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Ranking the best fat burners for men of 2023

Written by John Davis

Last updated: October 19, 2022

Men have a hard time cutting fat, especially around the stomach.

Many men use a daily fat burner for men to help melt belly fat for a leaner, more muscular physique.

When extra weight is stored as fat, the only way to get rid of it is by burning it.

Diet and exercise help, but a fat burning supplement might be able to increase your fat metabolism beyond what you’d otherwise be able to achieve.

These fat-burning supplements can kick-start your weight loss and help you both look better and feel healthier health.

Want to find the right fat burner for you? Check out our rankings of the best fat burners on the market right now.

Why You Should Trust Us

    Our advisory panel and our research team rank the best health products and supplements based on performance, label accuracy, and the efficacy of the ingredients in the products.

At A Glance
our top picks for fat burners for men
  1. Best overall: Instant Knockout
  2. PhenQ
  3. Burn XT
  4. Best for men over 40: Hunter Burn
  5. Best for men with testosterone boosters: CrazyBulk Cutting Stack

Rankings

Last updated: October 18, 2022
Fat burners considered: 24
Hours of research: 44
Experts reviewed: 8
Scientific papers referenced: 15

IMAGE PRODUCT
1. Instant Knockout
  • Used by several professional MMA fighters
  • All-natural ingredients and effective
  • It is composed of green tea extract, cayenne pepper, glucomannan, caffeine, zinc, chromium, green coffee bean, and piperine
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2. PhenQ
  • Generates thermogenesis using a synergistic blend of powerful ingredients
  • It has a small amount of black pepper extract added for maximum bioavailability and has added fillers
  • High-powered blend and excellent purity
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3. Burn XT
  • Solid thermogenic that’s formulated to boost your energy levels as well
  • Each capsule contains an effective dose of the most powerful fat-burning ingredients available
  • No artificial fillers
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4. Hunter Burn
  • Designed to be a premium fat burner for the most ambitious men
  • All-natural ingredients
  • Combination of top-quality ingredients and careful dosage
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5. CrazyBulk Cutting Stack
  • Four-packed supplements
  • It contains everything you need to cut fat and build muscle at the same time
  • Great for caffeine-sensitive people
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6. Evlution Leanmode
  • Nice pick for caffeine-sensitive people
  • It focuses on extracts that up-regulate your body’s fat burning capabilities without keeping you awake
  • All ingredients are effective weight loss supplements in their own right
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7. Old School Labs Vintage Burn
  • Composed of raspberry ketones, green tea extract, forskolin, and garcinia Cambogia
  • It increases your energy and focuses
  • Pure and clean supplements
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8. Lean XT
  • A great choice if you want to keep things simple
  • Focuses on three key ingredients: Acetyl-L-Carnitine, green tea extract, and forskolin
  • Black pepper extract BioPerine is present to enhance absorption and bioavailability of the other ingredients
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9. Genius Burn
  • It uses some more cutting-edge supplements instead of the proven mainstays
  • It doesn’t rely on caffeine as a crutch to burn more energy
  • Have 9 natural ingredients that support both brain health and fat loss
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10. Performix SST V2X
  • Combination of a megadose of B12 for energy and leverages
  • Combined thermogenic effects of caffeine, theacrine, and capsaicin
  • It’s got some more advanced ingredients like ginger extract and MCTs
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11. Cellucor Super HD
  • Combination of a strong dose of B vitamins and over a dozen different extracts and supplements
  • Blends of powerful fat burners, like Yohimbe, cayenne pepper, and Huperzine A
  • Metabolism and energy booster
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1. Instant Knockout

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Instant Knockout is a super-popular men’s fat burner that’s been taking over the industry.

The formula was originally engineered to help MMA fighters melt fat before their fights. Several professional MMA fighters take the supplement, including Diego Sanchez and his training coach Greg Jackson.

We love Instant Knockout because it’s been proven to work (many times over) and the ingredients are all-natural and effective: green tea extract, cayenne pepper, glucomannan, caffeine, zinc, chromium, green coffee bean and piperine.

Definitely a loaded mix.

