If you’re at all active on social media, you’ve probably come across detox tea.

Promoted by everyone from fitness models to celebrities to the girl from down the street, it sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Just drink this special tea every day and it will:

• burn fat fast
• crush your appetite
• boost energy levels
• improve skin health
• flush out harmful toxins

In other words, you’ll look, feel, and function better and all you have to do is sip some tea!

Too bad it’s not true…

Don’t get me wrong, I love tea.  I’m an avid Matcha drinker and research has shown that drinking tea, especially Green Tea, may convey a variety of health benefits.

But the majority of the claims attached to weight-loss and detox teas are completely unfounded.

Not only is the quality of the actual tea usually poor with these kinds of products, but the added ingredients have never been proven to do anything.

The companies that produce them just make the claims, pay the celebrities and social media influencers to promote it, then sit back and watch the money pour in.

And pour in it does!

With many detox teas running upwards of $40 or $50 for a 30 day supply, while being extremely cheap to produce, it’s quite a profitable business.

Unfortunately, we live in a marketing-driven world where people tend to confuse price with value.

You know…

“it’s expensive so it must work!”

This may be true sometimes, but sadly, that’s not the case with detox teas.  They’re all a waste of time and money, and in this article, I’ll explain why.

Don’t worry though, I won’t leave you hanging…

I’ll also introduce you to some scientifically proven strategies to help you lose weight, burn fat, feel more energized, and be healthier in general.

Sound good?  Awesome.  Let’s dive right in…

What Is Detox Tea?

Detox tea is the latest craze to flood your Instagram and Twitter feeds.

It’s essentially ordinary tea with some ‘active ingredients’ which are supposed to do things like flush out toxins and cause you to lose weight.

If you take a look at the supplement facts panel of any detox tea, you’ll see a bunch of herbal ingredients such as:

• Ginger
• Dandelion
• Valerian Root
• Ginseng
• Fruit/Berry Extracts
• Peppermint
• Milk Thistle
• Yerba Mate

The list goes on, but these are some of the most common detox tea ingredients.

While the exact composition of the tea may change depending on the brand and the specific function of the product (i.e. weight-loss, relaxation, energy, etc.), you’ll find that most of these products are pretty similar.

The same basic blend of cheap tea and a bunch of obscure herbal ingredients that are supposed to promote weight-loss and flush out toxins.

Some of these herbal ingredients have been shown to do things like support liver health and improve energy levels, but then there’s the issue of dosing…

Many of the herbal ingredients that detox teas claim to contain taste absolutely terrible, so it’s tough to mix them into teas without making the tea taste terrible.

That is, unless you just sprinkle a negligible amount in there to say it’s in there.

That’s exactly what most of these companies do.

They start with a base of cheap tea, sprinkle it with a blend of trendy (but useless) herbal ingredients, and sell it for 20 times what it costs to make.

Sadly, most of that money gets funneled back into marketing, influencing, and fake reviews so they can keep the scam going.

Real customers don’t usually fall for the same detox tea more than once.  You may try a few brands, but soon enough you realize nothing is happening.

So, what is detox tea?  It’s a scam, plain and simple.

Detox Tea Won’t Actually Help You Lose Weight (Sorry)

“But this girl I follow on Instagram drank it and lost 20 pounds in 2 months!”

Yeah, I know…

If you read the reviews, you’ll see a ton of people claiming similar stories.  Some of those reviews are fake, but some of them are real as well.

What they tend to leave out though, is that many of these teas recommend severely cutting your calorie intake.

So it’s not the magical blend of herbal ingredients that’s making you lose weight.  It’s starvation.

At it’s core, weight-loss still boils down to calories in vs. calories out.

No substance–whether it be a tea, supplement, drug, or anything else–can cause you to lose weight if you’re not burning more calories than you’re consuming.

With obesity rates on the rise, officially reaching epidemic levels world-wide, a ton of scientific research has been conducted in the area of weight-loss.

