Doctor Reviews: TrimTone

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TrimTone claims to be a weight loss supplement targeted towards women. They’re marketed by Health Nutrition Limited, the same company behind the marketing for PhenGold and other supplement labels.

TrimTone claims to “tell your body to burn more calories”, as if it’s mind controlling your body or something. It also “fires up fat loss”, like you’re some sort of furnace, and is “designed for real women who don’t have time to mess around”.

Well, let’s not mess around with all this marketing hype, and actually analyze the supplement itself to see if it lives up to all the marketing hype, and see what you can realistically expect from taking TrimTone, as well as look at cheaper, and just as effective alternatives.

Ingredients of TrimTone

Let’s take a look at the ingredients. Here are the doses per capsule. The recommended dosing is 1 capsule per day.

We’re going to analyze each ingredient to see whether they contain a sufficient dose, whether it contains the active compounds to work, and whether it can even help with weight loss.

Caffeine

Caffeine is perhaps the most common ingredient used by supplements that claim to burn fat.

I’ve covered why this claim is misleading, as caffeine only really significantly helps with weight loss when used as an exercise aid, to increase the intensity and frequency of your exercise. It’s the increase in exercise that’s doing the fat burning, not the caffeine itself.

So if taking caffeine doesn’t help you exercise more, it won’t do anything for weight loss by itself. The 120 mg of caffeine TrimTone provides is the equivalent of about one and a half cups of coffee, or about 2 shots of espresso, so it’s a moderate dose.

Green coffee and green tea

Green coffee and green tea contain certain compounds that are believed to support weight loss, specifically chlorogenic acid, and EGCG.

These compounds unfortunately only have weak effects on fat metabolism, and likely do not cause much actual weight loss themselves, if any.

Green coffee and green tea actually contain small amounts of caffeine themselves, and studies that look at both suggest that it’s likely the caffeine content that provides more of the weight loss benefits than the other compounds.

Nevertheless, TrimTone doesn’t standardize the active compounds, and use doses that are far too low to be useful anyways.

Glucomannan

Glucomannan is a soluble fiber that has a remarkable ability to absorb water. Compared to other soluble fibers like psyllium husk, it absorbs higher amounts of water, making it thicker and more effective at controlling appetite when consumed. It works by bulking up the stomach and slowing down digestion.

Despite the popularity of these soluble fibers like glucomannan, PGX, or psyllium husk as weight loss aids, current research indicates that their effectiveness is likely heavily overstated.

In fact, larger studies that combine numerous smaller studies suggest that their effects are likely insignificant when it comes to weight loss.

That’s not to say it won’t do anything, just that the actual effects on weight are probably smaller than we might anticipate.

Nevertheless, to achieve any desired effect, a substantial amount of glucomannan needs to be consumed. Studies typically used 3-9 grams a day.

TrimTone is using 0.1 grams a day. That’s not definitely not enough to cause any appetite control.

Grains of Paradise

Grains of Paradise is a plant related to the ginger family. Their seeds are often used in Africa as a spice for flavoring food and beverages.

TrimTone claims that people taking this herb lost significantly more abdominal fat than those taking a placebo. Let’s take a look at their study.

This study looks into the effects of Grains of Paradise extract on whole body expenditure and visceral fat, rather than weight loss.

However, the study is based on a very small sample size of only 19 people, which limits its scope.

Furthermore, the study’s findings are quite specific. While it revealed a statistically significant reduction in visceral fat for those taking the extract over placebo, no other significant differences were observed between the extract and placebo in terms of subcutaneous fat, body fat percentage, or total weight loss.

Surprisingly, the placebo group even seemed to have caused more overall weight loss than the extract, although this difference is not considered statistically significant.

So the participants in this study did not experience any actual weight loss. Moreover, other research has also demonstrated that consuming Grains of Paradise is unlikely to result in notable weight or fat loss.

Problems with small studies

But the bigger problem with this research is that the study is tiny, and uses 19 people. When a study has a small sample size, it means they only tested a small group of people.

