Our leading PT and nutritionist James Dixon examines this herbal weight loss aid in our full Zotrim review. Find out below if it’s a good option to supplement your weight loss efforts or if there’s a better alternative…
There is only really one way to lose weight – you need to consume fewer calories than you use. This is called a calorie deficit. There is a lot more to it than this – weight loss and body recomposition is an incredibly complex process involving lots of the body’s systems. However, it generally boils down to this.
You need to eat less than you use.
Then your body will begin to use body fat as an energy source to plug that gap, resulting in you losing weight.
However, this is very hard to do for many people. It’s unpleasant when under-eating.
Hunger pangs can be brutal, as can simple temptation. Anything you can get your hands on to make this process easier is very worthwhile.
Luckily, there are plenty of weight loss supplements out there. Some claim to boost your metabolic rate. Others make it easier for you to maintain a calorie deficit. Zotrim, one of my favorites, does them both, increasing feelings of satiation so that you find it easier to diet or lose weight whilst ramping up your energy use.
Zotrim – An Introduction
Zotrim is something of a thermogenic fat burner, though it seems to market itself as an appetite suppressant. Realistically, it does both of these things – it should boost your metabolic rate whilst getting rid of hunger pangs, all whilst undoing many of the side effects of going on a calorie deficit.
It should reduce cravings whilst giving you more energy, boost your ability to burn through fat, including stored fat, and should improve your cognitive clarity, diminishing the brain fog and fatigue that often accompanies weight loss.
According to the manufacturer, Zotrim is the only weight loss pill of its kind that has been clinically proven to work.
This isn’t true, not even a little bit. Most fat burning supplements out there have at least some level of clinical backing, even if it’s just for their component ingredients. Many have clinical data supporting the whole product’s efficacy. In fact, there are products out there, which I’ll get into, that bring far greater, more numerous benefits to bear than Zotrim, and that have plenty of scientific evidence backing up their claims.
Zotrim is good. It gives you a good energy kick, it might help to balance your hormonal output, and it will act as a mild thermogenic and appetite suppressant. But it makes a few spurious claims and definitely does not hold a place in the top tier of weight loss supplements available on today’s market.
Zotrim – The Good
All in all, Zotrim delivers two main benefits that are perfect for any weight loss dieter.
Firstly, it can of course help you to lose weight. It does this by aiding satiation and mitigating the severity, or even presence, of hunger pangs. In other words, it makes you feel fuller for longer, working effectively as an appetite suppressant.
This is quite a big deal. As above, weight loss can be very challenging, largely due to our desire to eat. This can be emotional eating – wanting to eat not because we’re hungry but because of some other desire. It can be simple hunger – your body is crying out for those extra calories during a deficit.
An appetite suppressant can work well, here.
Do note that it isn’t a cure-all. It can help you to lose weight in the short term. However, if you are in any kind of unhealthy eating pattern, you will need to address the root causes of your weight gain. I would thoroughly recommend speaking to your healthcare provider about this if it’s in any way relevant.
Zotrim doesn’t just suppress your appetite, however. It also boosts your energy levels. It contains the stimulants caffeine, guarana, and yerba mate. These all have a slight thermogenic effect, which can mean a few extra calories burned each day. It all also shows some ability to help overcome the fatigue and mental fog that often comes hand-in-hand with a calorie deficit.
Under-eating can deplete your energy levels and stop you from working and training as you would like. A good stimulant injection can therefore be very handy.
However, as we will see, the ingredients listed in Zotrim’s formula are a little light. There are definitely some great and innovative inclusions. But there are also some glaring omissions. The above benefits could be achieved far more ably with just a little bit of tweaking. This would perhaps bring it in line with the top shelf fat burners, products like PhenQ, Prime Shred, and Phen24.
Zotrim – The Ingredients
Zotrim manages all the above benefits thanks to a slew of fantastic ingredients, all high quality and well dosed.
Caffeine
You get a good dose of caffeine. This plays into a couple of aspects when it comes to weight loss, as mentioned above.
Firstly, it is a thermogenic ingredient. It can ramp up your metabolism a little, allowing you to burn more energy at rest than you otherwise would.
Secondly, it boosts your energy levels and mood. It improves alertness, removes brain fog, and helps you to overcome fatigue. Given that calorie deficits are often accompanied by fatigue, brain fog, and sluggishness, this is a very clever first inclusion.
Guarana
This is compounded by guarana, in the form of guarana seed extract. It works in a similar way to caffeine, boosting your energy levels, overcoming fatigue and brain fog, and providing mental clarity. It also boosts your metabolism. However, it burns a little slower than caffeine, meaning that the benefits last longer and give you far fewer jittery aftereffects.
Guarana can also help you to break fat down at an increased rate.
Yerba Mate Leaf Extract
Zotrim also makes use of a lesser-known ingredient, yerba mate leaf extract. It plays out similarly to caffeine and guarana, boosting your energy levels. However, it is known for its rejuvenating properties. It can improve your stamina by increasing energy molecule synthesis – molecules like monophosphate, diphosphate, and adenosine triphosphate. This increase will give you more energy and a greater degree of athleticism.
Yerba mate leaf extract is also packed full of free radical beating antioxidants and polyphenols. Antioxidants have been linked with a smaller risk of most common diseases and health concerns. The polyphenols, meanwhile, can boost your metabolism, helping you to lose weight more easily.
Damiana Leaf Extract
Damiana leaf extract, meanwhile, comes into play in a very intelligent way. It is used in traditional forms of medicine to manage and mitigate the symptoms of depression, menopause, and low libido. It does all this because it helps to balance your hormone levels, which is really very profound.