The result? Testimonials like this:

Worth adding to the daily routine for any man wanting to shed more fat.

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2. PhenQ

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PhenQ generates thermogenesis using a synergistic blend of powerful ingredients like caffeine (150 mg), carnitine, capsicum, niacin, and chromium, along with some cutting edge ingredients you won’t find anywhere else, like nopal and alpha-lacy.

It also has a small amount of black pepper extract added for maximum bioavailability, and has added fillers.

The high-powered blend and the excellent purity make it a great choice for men looking to burn off excess body fat. Many of these ingredients also double as appetite suppressants, further increasing PhenQ’s versatility for men trying to cut fat. 

3. Burn XT

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Burn XT is a solid thermogenic that’s formulated to boost your energy levels as well.

The proof? Users love it: It’s got over 30,000,000 servings sold to date.

Each capsule contains an effective dose of the most powerful fat-burning ingredients available (green tea, caffeine, bioperene, etc)

No artificial fillers either, making this a perfect choice for a focused fat burner.

4. Hunter Burn

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Hunter Burn was designed to be a premium fat burner for the most ambitious men.

The creators have cut down the number of ingredients and spread them across six capsules a day to deliver a sustained boost to your body’s fat oxidation.

Each ingredient is all-natural and has been proven to support weight loss in a wide range of scientific studies.

Their fantastic formula is packed with the appetite suppressing glucomannan (which is delivered in as high a dose as is scientifically recommended), matcha green tea (proven to be more potent than normal green tea), white kidney bean (a natural carb blocker), and the thermogenic cayenne pepper.

The combination of top-quality ingredients and careful dosage makes this one of the most effective fat burners for men available today.

4. CrazyBulk Cutting Stack

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CrazyBulk Cutting Stack is a four-pack of supplements designed to mirror the benefits of steroids and androgen like testosterone.

This multi-supplement stack contains everything you need to cut fat and build muscle at the same time.

With natural compounds like carnitine and guarana plus herbal extracts like wild yam, yohimbe, and the natural testosterone precursor DHEA, CrazyBulk has definitely done their homework when it comes to biologically active ingredients that can boost muscle gain and promote fat loss.

Notably, the stack does not lean heavily on caffeine for its thermogenic properties, making it great for people who are caffeine-sensitive. The wide range of ingredients make this one of our top-performing picks for men looking to drop their body fat percentage.

5. Evlution Leanmode

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Evlution Leanmode a nice pick for caffeine-sensitive people who still want a strong fat-burning supplement.

It focuses on extracts that up-regulate your body’s fat burning capabilities without keeping you awake, and all of its active ingredients are effective weight loss supplements in their own right.

6. Old School Labs Vintage Burn

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Despite the name, Vintage Burn has got all the latest supplements in it: raspberry ketones, green tea extract, forskolin, and garcinia cambogia, just to name a few.

On top of that, it’s got a few ingredients that haven’t hit it big yet, like olive leaf extract, so nutritionists might be are onto something with these sleeper ingredients.

7. Lean XT

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If you want to keep things simple, Lean XT is a great choice. It focuses its efforts on only three key ingredients: Acetyl-L-Carnitine, green tea extract, and forskolin.

The proprietary black pepper extract BioPerine is present too, but that’s just to enhance absorption and bioavailability of the other ingredients.

8. Genius Burn

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If mainstream fat burners aren’t doing the trick for you, give Genius Burn a try.

It uses some more cutting-edge supplements instead of the proven mainstays, and it doesn’t rely on caffeine as a crutch to burn more energy.

9. Performix SST V2X

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Performix combines a megadose of B12 for energy and leverages the combined thermogenic effects of caffeine, theacrine, and capsaicin to propel its fat-burning formulation.

It’s got some more advanced ingredients too, like ginger extract and MCTs, but as these are part of a proprietary blend, it’s hard to put too much weight on their efficacy.

10. Cellucor Super HD

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Cellucor Super HD combines a strong dose of B vitamins with a proprietary blend of over a dozen different extracts and supplements.

