Carnitine - anyone tried it? 6 lbs GONE in 4 days!!!

dawnm92

Hi Everyone,

After strict dieting (about 1700 cals/day) and exercising (about 8 hours per week) and losing ZERO pounds and no noticeable inches in 2 full months, I was at my wit's end! I've been researching possible reasons for my lack of weight loss. By the numbers, I should be dropping 2-3 pounds per week easily. I do know that my TSH is borderline high and that I was diagnosed with fatty liver about 6 years ago at which time I also had my gall bladder removed. My GB was messed up for years and was very infected and about ready to burst before they finally removed it. Anyway, it was the gall bladder ultrasound that showed the fatty liver problem (possibly caused in part by long-term gall bladder disease). The doctor didn't do a thing about my liver though - didn't even follow-up on it ever again and didn't suggest any ways I could repair it.

Due to my liver issue, I've been wondering if fatty liver was *part* of the reason for my lack of weight loss since the liver is really a key part that helps process dietary fat and sugars and if your liver is not functioning well, you store fat rather than using fat. That's my general understanding of how it works anyway.

So I've been looking for liver supplements and have tried several - milk thistle, turmeric, etc. Some had other okay benefits but none really seemed to affect my weight. Then I read about Carnitine. I had little faith that it would help, but I started it a few days ago and I have lost SIX pounds in 4 days. Yes, SIX pounds in 4 days!!!! And I've done everything else exactly the same. In fact, due to some back trouble I haven't even been exercising as much these past two weeks as I was before. I'm still following a 1700-ish calorie healthy diet and have lost 6 full pounds since Monday morning.... My shirts are noticeably looser now -- my stomach has shrunk that much.

Has ANYONE else tried Carnitine? I am taking Jarrow Acetyl-L-Carnitine 500 mg. And although I've read that some people take 1000-3000 mg a day, I've only been taking one 500mg capsule in the morning on an empty stomach 30-45 minutes before breakfast. I've been urinating like crazy, which is apparently common when burning fat quickly. I've been drinking tons of water to compensate and am not dehydrated at all.

I've searched the internet for info from others who've tried Carnitine but have not found much. Do you have any experience with Carnitine? If so, I'd love to hear from you!

I can't believe that the trend will continue, but I sure hope that it does because I haven't been able to lose 6 pounds in 6 MONTHS of trying before this and now I've lost 6 pounds in four days. How is that even possible?????????

Hoping for 60 more gone!
Dawn

voluptas63

6lbs is a 21000 negative calorie intake. You're losing water, muscle etc. Not pure fat. I could chop off my arm and lose a few pounds but I'm sure it's not the best thing to do.

emmaldownie

6lbs is a 21000 negative calorie intake. You're losing water, muscle etc. Not pure fat. I could chop off my arm and lose a few pounds but I'm sure it's not the best thing to do.

agreed

LovingMe19

Congrats! Thats awesome! I was stuck on a plateau as well for about 2 months, it feels great when that scale starts moving again!

BeautifulScarsWECHANGED

bump!

ItsMeLori

I've never heard of it but I think I will give it a try. I've been here sense April and only down 6 lbs. I'm not perfect all the time but I am not that bad either so I never understand why I dont lose.

Thanks for the info

bogoli

I think you should stick to what works for you! I did some research on carnitine, and it seems like it should have that effect. I think you're just feeling an accelerated effect because your body now has a little kickstart to burn fat, and once your body gets used to having it in the system, you might start losing weight at a normal pace. I'd keep taking it and revel in watching the scale go down! Congrats!!

dawnm92

I'm well aware of the "numbers" it takes to lose a pound of fat and I'm sure that these 6 pounds are not all fat, but rather fluid built up in my body. My urine is clear to pale yellow, no way dehydrated. The "water" I'm losing must be coming from inflammation -- which is very unhealthy. But I was NOT able to lose the inflammation through diet and exercise alone. I just kept gaining weight and my stomach was growing bigger and bigger all the time.

All I know is that I feel good and my stomach is shrinking visibly now. I'm sure that this pace cannot and will not continue, but it's common for a lot of people to lose more pounds at the beginning of a successful diet - especially when they have as much to lose as I do. And even if it's 3/4 water weight that I'm losing, it's still something I needed to lose and I'm drinking about a gallon of water a day so I'm definitely not dehydrated.

As for burning my muscle, well, I doubt I'm losing that considering that I'm taking in over 150 grams of lean protein per day in my diet. I think this first several pounds is very much inflammatory fluids that were probably built up because my liver, kidneys, etc could not remove toxins from my body successfully. Just guessing.

As a side note - my sinuses are clearer than they have been in about 4 years. How's that for an unexpected bonus???

corpus_validum

There are some misconceptions in this thread. 6 pounds of weight loss does not necessarily equate to a negative 21,000 calories intake. One is assuming 100% fat loss in that case...very unlikely. 1 lb of fat is approx 3,500 calories. 1 lb of muscles is approx 2,500 calories. She/he could be losing muscles, water weight, etc.

As for burning muscles, just because you take in over 150g of lean protein per day doesn't mean you can't lose muscles. You can lose muscles if you don't utilize/stress them enough depending on your starting amount of muscle mass. Really can't tell in OP's case as his/her food and exercise diary is not public as one should have sufficient strength/resistance training to retain muscle mass. But glad to hear the OP is happy with their body recomposition so far.

Me personally, I've taken in 1,000 mg of L-Carnitine on a daily basis for the past 3 weeks but haven't seen a noticeable change, even with a fairly consistent diet and exercise routine. But YMMV as it has in OP's case.

I any case, I found this posting by an MFP member pretty helpful re L-Carnitine:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/277001-supplement-research?hl=carnitine#posts-3732826