your energy.
The main ingredients inside PhenQ include Capsimax Powder, Chromium Picolinate, Nopal, Caffeine, and L-Carnitine Fumarate.
3. Powher
While most diet pills focus on metabolism enhancement, this supplement takes a slightly different approach and aims to suppress appetite and cravings. To achieve this, it uses 3g of glucomannan per serving.
It also includes a wide array of vitamins and trace minerals to enhance your overall health including choline, chromium, magnesium, selenium, and iron.
4. Legion Athletics phoenix
In addition to the effective ingredient list, Phoenix also provides an all-natural, non-GMO solution for those looking for effective results without the added chemical components.
Scientifically-backed ingredients such as l-tyrosine, naringin, 5-HTP, forskolin, and white willow bark work as a synergistic solution to increase your calorie expenditure and maximize fat-burning.
5. Transparent Labs Fat Burner
With 100% formula transparency, 9 science-based ingredients at clinically-effective doses, and zero fillers or harmful additives, Transparent Labs Fat Burner combines clean and safe fat loss with the convenience of easy-to-swallow veggie capsules.
Transparent labs fat burner avoids heavy stimulants such as caffeine and uses powerful ingredients such as green tea extract, l-theanine, l-tyrosine and forskolin to suppress appetite, improve your mood and support fat loss.
6. Legion Athletics Forge
Forge is an effective fat burner distend to boost blood flow to stubborn body fat, helping you burn even the most troublesome areas.
It is great for people who like to workout on an empty stomach, but should not be taken with food.
7. Evlution Trans4orm
Evlution Trans4orm advanced fat loss complex, including powerful ingredients such as alpha GPC, green tea extract, caffeine, and bitter orange, supports critical areas of effective weight management including fat burning, energy levels, appetite support, metabolism support, and increased mental focus.
Evlution Trans4orm is manufactured in the U.S.A in a F.D.A. approved facility using strict GMP Guidelines.
8. Nobi Nutrition Premium Women’s Fat Burner
This women’s fat burner from Nobi Nutrition has an extra strength BHB formula intended to boost your energy and support your weight loss efforts by helping to manage your appetite.
BHB acts as an appetite suppressant that supports fast weight loss by providing non-carb fuel for your brain, heart, and muscles so you can maintain energy and burn fat during low-carbohydrate intake.
9. Burn-XT Thermogenic Fat Burner
BurnXT diet pill formula is scientifically-backed with 700 mg of Acetyle L-Carnitine HCL, 450 mg of green tea extract, 270 mg of caffeine, 50 mg of capsimax cayenne pepper extract and 5 mg of bioperine black pepper fruit extract.
The formula is intended to release fat stores, increase fat loss, increase energy and alertness, and boost metabolism. There are no fillers or dyes included in this supplement.
10. Atrafen Elite
AtraFen’s proprietary formula includes caffeine, glucuronolacatone, phenethylamine, nettle leaf extract, yohimbe extract, and inositol niacinate.
The only downside is that since this is a proprietary formula, its hard to estimate the amount of individual ingredients in the Atrafen Elite formula.
How We Rank
Due to the shady nature of the diet pill industry, we were extremely rigorous when it came to filtering out low quality products and ingredients. Though it is common for diet pills to include high doses of stimulants, such as caffeine, to increase metabolic rates, we limited our rankings to those that were either free of stimulants or those that included only minimal amounts.
Products like Legion Athletics Phoenix were ranked high since they didn’t contain stimulants. If a diet pill contained a stimulant such as caffeine, we preferred it to be less than 150mg of caffein per serving, as in the case of PhenQ and BeLive.
Next, we looked for diet pills, primarily using thermogenic ingredients to enhance fat burning. Diet pills that included ayenne pepper, L-Carnitine, L-Theanine , green tea extract, and/or similar ingredients were given higher preference. While these were not an absolute requirement, they are a key element found in higher ranking products such as PowHer and Leanbean.
Third, we looked for mentions of proprietary blends. Any company that had a proprietary blends was eliminated, unless they had a long standing reputation – which was the case of Atrafen Elite. We also looked fro additives and fillers, axing products that contained excessive amounts of either.
Lastly, we looked at reputation and quality. We preferred companies that completely transparent and provided third party testing like Transparent Labs Fat Burner. Having manufacturing facilities that GMP-certified was also a bonus. After all this, we determined the top 10 best diet pills for women on the market.