This can lead to problems when trying to figure out if a supplement is actually effective or not. There’s a few reasons for this:

1. Smaller groups can have random fluctuations in the results, which can give false positive findings. This means the results could be due to luck or coincidence, not the supplement actually working.
2. Testing a small group may not give an accurate picture of how the supplement will work for the larger population. Everyone is different and may react differently to the same supplement.
3. There is a higher chance for bias in small studies. For example, if the study is funded by the company that makes the supplement, or even just led by a researcher who has invested a lot of time and effort studying the supplement, the results could be biased in their favor.

So studies with small sample sizes are not strong enough proof to say that a supplement is going to be effective.

This is a common problem for many weight loss supplements, like raspberry ketones or African mango. While there is some research that suggests they may be helpful for weight loss, the studies are small and really don’t provide good evidence that they’re actually effective for weight loss.

TrimTone Side effects and warnings

Because TrimTone uses a moderate amount of caffeine, all the standard warnings that come with caffeine supplements apply.

So if you’re sensitive to caffeine, have cardiovascular issues, suffer from anxiety disorders or insomnia, or are taking other stimulant drugs like phentermine, you should ask your doctor to see if it’s safe to take. You should probably also avoid it in pregnancy.

Is TrimTone effective?

TrimTone, much like any caffeine supplement, is only really going to support weight loss if it helps you increase your exercise.

The supplement itself is not very effective for anything else, and you can see that it also ships with some basic dietary and exercise advice that you have to follow.

I can almost guarantee that if someone manages to lose some weight with it, it will be mainly because of following that advice, not the supplement.

TrimTone vs LeanBean

Weight loss supplements branded towards women are purely a marketing gimmick. TrimTone and LeanBean, both marketed as women-focused weight loss supplements, have nothing unique to offer women.

While LeanBean is essentially an expensive fiber supplement with glucomannan, TrimTone is nothing more than an overpriced caffeine supplement. These two supplements work in completely different ways and the only commonality between them is their heavy marketing towards women.

The companies behind these supplements are specifically targeting the weight loss supplement market, as women are their biggest consumers.

In fact, statistics show that over twice as many women than men use weight loss supplements, with the highest usage among women aged 18 to 34 years. It’s no coincidence that these companies specifically target this demographic.

Overall review: TrimTone

Reviewing TrimTone by effectiveness for weight loss, I’m giving it a C. It’s a moderately dosed caffeine supplement, and whether you lose weight depends on whether it can help you exercise more or not.

Reviewing TrimTone by cost, I’m giving it an F. It’s pretty expensive for something that can be replicated for a few dollars.

Reviewing TrimTone for safety, I’m giving it a C. Although the caffeine dose is not very high, it is still a stimulant, and can pose issues for certain people.

Overall review, I’m giving TrimTone a D. I would not recommend it at all.

Top alternatives to TrimTone

If you’re looking to achieve similar effects, but better than those of TrimTone, I would combine a quality green tea or green coffee extract + Grains of Paradise + glucomannan + caffeine.

• Caffeine anhydrous – 1 cap / day
• Glucomannan (caps) – 1 to 3 caps w/ meals
• Glucomannan (PGX caps) – 1 to 3 caps w/ meals
• Glucomannan (PGX powder) – 0.5 to 1 scoop w/ meals
• Glucomannan (powder) – 0.25 to 1 tsp w/ meals
• Grains of Paradise
• Green coffee (caps) – 1 to 2 caps / day
• Green tea (caps) – 2 to 4 caps / day
• Green tea (teabags, decaf) – 1 to 4 cups / day
• Green tea (teabags) – 1 to 4 cups / day

Learn more about

• Doctor reviews: PhenGold
• Doctor reviews: LeanBean
• Is Caffeine Good For Weight Loss?
• Glucomannan For Weight Loss
• Green Tea For Weight Loss
• Green Coffee Bean For Weight Loss
• 6 Things To Look For On Supplements
• 5 Things to Know Before Buying Weight Loss Supplements
• Other weight loss supplements

See also

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  Doctor Reviews: Lemme Curb
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  Doctor Reviews: Nello Supercalm
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