Caffeine is a wonderful foundation drug for fat-burning. No, we’re not advising you to buy a case of Mountain Dew and chug it in front of the television, and you’ll just watch the pounds melt away. Rather, when used in conjunction with other supplements, caffeine acts as a strong base for the synergistic wonder that is a bodybuilding dieting stack.

When tested alone, caffeine has been proven to be an effective fat-burner along a number of pathways in your body. The metabolic rate is slightly raised, and body fat is released at a quicker rate due to its presence. However, caffeine alone will only shave 100 to 200 calories from a daily diet. So while its technically burning calories, it would take months to shed five pounds from caffeine use alone.

When added to a stack with ephedrine and aspirin, caffeine is highly effective for jumpstarting the metabolism and kicking the body into fat-loss mode. This ECA (ephedrine, caffeine aspirin) stack is popular with athletes all over the world, in every sport imaginable. Standard doses are 25 mf of ephedrine, 200 mg caffeine, and 250 mg aspirin, immediately upon rising in the morning, and mid-afternoon. Even living upon a diet of junk food, the use of ECA will leave a person ripped in a very short time. However, ECA can also cause a person to become quite irritable. Also, when the person becomes addicted to caffeine from long-term use, the effects are no longer felt in the gym. Aside from ephedrine and aspirin, caffeine can also be stacked effectively with synephrine, yohimbine, and green tea supplements.

If you’re thinking about supplementing with caffeine, start with a low amount. Don’t run into your gym and purchase the $3.50 energy drink containing 300 mg caffeine and a ton of other supplements you’ve never heard of. Also, don’t slam a Red Bull before your workout. They only contain 80 mg of caffeine, but the sugar in the drink will leave you crashing in an hour or two, and the insulin rush will certainly not help with your fat burning efforts. Instead, purchase caffeine supplements from your nearest grocery store, sold as either Vivarin, or a generic store brand. They should cost about $3.00 for 16 of the 200 mg size tablets.

The body is a remarkably adaptive organism, and it will certainly adapt to the caffeine use in a short while. You may find that instead of using the caffeine as a boost, you’ll actually require it to function in the gym, or worse, at work. Caffeine withdrawal can be a very painful thing, with hours of that dull headache as your body craves that little yellow demon. For this reason you should use caffeine on and off for fat loss purposes. Use it only on workout days. This means 5 days per week, you use it, and 2 days per week, you do not. After using it for 6 weeks, take two weeks off. As long as its use doesn’t becoming a habit, it can continue being effective!

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