Benefits
1. Caffeine is a popular ingredient in diet pills that elevates women’s metabolism. The result is greater levels of fat burning (3, 4, 5).
Specifically, studies show that a single dose of caffeine can increase your metabolism by up to 16% over the course of one to two hours (6, 7).
Not only are you burning more fuel, but follow-up results also illustrate that the fuel you are burning is mostly fat. Interestingly, the leaner you are the greater percentage of fat you will burn compared to obese people (8, 9).
2. Green tea extract, an ingredient often found in diet pills, helps burn fat in women due to its potency of EGCG. Being concentrated means that green tea extract contains higher levels of both caffeine and a special polyphenol, an antioxidant, known as epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG).
These two compounds are seen in the research to support fat burning individually (10, 11).
Together, caffeine and EGCG have a synergistic fat burning effect because the two compounds increase thermogenesis in your body (12, 13).
In other words, your body is producing more heat by burning calories. One review of six studies show that combining green tea extract and caffeine boosted fat burning by 16% compared to a placebo (14).
Yet another study shows that when you compare taking caffeine to taking caffeine with green tea extract, the group that took both burned an extra 65 more calories daily. This is already on top of the 80 extra calories a day subjects burned compared to taking a placebo (15).
3. Protein increases women’s metabolism to burn more fat than any other macronutrient. Second, protein helps your body maintain its lean muscle mass to burn more calories all the time- even while you sleep (16, 17, 18).
In practice one study followed 60 overweight and obese subjects and compared a high-protein diet with a moderate-protein diet. The results showed that subjects on the high-protein diet burned almost twice as much fat as the subjects on the moderate-protein diet (19).
4. Protein helps increase feelings of satiety in women. Protein does this by upregulating your fullness hormones, like GLP-1, CCK and PYY (20).
Protein goes further to lower your levels of the hormone ghrelin, which is responsible for hunger sensations (21)
5. Soluble fiber can help curb women’s appetite (22, 23, 24). When mixed with water, soluble fiber forms a very viscous solution which is responsible for its benefits (25).
Soluble fiber helps slow down the delivery of nutrients to the gut. When this happens, your body takes more time to digest and absorb nutrients, which can leave you feeling full for longer (26).
Not only does fiber help physically fill you up, but also soluble fiber is seen to increase levels of fullness hormones like PYY and GLP-1.
Like protein, it does this and reduces levels of the hunger hormone ghrelin (27, 28).
6. Soluble fiber may help women burn fat by reducing how many calories you absorb from food. In one study, 17 people consumed diets with varying amounts of fiber and fat. It found that people who ate the most fiber absorbed less fat and fewer calories from their diet (29).
While you can get all the soluble fiber you need from food, many people find this challenging. If that’s the case for you, try taking a soluble fiber supplement such as glucomannan or psyllium husk.
7. Yohimbine blocks alpha 2 receptors to burn more fat. Yohimbine is an herb from the bark of Pausinystalia Yohimbe, a tree found in Africa. While it is mostly used as an aphrodisiac, there is evidence that it may support fat burning too.
The key is that yohimbine operates in the body by blocking your body’s alpha-2 adrenergic receptors (30).
Normally, these receptors connect and bind adrenaline to stop adrenaline from influencing your cells; one of the ways adrenaline can influence your cells is by promoting your body to burn fat for fuel (31).
With yohimbine blocking these receptors, adrenaline can work for longer and increase the breakdown of fat for fuel throughout the body (32).
Research supports this, as seen in one study consisting of 20 elite soccer players taking yohimbine twice a day.
After only three weeks these subjects found that, on average, they could shed 2.2% more body fat compared to the placebo group (33).
Even more noteworthy is that these soccer players were already lean, so a 2.2% loss of body fat at that level of leanness showed to be highly significant.
8. Yohimbine works to reduce appetite in women as well (34). Nonetheless, although yohimbine seems like an excellent fat burner in that it shows promise and aids in reducing appetite, more research is needed to confirm that yohimbine is safe.
9. Synephrine increases both basal metabolic rate and lipolysis in women (35). Synephrine is a chemical compound found in certain types of citrus fruits.
Its chemical structure is similar to ephedrine and catecholamines and although less potent than those two, it creates similar effects (36).
Research demonstrates that synephrine works together with caffeine to enhance both caffeine and its own fat loss properties.