Everything in your body, every aspect of your physical and mental wellbeing, depends on your hormones. In a dietary context, this will mean more energy, improved mood and an improved libido, an improved ability to use body fat and build muscle, and less stress and anxiety.
This will mean that you are physically more capable of losing weight without suffering many of the side effects associated with a calorie deficit. It also means your mood may be improved, which means greater willpower throughout.
Vitamin and Mineral Complex
Finally, Zotrim contains a good vitamin and mineral complex. This is sorely needed, as restricted diets – such as one including a calorie deficit – often don’t give you a full range of micronutrients.
With Zotrim, you get vitamins B3 and B6, both of which are fundamental to energy metabolism. You also get vitamins A, C, D, and K and the minerals magnesium, zinc, calcium, and iron. Zinc is especially important for men as it can help to optimize hormone balance, bringing in more testosterone for greater all-round health.
There is something a little lacking, here, as I mentioned earlier. Zotrim is billed as being an appetite suppressor. The above ingredients should help, though they are more geared towards thermogenesis (increased energy use). A supplement that is serious about hunger satiation needs some form of fibre in it – I would generally like to see glucomannan, one of the best fibre sources out there.
An Alternative Option?
For instance, something like Phen24 might be worth looking at if you are looking at the top tier of supplementation in this field. It gives you everything you need to improve weight loss during the day, with a morning pill bursting with thermogenic compounds. Then there is a night time pill, giving you full-time coverage (hence the ‘24’ in its name). Among other ingredients, this second pill contains plenty of glucomannan.
This will serve two functions:
Firstly, it will prevent hunger pangs more generally. Specifically, it will keep you feeling full through the night, so it’s perfect for night time snackers who wake up in the early hours feeling peckish.
Secondly, just as calorie restricted diets often miss out on adequate micronutrients, so too do they often go light on fibre. Given that fibre is central to both digestive health, gut health, and balanced cholesterol levels, it is vital that we get enough. Any good weight loss program should make room for this; any good weight loss supplement will deal with it head on.
Taking Zotrim
Zotrim is a little unwieldy to take. This is far from being a deal breaker. It’s not rocket science. But it does require you to keep a pack on you at all times to consistently dip into.
To make the most of Zotrim, you should take 2 to 3 pills before each meal. A pack gives you 180, so at least a month’s supply.
My Experience With Zotrim
Zotrim does work well. I have a sedentary job as a writer. Despite my passion for fitness and my active hobbies, sitting around all day can take its toll – I have to constantly watch my weight. When it creeps up, I need to go into a calorie deficit.
It’s always nice to have a little help from a good weight loss supplement.
I was expecting Zotrim to give me a great deal of satiation. It’s all over their website, their literature, their branding – they bill it as an appetite suppressant. I don’t know why. It did a little to dim my appetite, but not that much. There is good scientific evidence supporting its efficacy, it just didn’t translate into too profound an effect for me.
Really, I was missing the inclusion of something like glucomannan – a good quality fibre to really fill me up.
So, although it did a little, it could have done a whole lot more with just a slight tweak to its overall formula. I really wouldn’t steer away from something like Phen24 if appetite was my main bugbear or downfall.
It did give me a good energy boost. This is unsurprising, given its caffeine and guarana contents. It should kick anyone awake, clearing away brain fog and getting you eager to grab life by the horns. So, from this point of view, Zotrim is a real triumph. With that kind of stimulant, you can be sure that your metabolism is firing on all cylinders.
But, still, other supplements do this well. Phen24 contains plenty of caffeine and guarana in its daytime pills, plus a whole lot more. In fact, I could get these benefits from a cup of coffee and a cheap as anything guarana supplement, or from an energy drink with guarana included that I can buy for next to nothing at any local store.
So, Zotrim is onto something. Others simply do it a little bit better.
FAQs
Is Zotrim safe to take?
Zotrim is made from natural plant extracts, so should be safe for most people to take. However, its stimulant content isn’t for everyone. If you are overly sensitive to caffeine, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you should give Zotrim a miss. In fact, if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, you should be giving all weight loss supplements a miss!
How long can I take Zotrim for?
As, aside from the stimulant content, Zotrem has no side effects, there really is no set limit on how long you can take it for. You should be aiming to lose between 1-3 lbs per week, depending on where you’re starting from. Doing this, once you get to your goal weight, you may want to come off Zotrim, though you can always use it for weight maintenance.
Is Zotrim vegan?
Everything in Zotrim is plant-based, making it perfect for vegans and vegetarians.
Can I drink alcohol on Zotrim?
You can drink alcohol on Zotrim. However, beware a couple of things. Firstly, it is a stimulant. Mixing stimulants with alcohol is more dangerous in several ways than drinking on its own. Secondly, alcohol is highly calorific, can slow your metabolism down, and can lead to lower food inhibitions, so isn’t ideal on a weight loss diet.
Pros and Cons
Zotrim Pros
- Gives a thermogenic effect
- Has been proven to aid satiation
- Completely plant-based
- Clinically backed
Zotrim Cons
- Some of the dosing is low
- No fibre
- There are better products out there
Verdict
Zotrim is not a bad product. Far from it – there is a lot to love with its formula. It really does give a good energy kick, brings about a mild improvement to your body’s thermogenesis, and may act as an appetite suppressant. There is good quality data to back all of this up.
However, there is good quality data backing up most of its rivals, despite what the manufacturer would have you believe. I can also get most of these benefits in some form from a cup of coffee.
Because Zotrim doesn’t actually give you all that much. It markets itself as an appetite suppressant, yet it contains no high-quality fibre. It improves thermogenesis without once mentioning thermogenesis. And it does a job that many others do far more ably.
Zotrim may work well for you. However, I would suggest skipping it and going straight to Phen24 which is available at a similar price but is far more potent – at least it was for me!