While this blend includes some powerful fat burners, like yohimbe, cayenne pepper, and Huperzine A, the proprietary blend makes it tough to determine if these ingredients are delivered at an effective dose. 

Category winners

Best fat burner for men overall: Instant Knockout

Instant Knockout boasts a veritable who’s who of the best natural fat burners out there, including cayenne pepper, caffeine, green coffee bean extract, and green tea extract. There’s no other option on the market that offers such a wide variety of efficacious ingredients.

Best fast-acting fat burner for men: Instant Knockout

Given its history as a weight cut enhancer for MMA fighters, Instant Knockout is perfect if you want to burn fat as fast as possible—its fat oxidation properties are top of the line. 

Best fat burner for men with testosterone boosters: CrazyMass Cutting Stack

CrazyMass Cutting Stack is specifically designed to accelerate fat loss by sustaining high levels of testosterone. Alongside its Testosteroxn blend, you also get supplement combos for increasing fat oxidation while retaining as much muscle mass as possible. 

Best fat burner for men over 40: Hunter Burn

Hunter Burn takes a head-on approach to address some of the unique problems men over 40 face when it comes to losing fat. Hunter Burn includes natural carb blockers to counter increased carb sensitivity, matcha green tea to amp up fat oxidation, and cayenne pepper to increase your body’s baseline metabolic rate. 

Best fat burner for men who work out: Click here for the lowest price

PhenQ’s unique combination of thermogenics helps you amplify the natural fat burning effects of your workout, plus tamp down on your appetite after long gym sessions. This keeps your caloric consumption low and your caloric expenditure high, which is exactly what you need to cut fat. 

Best fat burner for men with belly fat: Hunter Burn

Tired of a beer gut? Hunter Burn’s combination of fat oxidizers and carb blockers can put you on the fast track to shaving off pounds of fat, especially when it comes to your visceral fat—i.e. the unhealthy fat that concentrates around your belly. 

Who should buy a fat burner for men?

There are two main groups of men who can benefit from a fat burner.

Regular guys looking to accelerate their weight loss. These men likely have lower testosterone than they should, since high body fat increases estrogen levels and tanks your testosterone levels.

For these guys, a fat burner for men can increase androgen levels, plus boost muscle growth, both of which help with weight loss.

The thermogenic ingredients in fat burners are particularly helpful for regular guys, as their baseline metabolic rate is going to drop once they cut their calorie intake to lose weight.

Bodybuilders, weight lifters, MMA fighters, boxers, and other athletes who need to cut weight. If you’ve been bulking up to gain strength and are now looking to cut weight, fat burners can help you shed fat while retaining muscle mass.

For these men, it’s important that they keep up their protein intake and continue working out, but they need to shift their body’s metabolic focus to cutting body fat (but not muscle).

Fat burners induce hormonal profile shifts that help accomplish exactly these goals: higher testosterone and growth hormone, and lower estrogen. 

Whether you fit into the first or the second group, a fat burner specifically formulated for male physiology is a great option if you’re looking to maintain muscle mass while dropping fat. the same time. 

How we ranked

Our research team put together a strict series of requirements to measure the quality of the fat burners we considered:

Packed with evidence-based fat oxidizers. These included mainstays like CLA, green tea extract, and garcinia cambogia, all of which upregulate your body’s rate of fat oxidation. Fat burners that neglected these basics got tossed right off the bat.

We kept only supplements that included at least three different proven fat burners. 

No risky stimulants. We ditched any supplements that relied on risky ingredients like bitter orange or its active compound, synephrine, as there are too many case reports of negative side effects occurring in these kinds of supplements.

Popular picks like Hydroxycut got eliminated for this reason.

Formulated for male physiology. We favored products that included minerals known to boost testosterone, such as zinc and magnesium, as well as androgen-supporting herbal extracts like yohimbe.

These compounds are especially effective in men because they leverage the natural fat-burning and muscle-building properties of testosterone, human growth hormone, and other androgens.

Responsible caffeine dosage. Men can generally handle caffeine a bit better than women (partially because of body size, and partially because of hormonal differences), so our team was more tolerant of caffeine than in our rankings of fat burners for women.