Additionally, anything that has the ability to increase catecholamine activity can also suppress hunger between meals. Therefore synephrine is generally considered to be an effective appetite suppressant (37).
10. Garcinia cambogia, an ingredient often found in diet pills, increases feelings of satiety in women. By increasing satiety you will eat less food and ultimately lose bodyweight.
Research supports that garcinia cambogia works to boost your levels of serotonin, the same serotonin that your tummy sends to the brain when it is happy (38).
This way, you can eat foods you enjoy without overeating and gaining excess fat.
However, it needs to be noted that no human trials have been able to replicate the same satiety-inducing effects (39).
Thus, more research is needed to ensure GC’s effects on satiety.
11. Garcinia cambogia also blocks fat production in women. Garcinia cambogia inhibits an enzyme called citrate lyase, which plays an important role in the production of fat (40).
By inhibiting citrate lyase, garcinia cambogia is thought to slow down or block fat production in the body. This may reduce blood fats and lower the risk of weight gain, two major disease risk factors (41).
12. Garcinia cambogia can reduce snacking in women. Supplementing with garcinia cambogia leads patients in one study to reduce their snacking habits (42).
Snacking subtly helps you gain more fat because it trains you to be never quite full yet never quite hungry.
This can lead to hundreds of empty calories, slowly piling on to your waistline (43).
By increasing satiety, snacking goes down, and thus GC aids in effective, long term weight management.
13. Garcinia cambogia can reduce weight gained during periods of overeating. A couple rat studies have demonstrated that garcinia cambogia can reduce weight gain during a period of overfeeding (44).
The mechanism by which it accomplished is the suppression of fatty acid synthesis in the liver (45).
14. Apple cider vinegar helps burn belly fat. A 2009 study involving 155 people with obesity showed that daily vinegar consumption led to reduced belly fat and weight loss in those who consumed either 1 or 2 tablespoons vinegar daily for 12 weeks (46).
The results showed the more vinegar intake, the more weight loss, fat loss, and the lower blood pressure and triglycerides. Results became more pronounced as time went on.
15. Acai berries, an ingredient often found in diet pills, can help increase insulin sensitivity in women. One 2015 study involving overweight women found that eating 200 grams of acai pulp increased insulin sensitivity and reduced skinfold measurements and total body fat (21).
16. BCAA’s can enhance women’s fat loss. A 2011 study published in the Journal of Nutrition showed that subjects who consumed an average of 15 grams of BCAA’s daily were seen to have 30% lower risk obesity or fat gain compared to those only consuming 12 grams per day through their diet (47).
However, total protein consumption is an essential factor for fat loss. Further BCAA’s may help you lose fat as opposed to total body weight (including lean mass).
On 1997 study published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, on competitive wrestlers, saw that consuming a high protein, calorie-restricted diet, lost 3.5 pounds when they added in BCAA’s over 19-days (48).
The body fat loss in the BCAA group was also significant, as the BCAA group lost 0.6% more body fat than the control group even though the BCAA group consumed equal calories and less total protein each day.
More research done in 2009 shows that weightlifters supplementing with 14 grams of BCAA’s daily lost 1% more body fat over eight weeks compared to those given 28 grams of whey protein daily. The subjects consuming BCAA’s also saw a 4.4 lb gain in muscle mass over the control group (49).
17. Raspberry ketones are usually part of a diet pill that helps to increase the breakdown of fat in women. They also increase levels of a hormone called adiponectin, believed to be related to weight loss (50).
18. Capsaicin, an spice often found in diet pills is a compound found in peppers that is spicy and can assist with fat loss. Specifically, pooling together 20 research studies published in Appetite uncovered that taking capsaicin can boost the number of calories you burn each day by about 50 calories a day (51).
Over a week, that’s about 350 calories or 1/10th of a pound of fat every week just from seasoning your food (52).
19. L-carnitine is a cofactor often found in diet pills used to metabolize fat in women. You naturally produce L-carnitine in your liver and kidneys and can even find it in whole food sources such as animal products, nuts, and legumes (53).
Research already shows that L-carnitine can play a role in treating heart disease, peripheral artery disease, and diabetic neuropathy because it improves cardiovascular health (54).
While there are several health benefits form L-carnitine, there is no strong evidence that L-carnitine helps increase thermogenesis (55).