And guess what?

It all unanimously indicates that you cannot escape the law of energy balance.

In other words…It is physically impossible to lose weight if you don’t burn more calories than you consumeClick to Tweet

That’s why most detox teas require that you cut back on your calories while drinking the tea.  It’s not the tea that’s making you lose the weight.  It’s the fact that you’ve cut your calorie intake.

Try doing the same thing without the tea and you’ll see the exact same results.  The tea makes no meaningful difference.  I promise…

Does Detox Tea Help With Water Weight?

One of the central claims made by companies who produce detox teas is that they’ll cause you to shed water weight and be less bloated.

Many of these teas contain diuretics which may cause you to expel water (in the form of urine), but this isn’t really weight-loss though.

It’s just dehydration.

As soon as you stop drinking the tea, the water weight will come right back.

Cutting your carbohydrate intake will also cause you to lose a lot of water weight because carbs hold water.  But again, as soon as you resume your normal eating habits, the weight will come back.

If you want to lose weight AND keep that weight off for good, dehydrating yourself through the use of diuretics is NOT a viable strategy.

Neither is starving yourself.

Luckily, there are some scientifically proven ways for you to burn fat and lose weight without using expensive teas that don’t actually do anything on their own.

How To Actually Burn Fat And Lose Weight (Without Detox Teas)

Detox teas may not help you lose weight, but that’s okay.  There are a few simple ways to do that without wasting your hard-earned cash.

• Diet – place yourself in a caloric deficit and up your protein intake.
• Exercise – lifts weights and do some cardio here and there
• Supplements – use fat-loss supplements that have actually been proven to work.

Now, let’s break those things down in a little more detail.

1 | Eat Fewer Calories But More Protein

Like I said earlier, there’s no escaping the laws of energy balance.

It’s the underlying factor that dictates how much weight you can physically lose in a given amount of time.

You’re in a positive energy balance when you’re eating more calories than you’re burning.  Maintain a positive energy balance for a prolonged period of time and you’ll gain wait.

You’re in a negative energy balance when you’re eating fewer calories than you’re burning.  Maintain a negative energy balance for a prolonged period of time and you’ll lose weight.

Simple, right?  And I didn’t just make it up like the claims about detox tea!

Research has confirmed that the only way to lose weight is by eating less calories than you burn (i.e. maintaining a negative energy balance) for an extended period of time.

The fewer calories you consume relative to what you burn, the faster you’ll lose weight.

It’s not wise to cut your calories too much, though.

Research also shows that cutting calories by too much can slow your metabolic rate, effectively causing your body to ‘hold on to’ more calories.

So, you don’t want to cut your calories by 50% or something crazy like that.

You want to dial your calories back enough to lose weight at a decent rate, but not so much that:

1. You can’t maintain it
2. It significantly lowers your metabolic rate

cutting your calorie intake by 20% is a good place to start.  25% if you want to be aggressive about it.

A key facet of getting a leaner, more defined physique–as opposed to just being skinny and bony–is maintaining (or building) lean muscle mass.

That goes for guys AND girls.

Eating protein is absolutely essential for building muscle and if you want a killer body, you want to put on some muscle.

Even if you’re trying to lose weight, you still want to at least preserve lean muscle mass.  The goal is to eliminate fat, never muscle.

Studies show that eating a high protein diet can preserve lean muscle mass during a caloric deficit.

Anytime you place yourself in a caloric deficit, it’s a good idea to up your protein so you don’t lose muscle.

Dial back your calorie intake by around 20% and up your protein intake to around 1 gram per pound of body weight, maybe a little more if you want.

That means if you weigh 150 lbs, you want to eat at least 150 grams of protein per day.

Now that we’ve got the diet part down, let’s talk about working out…

2 | Workout For Maximum Fat Loss

Next, you need to develop a workout routine that emphasizes fat-loss.

You may think that means doing a lot of cardio (running, biking, etc.), but research indicates a combination of weight-lifting and cardio is ideal for weight-loss.

