Fat loss and weight loss but at what cost?
With annual sales of weight loss supplements averaging between 15 and 20 billion dollars, it doesn?t take a rocket scientist to figure out that losing weight is not just on the minds of bodybuilders. Dropping a few pounds is probably the number one, New Year?s resolution, and it seems just about everyone has fat loss on their minds at some point in their lives.
For the average person on the street, ?losing weight? usually refers to what that infernal weight scales is telling them. But for bodybuilders ? especially those involved in competitive bodybuilding ? losing weight is more specific and refers to eliminating body fat. All things being equal the bodybuilder with the lowest body fat percentage is usually the one who wins contests these days. The terms ?ripped?, ?sliced?, ?cut?, and ?shredded? are frequently used to describe bodybuilders who have that magical combination of size and fat-free muscularity.
Although diet and exercise play a major role in weight loss, bodybuilders have other little ?tricks? to drop their body fat percentages down to 2 or 3 percent. For most the trick is to use a fat burner, and at the center of their magician?s bag is ephedrine.
Ephedra, Ephedrine, Ma Huang ? the fat loss name game
All three of these terms are commonly used to refer to the active compound derived from the Ephedra plant. Ephedra is a shrub-like plant that is primarily found in desert regions of central Asia and other parts of the world. The primary ingredient in Ephedra is a stimulant called ephedrine - an FDA-regulated drug that is a primary ingredient in numerous over-the-counter asthma and cold medications, and at one time the largest constituent in most bodybuilding fat loss products.
Pharmacologically ephedra is known as a beta agonist. This means that it stimulates the beta-receptors located in the sympathetic nervous system (the ?flight-fight? system). Bodybuilders useit for two primary reasons: fat burning through a process known as thermogenesis, and as a stimulant.
Thermogenesis is the process of fat loss whereby the body?s temperature is elevated slightly. Al it takes is a slight elevation in body temperature and fat deposits become more susceptible to burning as a fuel source during periods of aerobic activity.
On the stimulant scale, ephedrine ranks somewhere between caffeine and amphetamine. But unlike most over-the-counter supplements that claim to boost energy, but usually fail, it is highly effective. In fact, it?s so efficient at boosting performance, that most sports? organizations have banned its use. Even its milder cousin, pseudoephedrine, commonly found in flu medications is also banned.
The ECA Stack
Bodybuilders and other athletes have discovered that when combined with caffeine and aspirin, ephedrine is probably the most effective over-the-counter fat loss drug available. Although not fully understood, it is believed that by combining all three drugs together, a synergistic effect is created. For those not familiar with the term, synergism occurs when two or more compounds are combined together and boost or magnify one another?s effects. This is much the same thing that happens with the popular bodybuilding drugs, steroids, growth hormone, and insulin. Separately they produce amazing effects, but when all three are stacked together, the end result is a 280-pound super bodybuilder with 2 percent bodyfat. Over the years bodybuilders have discovered that the following dosages seem to work best for weight loss:
Ephedra: 25mg
Caffeine: 200mg
Aspirin: 1 tablet
Ephedra ? how dangerous?
Over the past few years there has been a media and political assault on ephedra-based products for fat loss. Most this hysteria is based on a few individual cases where people who used the supplement died. However, in virtually all the cases, the person either had heart problems or was taking megadosages of the drug. Thanks to a combination of media overkill and politics, manufacturers had to modify their ephedrine weight loss products so that they don?t contain more than 8mg per tablet. This hasn?t really created much of an inconvenience in bodybuilding circles as they simply take three tablets to get virtually the same dosage as the old 25mg tablets. There is currently a movement under way to have ephedra banned completely in the United States and as of April, 2006, eight out of ten Canadian provinces have removed ephedra products from direct over the counter sale. While you still don?t need a prescription, you will have to ask the pharmacist for them.