20. Resveratrol, found in red wine and certain formulations of diet pills, is a powerful antioxidant that supports thermogenesis in women. However, studies have only shown a thermogenic effect of resveratrol in animals.
The Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences argues that animal research of resveratrol is not convincing enough to support the use of resveratrol as a metabolism booster in humans yet (56).
With more research, this can change.
21. Melatonin supplementation can increase leptin and lower appetite in women. Leptin is a hormone that is produced in adipose (fat) cells, and its main function is to reduce appetite and prevent overeating. The main goal of Leptin is to achieve homeostasis (energy balance). Melatonin may have an effect on Leptin production.
A 2013 study looked at the effect of melatonin in non-alcoholics who were suffering from fatty liver (57).
The study found that melatonin supplementation led to an increase in Leptin secretion. This, and studies like it have led scientists to theorize that melatonin supplementation can actually lead to weight loss.
A study on rats who had had the pineal gland removed found that even with exercise they stopped losing weight, and actually gained body fat (58).
The pineal gland is where melatonin is produced. This could indicate that melatonin has an important role in fat loss, or at least weight management. Improved sleep has often been linked to weight loss due to the effect that it has on leptin and ghrelin (the “hunger” hormone).
A 2004 study looked at the effect of bad sleep on leptin and ghrelin. It found that limited sleep led to a reduction in leptin and an increase in Ghrelin (59).
This would lead to increased hunger between meals, and a reduced feeling of satiety after eating – which could obviously lead to overeating and therefore weight gain.
22. Fish oil supplementation can improve women’s body composition. Obesity, defined as having a BMI (Body Mass Index) of over 30, show a significantly higher risk of other diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and cancer (60).
Fortunately, research shows that consuming fish oil supplements can work to improve body composition as well as the associated risk factors for heart disease in obese individuals (61).
This effect is increased by adding diet or exercise to a fish oil supplementation regimen (62).
By itself, fish oil is not seen to cause weight loss.
A large review of 21 different studies discovered that while fish oil doesn’t cause weight loss it does change anthropometric measurements such as waist circumference and waist-to-hip ratio, which are both strongly correlated with heart disease (63).
Side Effects
1. Consuming caffeine too often could make your body more tolerant to its effects (64). In addition, when consuming caffeine for its fat burning effects you must be careful of the stimulating effects of caffeine.
2. Too much caffeine can cause unwanted side effects, such as anxiety, nausea, and increased blood pressure. If you go even above those levels, you may end up with caffeine toxicity, which mandates a visit to the emergency room.
3. Yohimbine can be dangerous because it maintains high levels of adrenaline in your system. This results in side effects such as nausea, anxiety, panic attacks and high blood pressure (65).
In addition, yohimbine is also seen to negatively interact with common medications for blood pressure and depression. In turn, you’ll want to make sure that if you take medications there is no interaction between them and yohimbine supplementation (66).
4. Apple cider vinegar can lower potassium levels and cause bone loss. A 1998 study showed the effects of apple cider vinegar on bone loss and potassium levels (67).
The study followed a 28-year-old woman over six years. She consumed 8.5 oz (250 ml or a little over 1 cup) of apple cider vinegar diluted in water on a daily basis. Eventually, she was admitted to the hospital with low potassium levels and other abnormalities in blood chemistry.
5. Garcinia cambogia is all natural, but can induce rashes, dizziness, mental fog, and digestive issues. One case even reported acute liver failure (68).
6. Apple cider vinegar can burn the throat and skin. Due to its acidity level, apple cider vinegar has the potential to cause esophageal (throat) burns.
In one 2012 study, a 6-year-old boy with a leg infection developed multiple skin burns after his mother treated him with undiluted topical apple cider vinegar (69).
7. Garcinia Cambogia can result in testicle issues. Animal studies have shown that a very high intake of garcinia cambogia can cause testicular atrophy — shrinking of the testicles.
8. Very large doses of acai might affect the results of MRI scans. If you are going to have an MRI test, it is important to let the doctor know if you have been eating acai berries.
9. GC can affect sperm production. Studies in rats have shown it may also affect the production of sperm (70).
10. The effectiveness of garcinia cambogia goes down with time. All supplements have to wait in warehouses, transport trucks, or store shelves before you buy – giving ample time for the precious active ingredient to become less effective.
HCA doesn’t exist for long in its isolated state because it slowly converts to HCA lactone, an inactive form that doesn’t seem to have any weight loss (71).
