One all too common question that I get is, "What's a good fat burner?" My answer? A solid training and nutrition plan, first and foremost.

But yes, certain supplements can certainly help with your fat loss efforts. Supplements can work through a number of mechanisms to help your body burn more fat. To really maximize their effectiveness you want to combine ingredients that enhance fat burning through different processes and therefore work synergistically in the body to really speed up fat loss.

Most people don't want to do the work of adding all the right ingredients at the right doses together themselves, and instead look to commercial fat-burner products. The problem with this method, is few if any fat burners on the market, provide the proper doses of the right ingredients.

In fact, 99% of the fat burners sold today use a proprietary blend so you can't even determine what the doses are—and you know my message about proprietary blends: It simply means that the company doesn't want you to know how little of each ingredient is in the product.

The last thing you want to do is base a fat burner on how it "feels". Supplement companies have done the same thing with fat burners that they have done with pre-workouts—they have taken out the real ingredients and just focused on adding more stimulants so you "feel" it.

Feeling it does not mean that it's enhancing fat burning—it just feels like it is. But since none of the important ingredients are in there at the right doses, it's not actually doing much but getting you high. That's why I created Shred JYM. It's the only non-proprietary, properly dosed fat burner on the market.

Many companies have made all kinds of money in the billion-dollar "fat loss" supplement category. Unfortunately, consumers have never been advised on what is actually in these products, or more importantly what DOSES are in them and what the product will actually do. That's because companies are not going to educate you as I have, because if they did their products would not live up to the science of what actually works.

Shred JYM is different. It's the formula that I've recommended for years—yet no one product existed on the market containing all of these ingredients. Below, I’ll explain what makes Shred JYM so different, and which ingredients are in Shred JYM to make it so effective.

This amino-acid-like molecule is a critical component of the complex transporting system that brings fat into the mitochondria where it is finally burned away for good. The mitochondria are essentially all cells' power plants where the majority of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is derived for energy. Once the fatty acids pass into the mitochondria, they can be oxidized ("burned") to generate ATP. Without adequate carnitine, most dietary fats cannot get into the mitochondria and be burned for fuel.

Several research studies support the notion that supplementing with carnitine enhances fat burning, not just during exercise, but also at rest. Its ability to increase the amount of fat burned at rest means that this supplement has solid potential to aid fat loss and prevent fat gain during bulking periods.

Provided at a dose of 1.5g, this form of carnitine is absorbed better by the body than regular L-carnitine. The acetyl group also allows it to be taken up by the brain, which can promote better brain function and mood, as well as enhance energy levels. This can be particularly important when dieting.

Provided at a dose of 500mg, this amino acid has a proven track record for increasing alertness, mental focus, mood, and energy—especially when combined with caffeine, as in Shred JYM.

The main way that tyrosine accomplishes all this is due to the fact that it is used in the body to produce several important hormones and neurotransmitters such as dopamine, epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine and thyroid hormones.

Increased levels of these hormones and neurotransmitters ramps you up, making you more alert and focused. This is important when dieting, as lowering your calorie intake can decrease your energy levels, mood and mental sharpness.

Maintaining higher epinephrine, norepinephrine and thyroid hormones also aids fat loss.

It is also suggested that during times of stress, such as when dieting and training hard, the body's ability to produce its own tyrosine from the amino acid phenylalanine is compromised. Taking L-tyrosine before workouts ensures that your body has adequate levels to produce the hormones and neurotransmitters discussed above.

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) contains compounds called catechins, including epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), the main catechin responsible for the thermogenic effect of green tea. Its major thermogenic effect comes from the ability of EGCG to inhibit an enzyme that normally breaks down norepinephrine, the neurotransmitter involved in regulating metabolic rate and fat-burning. By inhibiting the enzyme, you maintain higher levels of norepinephrine, which encourages greater calorie and fat burn.

Green tea has also been shown to enhance insulin sensitivity, which allows for better control of blood sugar levels throughout the day. This can further aid fat loss and prevent fat gain when following a mass gain diet.

In addition to aiding fat loss, green tea has been shown to have a laundry list of benefits. These include health benefits—such as a reduced risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes—as well as performance benefits, which include enhanced muscle and joint recovery.

While drinking green tea has become more popular lately, supplementing with green tea extract is far more beneficial. Research confirms that the catechins in green tea, such as EGCG, are absorbed better in supplement form than in tea form.

In fact, if we were putting together a “Supplement Hall of Fame”, there would be a few ingredients that would have to be inducted right away. Just off the top of my head: Whey protein, caffeine, creatine—and one of my all-time favorites: Green tea extract.

In addition to the many health benefits green tea provides, as explained above, it may also enhance brain function and lessen cognitive decline as we age, and provide antibacterial and antiviral protection. Of course, what I like best about it remains its ability to aid in fat loss.

