Losing weight raises a lot of questions, and supplements are often presented as the easy route. Time to look at that calmly: what can a supplement actually do, and what can it definitely not do? Below, every category you come across when you search for this is covered: protein powder, fibre, vitamins, amino acids, collagen and the well-known fat burners.
Can you lose weight with supplements?
No. No supplement on its own will make you lose weight. Losing weight comes down to your energy balance: you lose weight if, over a longer period, you take in less energy than you use.
A pill, powder or capsule cannot manage that balance for you. How much you eat and how much you move is in your own hands, and that is the engine behind weight loss. Supplements can support you on a few points, but they are no substitute for a healthy diet and enough exercise.
What determines whether you lose weight?
Your energy balance determines whether you lose weight. If you are in a small deficit on average, taking in slightly fewer calories than you use, you lose weight. If you are in a surplus, you gain weight.
You reach that deficit through what you eat and how much you move, not through a supplement. A realistic deficit you can keep up works better than a strict crash diet you give up after two weeks. That makes the boring side the most important one as well: your habits. If you want to understand how to map out your food and calories, read how counting macros works. And if you want to know how to change a pattern that has been there for years, how to change your eating habits will help.
Which supplements do you need to lose weight?
None. There is no supplement you need in order to lose weight, and there is none that causes weight loss either. What a supplement can do during a diet is practical in nature: help you get enough protein, and prevent gaps in your diet now that you are eating less.
Because when you eat less, it becomes harder to get in all the nutrients you need. That is where a targeted addition can make sense. That is something other than a product that ‘makes the kilos melt away’. Products like that do not exist.
These are the categories you come across when you search for supplements and weight loss, with what each one comes down to:
- Protein powder. Does not make you lose weight, but is a practical way to keep your protein intake up during a diet.
- Fibre. One single fibre has an approved European weight-loss claim: glucomannan, at 3 grams a day. We do not carry it.
- Vitamins and minerals. No vitamin makes you lose weight. They keep your diet complete in a period when you are eating less.
- Amino acids, BCAAs and creatine. No approved claim for weight loss.
- Collagen. No approved claim for weight loss, and incomplete as a protein source.
- Fat burners, green tea and MCT. No approved claim for weight loss or for burning fat.
So a powder to lose weight does not exist, and neither does a weight-loss supplement in the sense of ‘take this and the weight comes off’. What can be said about each category is below.
Does protein powder help with weight loss?
Protein powder does not make you lose weight, but it is a handy way to get enough protein during a diet. Protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass, and muscle mass is exactly what you want to keep when you lose weight.
When you are in a calorie deficit, there is a risk that you lose muscle mass alongside fat. Enough protein is therefore a point of attention for as long as that deficit lasts, certainly in combination with strength training. Protein powder is simply an easy way to keep your daily protein up without preparing a full meal every time: a 25 gram serving of Whey Natural Organic provides 20 grams of protein at 98 kilocalories. How much you need is set out in how much protein you need per day, and you will find more background in the benefits of protein powder. The full range is in the protein collection.
This article takes a broad look at supplements. If you want to know specifically whether protein shakes play a role in losing weight, read can you lose weight with protein shakes?.
Does a fibre supplement help with weight loss?
Exactly one fibre has an approved European weight-loss claim: glucomannan, a fibre from the konjac root. The permitted wording reads ‘Glucomannan in the context of an energy restricted diet contributes to weight loss’. For all other fibres and fibre supplements, no such claim exists.
Strict conditions are attached to that single claim. The product must contain 1 gram of glucomannan per quantified portion, and the effect applies at 3 grams a day, spread over three doses of 1 gram each, together with 1 to 2 glasses of water, before meals. A choking warning belongs with it for people with swallowing difficulties, because the fibre swells as soon as it takes up fluid.
We do not carry glucomannan. And note the phrase in the claim itself: ‘in the context of an energy restricted diet’. Here too, the calorie deficit does the work. Fibre from ordinary food, such as vegetables, pulses, fruit and wholegrain products, simply counts towards your daily fibre intake as well.
Do amino acids, BCAAs or creatine do anything for weight loss?
No. For single amino acids, BCAAs and EAAs there is no approved European claim for weight loss or for burning fat, and for creatine there is none either.
Amino acids are the building blocks of protein. If you get enough protein, from food or from protein powder, you are already getting those building blocks: a complete protein source delivers all essential amino acids in one go. A separate BCAA supplement adds little to that during a diet. We do not carry single amino acids either.
Creatine is not an amino acid, but is formed in your body from amino acids. It is often mentioned in the same breath as losing weight, and that link is not there: creatine has been studied for strength and performance, not for weight loss. What does happen: creatine draws water into the muscle cell, which can make the scales read slightly higher in the first weeks. That is fluid, not fat, and it is the reason some people wrongly think they are stuck during a diet. What creatine does do is set out in the effect of creatine monohydrate.