Be sure to find an HCA supplement that comes with the HCA bound to another mineral.
Recommended Dosage
To get the most benefits from green tea extract consume about 250-500 mg daily (72). This adds up to about 3-5 cups of green tea daily.
Protein powder supplements can be taken as 1-2 scoop (25-50 grams) servings per day. Options include whey, casein, soy, egg and hemp protein powders depending on your overall goals. It is also important to make sure your protein supplement is low in added sugars and other additives when you’re looking to lose weight.
Yohimbine is seen to be effective when taken as 10 mg doses twice a day (73).
Caffeine is most effective for fat burning when taken in the 200-400 mg range (74). Stay below 400 mg per day to avoid the dangerous side effects of caffeine (75).
Typical dosages of apple cider vinegar range from 1–2 teaspoons (5–10 ml) to 1–2 tablespoons (15–30 ml) per day, mixed in 8 ounces of water
Studies recommend garcinia cambogia be taken 3x per day at 500mg each dose (76). Because garcinia cambogia is an herbal product, our immune system has a tendency to try and clear HCA from our system (77).
This means that the best way to ensure a proper dose of HCA to see results requires us consuming multiple garcinia cambogia supplements daily. Studies vary on this, but you’re looking at about 500 mg three times a day, about 30-60 minutes before your meals (78).
Typical servings pf acai is between 100-200g. However, since acai is a natural food product, there is no real recommended dosage.
BCAA intakes of 15–35 grams per day are considered safe for most people (79). Remember, patients with ALS or maple syrup urine disease should strictly limit their intake of BCAA’s.
FAQ
Is apple cider vinegar a fat burner? According to studies, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar to your diet can help you lose weight. It can also reduce your body fat percentage, make you lose belly fat and decrease your blood triglycerides.
What are the best fat burning foods for women? The best fat burning foods for women are fatty fish, coconut oil, eggs, green tea, coffee, whey protein apple cider vinegar.
Does cayenne pepper burn fat? Red cayenne pepper may help burn calories and curb appetite, especially in people who aren’t used to eating it.
How do diet pills help women burn fat? Diet pills for women are select supplements to burn fat by either increase your metabolism, reduce fat absorption, or increase your body’s temperature.
Does coffee burn fat? In the short term, caffeine can boost the metabolic rate and increase fat burning, but after a while people become tolerant to the effects and it stops working. But even if coffee doesn’t make you expend more calories in the long term, there is still a possibility that it blunts appetite and helps you eat less.
How do diet pills work? Some supplements work by curing your cravings for food while others make you feel full before you’ve eaten so that you limit how much food you actually consume. Some speed up your metabolism with the help of B-complex vitamins or caffeing while others try to slow down your body’s fat production by using hydrocitric acid, green tea or flax seed. Finally, some other will work by keeping your body from absorbing the fat in the foods you do consume. They do so with ingredients such as chondtritin.
What are the different forms of diet pill supplements? You can get diet supplements in capsules, powder, teas, liquids, and pills. Some are taken with a meal and others require that you take them prior to a meal or in place of a meal.
Can lemon help you lose weight? Many people use lemon water as a way to lose weight. It can help you feel full while also supporting your hydration. It will also help boost your metabolism to help you shed excess weight. With that said, there is no real difference between lemon water and regular water. Regular water will also promote weight loss in the same ways.
What is the best time of day to take a diet pill? Most weight loss supplements will give strict instructions on the best time to take the supplement. That time can vary by the product and its form. Some will instruct you to take the pill before eating to help curb your appetite. Others will have you take it with food which can help you avoid any upset stomach side effects. Finally, some weight loss supplements will have you take the pill at the same time you would eat a meal and use it as a meal replacement.
How can you lose belly fat? Many women are looking to get rid of their belly pooch. The best ways to do so are through eating a high protein diet and curbing your intake of carbs. Many of the products highlighted here can help with your carbohydrate cravings. You can also try and reduce your overall stress level.
Recap
Unfortunately, there is no magical supplement to erase the stubborn fat many women seem to face.
Luckily, there are many natural and safe solutions that enhance the fat loss effects of eating well and getting regular physical activity. If you’re a woman, use these supplements to speed your results, maintain fat loss, or get to elite levels of low body fat for events without sacrificing your health.
For Healthtrends #1 Diet Pill for Women recommendation, click here.