When it comes to fat-burning, the main way green-tea extract works is by increasing the body's metabolic rate so that you burn more calories at rest. As I explained, this property is mainly due to its main active polyphenol component EGCG.

But new research from Poland shows that green-tea extract has another trick up its sleeve to aid fat loss: Blocking carbohydrate uptake by the body.

Researchers from Poznan University fed subjects a starchy meal of cornflakes with low-fat milk—about 50 grams of carbs, 7 grams of protein, 2 grams of fat, and 250 calories—along with green-tea extract—providing about 250mg of EGCG—or a placebo.

They reported in a 2015 issue of the journal Scientific Reports that when the subjects consumed green-tea extract with the corn flakes, they absorbed 30% less carbohydrates from the meal than when they had the same meal with a placebo.

This appears to be due to the ability of EGCG to inhibit the enzymes alpha-glucosidase and alpha-amylase, which normally break down starch into smaller units that can be absorbed by the intestines. The starch that doesn't get broken down into smaller sugar units can't be absorbed by the body and literally gets flushed down the drain.

By limiting the amount of starch from a meal that gets broken down into smaller sugar units, you’re absorbing and utilizing about 30% less starch than you’re actually eating. This can help to lower your carb intake and your overall daily calorie intake, which can further help with fat loss—along with the boost in metabolic rate and other fat-burning mechanisms through which green tea works. All of this makes green-tea extract a true get-lean juggernaut.

To take advantage of all these benefits, shoot for about 200mg-250mg of EGCG from green-tea extract taken right before or with meals. You can easily do this by taking one dose of my fat-burning product Shred JYM—which provides 500mg of green tea extract containing 250mg of EGCG per dose—before meals.

Caffeine is recognized for its ability to enhance alertness and brain function. Caffeine is now credited with providing a multitude of health benefits, such as improved cognitive function, reduced risk of cognitive decline with aging, and reduced risk of diabetes—not to mention its numerous performance benefits.

When most people think of caffeine, however, they think of the “buzz” they get—its stimulant effect. Therefore, its role in fat loss is assumed to be due mainly to its ability to increase calorie burn.

While research confirms that caffeine does boost the number of calories burned, it also contributes to fat loss by helping to release more fat from the fat cells, and preventing fat storage in the fat cells.

Caffeine actually binds to receptors on your fat cells. Normally, adenosine binds to these receptors, and when it does it puts a halt on fat release from the adipocytes. With caffeine sitting on the receptors, adenosine can't attach—and fat release is maximized. This is particularly effective when taking caffeine before workouts, as several studies have confirmed. That’s why there’s 200mg of caffeine in every dose of Shred JYM.

Capsaicin is the natural plant chemical that gives spicy peppers—like chilies—their heat. It also increases the amount of calories your body burns, thanks to its ability to raise epinephrine levels. It also reduces hunger and food intake so that you consume fewer calories, yet burn more.

One study from Japanese researchers found that consuming capsaicin with a meal raised calorie expenditure by over 30%. A study from the University of Oklahoma found that subjects who took a supplement that contained both capsaicin and caffeine burned more calories during exercise and after.

One problem with consuming hot red pepper extract is that it is extremely spicy. Many people cannot tolerate the "heat" from hot peppers, which irritates the mouth and gastrointestinal tract. Capsimax® uses technology to avoid the irritation, but deliver the benefits of capsaicin, which is why I include 50mg of Capsimax in each dose of Shred JYM.

Capsimax® is a patented form of pepper extract that delivers 300,000 Scoville Heat Units (SHU). It uses the OmniBead, a patented beadlet technology that encapsulates the pepper extract. The coating is designed to withstand the highly acidic, low pH levels of the stomach then release the capsaicin in the higher pH environment of the intestines.

This herb from the plant Citrus aurantium, also known as bitter orange, stimulates receptors that increase the release of fat from fat cells, much like yohimbine. Yet it also decreases appetite and raises metabolic rate to boot. Chemically, synephrine is similar in some respects to ephedrine, but not quite as strong at boosting metabolic rate. However, on the positive side, it does not raise heart rate and blood pressure as ephedrine does

Several studies confirm that synephrine is both effective for fat loss and is very safe, with no negative effects on blood pressure or blood chemistry

Advantra Z® is a patented form of Citrus aurantium extract that delivers a precise and potent dose of synephrine, which is what I’ve put into Shred JYM at 20mg per dose.

The number one question that I get in regards to Shred JYM is how to stack it with Pre JYM. The main concern here is that both contain caffeine. Pre JYM provides 300 mg of caffeine per dose and Shred JYM provides 200 mg per dose. Obviously, you do not want to take Shred JYM and Pre JYM at the same time. You certainly could if you are not overly sensitive to caffeine and want one helluva jolt.

