7-KETO
What it is and how it helps you shed pounds.
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Who doesn’t want a healthy metabolism that makes it possible to lose weight and maintain a slim shape? Unfortunately, the human body’s metabolic rate naturally starts slowing down in our 30s, contributing to stubborn weight gain. And at any age, weight-loss diets slow down metabolism, making it difficult to keep pounds off.
7-keto, a nutrient that is naturally present in our bodies but declines with age, can help to solve both problems. It isn’t a stimulant and doesn’t cause jitters or heart palpitations, but improves calorie-burning ability at the most basic level, by increasing resting metabolic rate
Calorie Burning Basics
Resting metabolic rate is the number of calories a body burns at rest, breathing, and performing countless other internal functions that enable it to stay alive. This doesn’t include normal daily activities, such as taking a shower, getting dressed, making breakfast, driving to work, or any formal exercise.
It may come as a surprise that for most people, resting metabolic rate represents 60 to 70 percent of the calories burned each day. Everything else we do, including formal exercise, generally makes up the remaining 30 to 40 percent. Because our resting metabolic rate consumes such a large percentage of calories, over time, even slight variations can contribute significantly to weight gain or loss.
This isn’t to say exercise isn’t important. In fact, any type of resistance exercise that helps to build and maintain lean muscle will contribute to healthy metabolism, because lean tissue burns more calories than fat. And both aerobic and resistance exercise improve the ability of cells to absorb and burn food as fuel, rather than storing calories as fat. However, research shows that as part of a weight-loss program, 7-keto offers additional benefits
How 7-Keto Enhances Diets
When weight is lost, resting metabolic rate naturally decreases. But a study published in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry found that 7-keto reverses such decline in metabolism.
In the study, researchers compared the effects of 100 mg of 7-keto, taken twice daily, and a placebo, among 40 women and men. They found that while resting metabolic rate decreased with the placebo, it increased with 7-keto. The difference amounted to an average of 96 calories per day.
While 96 calories may seem like a small amount, it can make a noticeable difference over a period of time. According to a widely accepted premise that burning an extra 3,500 calories produces a weight loss of one pound, burning an extra 96 calories daily could theoretically produce a loss of 10 pounds during the course of a year.
Researchers have also measured weight-loss results with 7-keto, compared with a placebo. In an 8-week study of 23 overweight people, published in Current Therapeutic Research, half took 100 mg of 7-keto twice daily while the others took a placebo. Both groups followed a diet of 1,800 calories daily and did three workouts per week, each lasting an hour and consisting of aerobic and resistance exercise.
Those taking 7-keto lost an average of 6.3 pounds, compared to a loss of only 2.1 pounds in the placebo group. Tests of various health markers found that the supplement produced no adverse effects.
Other studies have found similar weight-loss results and suggest that 7-keto improves the ability to burn stored fat among overweight people. And, it may improve age-related decline in resting metabolic rate
How to Benefit from 7-Keto
In conjunction with a reduced-calorie diet and an exercise program, take 100 mg twice daily, in the morning and evening, to maintain stable blood levels of the nutrient. 7-keto is not a stimulant and can be taken before bedtime. If you take a weight-loss formula containing 7-keto plus other ingredients that are stimulants, such as caffeine or some herbs, the stimulants could interfere with sleep if taken late in the day.
7-keto is also referred to as 7-keto DHEA. DHEA is a hormone from which our bodies make testosterone and estrogen. However, 7-keto is a metabolite, or by-product, of DHEA and is not, itself, a hormone. 7-keto does not influence levels of sex hormones.
Good Buys…
ENZYMATIC THERAPY Naturalean with 7-Keto includes 100 mg of 7-keto plus weight-loss supportive nutrients.
JARROW FORMULAS 7-Keto DHEA 100 mg-capsules have been proven to increase metabolic rate in clinical trials.
KAL 7-Keto DHEA boasts 100 mg of 7-keto DHEA plus added fiber to help flush fat.