Still, we tossed low-quality products like Stripfast Fire Bullets that leaned too heavily on caffeine as its primary or only fat burner.

Caffeine works, but it’s best-used at moderate doses as part of natural thermogenic like green coffee bean or green tea extract–not as an excuse to skimp on other ingredients. 

Ingredient synergy. What separates a good fat burner from a great one? Ingredients that combine well with one another.

For example, combined-action supplements like Instant Knockout and Hunter Burn increase energy expenditure and cut down on hunger cravings.

That combo is much better than the separate effects of a thermogenic alone versus an appetite suppressant alone. 

Ditto for ingredients that compliment each other, like green coffee bean extract and green tea extract: the theanine from green tea mitigates negative effects from the coffee bean extract and accelerates the fat oxidative capacity of both.

No fillers. Fat burners that were bloated with too many fillers, binders, and coloring agents got dropped entirely: Binders and fillers in Kinpur Fat Burner and Force Factor Test X180 Ignite cost them a spot in our rankings. 

Our final rankings are the best a man can get when it comes to fat burning supplements.

Whether you are just trying to ditch your beer gut or you are trying to get an extremely lean and muscular physique, you’ll find what you need in our rankings. 

FAQ

Q: Are fat burners good? 

A: A fat burner is only as good as its constituent ingredients. A fat burner that relies on a mega-dose of caffeine, or potentially risky ingredients like ephedra or synephrine is definitely not good for you.

On the other hand, if a fat burner includes powerful, safe, and effective fat burning agents like green tea extract and CLA, or if it boosts your body’s natural fat burning capacity, like fat burners with zinc and magnesium that boost testosterone levels, they can make a real difference when it comes to results from a weight loss program or a fat-cutting cycle for an athlete. 

Q: What is the single best fat burner and appetite suppressant combo? 

A: When it comes to the single most effective and versatile fat burner and appetite suppressant, there are a lot of potential candidates, but our research team thinks the case is strongest for for green tea extract.

That’s because green tea extract increases fat oxidation, suppresses appetite, and on top of that, amplifies the benefits of caffeine while ameliorating its negative effects.

It also has a tremendous amount of evidence for its safety and its efficacy. You’ll notice that many of our top-rated fat burners for men contain green tea extract for all of these reasons. 

Q: What’s the best natural fat burner? 

A: When it comes to natural ways to burn fat, it’s tough to pick a single best option. 

Green tea extract, green coffee bean extract, capsaicin, CLA, and caffeine all fall into this category: they’re potent and all-natural, making them great ingredients in any fat burning supplement. Indeed, you’ll find these in several of our top-rated fat burners in our rankings. 

Q: Does a fat burner need to have caffeine?

A: No, not all fat burners need caffeine. Some are able to generate fat burning effects through non-stimulant ingredients like conjugated linoleic acid, or are able to upregulate fat oxidation by increasing your levels of testosterone.

However, caffeine is an effective fat burner when used judiciously, which is why you’ll find it in many of our top-rated supplements. A cheap caffeine buzz is something to avoid, but moderate amounts of caffeine alongside other fat burning ingredients can be incredibly useful if you aren’t sensitive to caffeine’s adverse effects.

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Recap

Though your options for a fat burning supplement seem endless, keeping a few basic guidelines in mind can help select one that’s right for you.

Look for a supplement that has at least three well-established and reasonably effective fat burning ingredients, like green tea extract, moderate doses of caffeine, CLA, and capsaicin. 

Next, look for ingredients that compliment each other, like green tea extract and green coffee bean extract, or a fat oxidizer and an appetite suppressant.

You can find all of these qualities in our top-ranked products. 

Finally, be patient. These supplements aren’t going to work overnight, but the evidence is pretty good that they do gradually ramp up your fat loss over time.

For BodyNutrition’s #1 fat burner for men, click here.

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John Davis

John Davis is a Minneapolis-based health and fitness writer with over 7 years of experience researching the science of high performance athletics, long-term health, nutrition, and wellness. As a trained scientist, he digs deep into the medical, nutritional, and epidemiological literature to uncover the keys to healthy living through better nutrition.