What do you think about CLA?

ssb2nf

Yesterday, I went to GNC and picked up a bottle of their Thermo CLA pills. It says to take two capsules twice a day but I am planning on just taking one a day for a couple weeks. (although I do not know if this will have any effect) Has anyone else tried taking CLA before? I know there are some side effects in overweight people if they take CLA (it can increase their chances for diabetes) but I've finally reached a normal BMI and I feel like I have plateau'd. I have read that CLA can increase belly firmness and reduced overall body fat. Has anyone taken it and what kind of results did you have?

TrainingWithTonya

Personally, it is the only supplement I'd recommend. It is an essential fatty acid so there shouldn't be side effects for anyone. None of the research I've read showed the increased diabetes risk you are talking about, but I'd love to read the research you have seen if you wouldn't mind posting a link. The research I've read showed that it helped maintain lean body mass while promoting fat loss. When I took it, I lost 15% body fat, which was 41.6 pounds of fat, and lost 35 pounds on the scale in 12 weeks. I was also doing heavy weight training and an hour of cardio 5 days a week at the time. But I maintained my muscle mass and actually added 6.6 pounds of lean tissue while losing and I personally credit the CLA with that. I was taking EAS brand and it was just CLA with no other additives. With the word Thermo in their label, I'd check to make sure you are just getting CLA and not a stimulant with it. CLA by itself should not cause jitters or other side effects. Like I said, CLA is a fatty acid so no stimulant effect. If there is a stimulant in there, then you could get some other effects like jitters, heart palpitations, etc. that won't be so comfortable.

carrie145

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fattymcgoo

I took CLA (2000mg/day) consistently for a few months in 2009. At the time, I was eating around 1200 calories a day, pilates 2x/week and jogging 3x/week, just to give you a bit of background. I did drop some weight (not much) while taking it, and while I wasn't tracking my body fat percentage at the time, I did notice that my muscle tone improved. I dropped a pants size without losing too much weight, which means to me that I did manage to burn off fat and spare my muscle mass.
It is one of the safest supplements there are, with no adverse long-term or short-term effects proven in clinical studies.
I believe that taking the supplement alone wouldn't have done much of anything, but along with diet and exercise, I think it could only help.
I recently started taking CLA again, only this time I started at a lighter weight, and have a more aggressive exercise plan. If you want I could let you know how it goes!

For Tonya, here is a link to the paper "showing" increased diabetes risk :

http://intl-circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/short/106/15/1925

I put "showing" in quotes because there are several things wrong with this study-
-it was only 12 weeks long (not a long-term study)
-only done on obese individuals
-shows an increase in oxidative stress, which can only accelerate the progression of type II diabetes, but does NOT cause it
-this increase was only in obese MEN, and was only monitored for 12 weeks

Furthermore, several LONG term studies showed no effect on insulin sensitivity.

All in all, I don't think you have anything to worry about. I would recommend a higher dose than you are taking - from the studies I've read the effective dose is 2-3 grams per day (anything over that won't help). I've experienced no side effects whatsoever with this- I mean nothing at all.
If you've plateaued in fat loss, I would definitely try this along with changing your exercise and diet a bit. If you message me I can tell you about a plan that has been working for me - I broke my plateau for the first time in my adult life a few weeks ago!

Sorry for the long reply, but I'm bored and feeling helpful today, haha!~