Below you will find a sample daily diet that shows how to incorporate Shred JYM along with Pre JYM and Post JYM into your schedule based on when you train. I broke the examples down into four different training windows for 1) those who train first thing in the morning; 2) those who train at their lunch break; 3) those who train after work/school but before dinner; and 4) those who train later at night after dinner.

When you look at the sample schedules you will notice that I recommend taking Shred JYM several hours either before or after Pre JYM. This will concern many who believe that they need to take the fat-burning ingredients in Shred JYM before they work out to maximize fat burning. In fact, many have asked if they should replace Pre JYM with Shred JYM before they train. My answer is no! There is really no reason to take the ingredients in Shred JYM before you train. You are far better off, and will get far better fat loss benefits, from taking Pre JYM before you train than Shred JYM. Let me explain.

Yes, research does show that taking several of the ingredients in Shred JYM will maximize the number of calories and fat you burn during your workout. However, what we are now realizing through research done in the lab and the gym is that it actually does not matter how many calories and fat grams you burn during your workouts. The real fat-burning benefits from training come the rest of the day when the workout is over. That is, if you are training properly. This is why I promote HIIT (high-intensity interval training) like Tabatas, cardioacceleration and Power HIIT over the slow steady-pace cardio that most people do on a treadmill, elliptical, stair-climber, or stationary bike. You typically burn fewer calories and fat during the workout when you do HIIT versus slow and steady cardio. Yet you burn more calories and fat the rest of the day after the HIIT is over versus after doing slow and steady cardio.

In fact one study compared four to six bouts of 30-second sprints done three times per week to 30-60 minutes of slow and steady jogging done three times per week. 30-60 minutes of jogging burns FAR more calories and fat than a total of 2-3 minutes of sprinting. Yet, the sprinting group lost twice as much body fat as the slow and steady group. Twice as much!!! How is that possible? Again it gets back to the fact that the high-intensity nature of the sprinting allowed the subjects to burn far more calories and fat when they were not exercising and just going about their day.

So your best bet to maximize fat loss is to increase your intensity in the gym versus trying to burn more calories and fat. Taking Pre JYM is the best way to maximize your intensity in the JYM. So always use Pre JYM before workouts.

As you will see in the sample schedules below, I recommend taking Shred JYM at times of day when you are not exercising. This allows the ingredients in Shred JYM to further boost the amount of calories and fat you are burning the rest of the day when it really adds up and can enhance fat loss.

Some people are quite sensitive to green tea. When taken on an empty stomach without food, this can cause them to experience nausea, stomach aches/cramps, and other stomach issues. The easy solution for this is to take it with a meal. If you find that you are sensitive to the green tea in Shred JYM when you take it between meals, simply switch to taking it with meals instead of between meals, as shown in the diet samples below. To do this, simply take it with the meal either before or after the dose of Shred JYM is listed in the examples below.

Are you worried about taking 300 mg of caffeine in Pre JYM and then 200 mg of caffeine from Shred JYM once or twice a day for a total of 500-700 mg of caffeine per day? Don't be! Unfortunately, caffeine has received a bad rap from misinformed "experts". When you actually look at the mountains of research done on caffeine, you discover that it not only provides a host of performance benefits, but it also provides a laundry list of health benefits. Research shows that those who consume higher intakes of caffeine, either from coffee or other sources, have a reduced risk of diabetes, cognitive decline with aging, depression, heart disease, stroke, liver and colorectal cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease.

Worried about adrenal fatigue from too much caffeine? Adrenal fatigue is not even a real medical condition. Caffeine will not induce adrenal fatigue. Trust me, your adrenal glands will be completely fine. And that advice is coming from a scientist who actually studied adrenal function in the lab, not from some "expert" who googled "caffeine and adrenal function.

The sample meal plans below are for a 200-pound athlete who is consuming about 1.5 grams of protein per pound of body weight (300 grams of protein total); 1 gram of carbs per pound of body weight (200 grams of carbs total); 0.5 grams of fat per pound of body weight (100 grams of fat total); and 14 calories per pound of body weight (2800 kcal per day total).

Now you know not only which ingredients I’ve included in my fat-burner, Shred JYM, but why they’re there—as well as how they work. And they do work—as the research on each ingredient has shown.

As a consumer, you must find out what others do to trick you into thinking a product does what they claim it does. I know, this is the science jargon that bores many people, but if you're truly serious about burning fat and building muscle, then this is the information that matters.

Becoming educated empowers you as a consumer, and enables you to make educated decisions, rather than trusting what the marketers says about fat loss. Trust science, not advertisements—and for promoting better fat loss? Trust Shred JYM.