Does collagen powder help with weight loss?
No, there is no approved European claim that collagen contributes to weight loss. Collagen powder is often looked for in the slimming corner, but that is not where the research and the regulations sit.
Collagen is a protein, but a special one: it is low in a number of essential amino acids and contains no tryptophan. As a protein source it is therefore incomplete. If your protein intake during a diet is what you are after, a complete protein source is the logical choice. If you want to know what is in a plant-based collagen powder, read a plant-based alternative to animal collagen.
Do fat burners, green tea or MCT work?
For ‘fat burners’, green tea extract and MCT there is no approved European health claim for weight loss or for burning fat. A pack that promises this anyway does so outside the register.
You often see these ingredients come back in products that promise a lot. Caffeine, for example from green tea, is not a shortcut to weight loss; there is no approved slimming claim for it. MCT is not a substance that removes fat either. What you often do find in those products is a strict eating plan in the leaflet. That plan does the work, not the powder.
Which vitamins and minerals help with weight loss?
None at all. There is no vitamin and no mineral with an approved European claim for weight loss, so ‘the best vitamin for losing weight’ does not exist. What is true: if you eat less, you often take in fewer nutrients as well, and then a targeted addition can be useful to prevent shortfalls.
That is a different story from a ‘fat burner’. If you eat less for a while, it becomes harder to get everything in; iron, calcium, vitamin B12 and magnesium are the names that come up most often. What the European register does contain are claims about normal functioning, not about weight. Magnesium is an example of that. Magnesium contributes to a reduction of tiredness and fatigue. That does not make magnesium a slimming aid and it says nothing about the scales, but it does show why a complete diet stays important, precisely in a period when you eat less. You can read more about this in what magnesium is and what it does to your body.
What about meal replacement shakes?
Meal replacement products for weight control form their own, legally defined category, and for those two approved claims do exist. The first reads ‘Substituting two daily meals of an energy restricted diet with meal replacements contributes to weight loss’. The second is about maintaining weight after weight loss, with one meal replaced a day.
Those claims may only be used for products that meet the compositional requirements of Directive 96/8/EC: set amounts of energy, protein, vitamins and minerals per meal. A protein powder is not that. Our powders are an addition to your diet and are not composed or labelled as a meal replacement. If you really want to replace a meal, more is needed than powder with water; you can read more about that in when is the best time to drink a protein shake.
Frequently asked questions
Is there a supplement that burns fat?
No, there is no supplement with an approved claim that it burns fat or helps you lose weight. Weight loss results from a sustained, achievable energy deficit through diet and exercise. At best, a supplement can support that process at the margins, for example by helping you get enough protein.
What is the best supplement for losing weight?
There is no best supplement for losing weight, because no supplement causes weight loss. What makes the difference is a calorie deficit you can keep up for months. Within that deficit, your protein intake is the most practical point of attention. Protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass.
Is there a powder that makes you lose weight?
No, there is no powder that makes you lose weight. Powders sold that way lean on ingredients without an approved claim, or on the strict eating plan that quietly comes with them. The only substance with a European weight-loss claim is the fibre glucomannan, at 3 grams a day within an energy restricted diet, and that claim applies expressly only within that diet.
How much protein do I need when I am losing weight?
That depends on your weight, your activity and your goal. During a diet, enough protein is extra valuable. Protein contributes to the maintenance of muscle mass. You will find a concrete guideline and a calculation method in how much protein you need per day.
Do protein shakes help women lose weight?
The same applies to women as to men: a protein shake does not make you lose weight, and how much protein you need depends on your body weight and how much you move, not on your gender. How much that is in practice, and which powder suits it, is set out in are protein shakes also for women.
Which vitamins help with weight loss?
No vitamin helps with weight loss; there is no vitamin with an approved European claim for weight loss. Vitamins and minerals keep your diet complete in a period when you eat less, and that is something other than losing weight.
Are ‘slimming pills’ and fat burners reliable?
Be sceptical. Products that promise quick results without changes to your diet or exercise often make promises that do not hold up. Read the ingredients list, choose a brand that is transparent about what is in it, and be careful with products that claim large effects. A healthy diet remains the foundation.
Do green tea or caffeine help with weight loss?
There is no approved claim that green tea or caffeine makes you lose weight; do not see it as a slimming aid. Weight loss remains a matter of your energy balance over the longer term.
How to approach this with Ekopura
Losing weight starts with your food and your exercise, and a supplement fits around that, not the other way round. If you want to keep your protein up easily during a diet, our protein powders are a practical help. You will find the full range, from organic whey to vegan protein, in our protein collection: clean label, a full ingredients list, and the protein per serving in plain sight.