The absolute best workout routine for burning fat and losing weight is one that features:

• Heavy, compound weight-lifting
• High Intensity Interval Training (Cardio)

Research has shown that High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is the best kind of cardio for fat-loss, but any kind of additional cardio will help you lose weight.

Most people, including me, prefer HIIT to steady state cardio because it’s quicker and less boring.

As for the heavy, compound lifting part…

Your workouts should feature exercises like

• Deadlifts
• Squats
• Bench Press
• Military Press
• Barbell Rows

These are all compound exercises, meaning they recruit more muscle groups than isolation exercises like curls and push-downs.

These kinds of exercises not only burn more  calories, but are also better for building muscle.

So, if you really want to lose weight, you want to do a combination of heavy, compound weight-lifting and some form of high intensity cardio (like HIIT).

3 | Use Weight-Loss Supplements That Actually Work

Most supplements marketed as fat-burners don’t actually work, but there are some that do.

Here’s the thing:No supplement is going to magically make you lose weight if you don’t alter your diet and/or exercise.Click to Tweet

Diet and exercise are what make the biggest difference when it comes to managing your body weight.  There’s just no denying that.

A pill that magically makes you lose weight sounds great, but it doesn’t exist.

That said, there are actually some supplements out there that can tip the fat-loss needle in your favor.

Caffeine

Caffeine forms the basis of many stimulant-based fat-burners, but it does more than just increase energy levels.

By triggering the release of Catecholamines–a group of fat-burning hormones produced by your body–Caffeine increases your metabolic rate (the amount of calories you burn).

Different people have different tolerances to Caffeine, but research shows that the fat-loss effects occur anywhere from 100-400mg.

Most people will find their ideal dose of Caffeine within that range.

Synephrine

Synephrine is a mild stimulant which is found naturally in Bitter Orange.

It functions similarly to the once extremely popular (now banned) weight-loss supplement, Ephedrine, but research indicates it’s much safer.

Like Ephedrine, Synephrine is a beta-receptor agonist. That’s just a scientific way of saying it stimulates lipolysis (fat-breakdown).

Synephrine can actually increase the amount of calories you burn at rest.

50mg is an effective (and safe) dose of Synephrine.

Rauwolscine

Rauwolscine, also known as Alpha-Yohimbine, is probably the most powerful natural fat-burning supplement there is.

It works by blocking the action of alpha receptors in fat tissue.  These receptors are ordinarily responsible for putting a stop to lipolysis (fat-breakdown).

By blocking alpha-receptors, Rauwolscine allows you to burn more fat during your workouts than would otherwise normally be possible.

It works best on an empty stomach and is especially effective when combined with fasted cardio (or any kind of fasted training).

Rauwolscine requires just 1-3mg to work.  It should be taken just before your workout (on an empty stomach).

 Cirsium Oligophyllum

Although Cirsium Oligophyllum is relatively new on the supplement seen, preliminary studies indicate that--unlike Detox Teas with bogus ingredients--it can actually induce Lipolysis (fat breakdown) and energy expenditure.

Currently, studies are limited to mice, but the results have been quite impressive with subjects losing considerable amounts of weight in a relatively short period of time.

Fortunately, we know exactly how Cirsium Oligophyllum works and it's a mechanism of action that is well established in the eyes of science--offering further credibility to this obscure herb.

Cirsium Oligophyllum copntains specific alkaloids which up regulate Un-Coupling Protein 1 (UPC1)--a mind of mitochondrial switch which induces fat loss when activated.

By activating this protein, Cirsium Oligophyllum causes fat to breakdown at an accelerated rate and researchers have concluded that it may very well be an effective tool against weight gain and helpful for fat-loss.

That's exactly why we added Cirsium Oligophyllum to our comprehensive fat-burner which we believe to be the absolute best on the market.

Detox Tea Won’t Actually Remove Toxins From Your Body